How long have you known the applicant and in what capacity?

I have known the applicant since 2006, as his undergraduate degree capstone project and master degree thesis advisor, and also as his supervisor at Accenture. Philip has demonstrated his exceptional attributes in academic as well as professional arena. As a student, he excelled in my Valuation course. His capstone project on estimating the Catholic Church market value and his master degree thesis on the Brazilian short-term interest rate were original, effective and impactful. Certainly, he belongs to the top five percentile among all the students and employees I have already supervised. As a consultant at XXX ( name of company), he demonstrates excellent analytical capabilities and strong leadership skills. Also, he has been responsible for several initiatives under my direct supervision.

What characteristics or attributes best describe the applicant?

As mentioned before, Philip combines excellent analytical capabilities with strong leadership skills. He is also very self-motivated. In our last project, he was the only full-time consultant allocated to the client, so he kept himself and the client team engaged, managing most of the interaction with the client with minor supervision. Philip has demonstrated strong leadership skills and emotional intelligenceinthe projects we have worked together. He acted as a project leader, coordinating teams composed by Accenture and client team members. He also developed an excellent relationship with the client’s team, formed mainly by public servants with years of work experience in the public sector, establishing proper communication between our firm and the client. When he joined our team, I warned him that we were facing a relationship gap with the client’s team. He was able to address this situation by building rapport with key contacts on the client side,