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Career Day Keynote Speaker Michael Carter ’91 Urges Students To Identify Their Purpose

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Founder and CEO of BizEquity, Michael Carter ’91 provided in-person keynote remarks to juniors and seniors on Career Day on February 11. His remarks took place in the middle of a virtual Career Day program which featured 17 interactive presentations by alumni and friends of the school.

Michael covered three key themes as he traced his career path for students:

  1. the purpose of your life/career is to figure out your purpose;
  2. relationships matter immensely;
  3. you can achieve anything if you work hard enough.

At the outset, he detailed learnings from his MFS education that he still uses today:

  • There is that of God in everyone.
  • Authenticity matters.
  • Kindness is strength.
  • Find your unique talents and strengths and focus on those.

Michael detailed the rise and growth of BizEquity, a leading financial tech software company created to democratize business valuation knowledge for every business in the world. BizEquity has created the largest online business valuation cloud-based software product and service and the most business valuation data on businesses in the market today. BizEquity’s patented platform is distributed through leading financial services firms such as TD Bank, UBS, PNC, Northwestern Mutual, Equitable,
Goldman Sachs, and over 750 other financial services firms and over 4,000 advisors.

Michael referred to his journey to build BizEquity as one of persistence and self-belief and urged students to learn from his story. “Your career will be zigs and zags and fraught with challenges,” he said. “Can you find your focus and run with it?”

He credited three mentors for his success. This included the late former MFS Headmaster Alan Craig with whom he consulted often as his career progressed. “He would say, ‘It’s all about how you feel on Sunday night,’” said Michael, referring to one’s
outlook as they approached the waiting work week.

Miles Frost, late founder of Frost Books, who died in 2015, was another key figure in Michael’s professional life. “Miles showed me that you could live a great life of great meaning helping others achieve their dreams and he helped me immensely,” said Michael.

Finally, Michael cited the late Chairman of the Musser Group and Founder of Safeguard Scientifics Pete Musser. He worked under Musser for 15 years as Managing Director of the Musser Group. “Pete showed me that you can change lives through business,” said Michael. “He urged me to identify people’s strengths and focus on that. Business is personal.” 

He concluded his remarks with a fun interactive round of trivia for students which illustrated how various successful entrepreneurs and public figures have faced challenges and obstacles before achieving success.

Michael lives in Haverford with his wife Meredith and their son Harrison and daughter Catherine.

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