Ryan Rubarth races into his finance future

KALAMAZOO, MI—For recent Western Michigan University graduate Ryan Rubarth, the field of finance is full of potential. The Haworth College of Business 2024 graduate from Macomb, Michigan, sped toward his future, getting involved in campus activities and internships.

Being connected on campus was a large inspiration for Rubarth as both a student and a professional. The most rewarding activity Rubarth has been a part of is the Formula SAE at WMU Bronco Racing.

“This engineering organization designs, builds and races a formula-style vehicle every year. For two years, I served as the business team lead, where I revamped several business processes including accounting, finance, sponsor relations, recruiting and marketing. My senior year, I was honored to be elected president of the organization, the first student majoring in business to hold this position.”

While leadership experiences in student organizations provided Rubarth with the chance to apply his business skills, WMU Haworth played a big role in developing those skills. 

“I was interested in both corporate finance and financial services throughout my college career, and WMU Haworth did a good job of exposing me to both. Finance is a field where things happen quickly, and pivoting perspectives is necessary to achieve long-term success. My college experience at WMU Haworth gave me snapshots of all the different areas of finance.”

However, the most rewarding professional outcome came from his internship with Recaro Automotive. With a passion for the automotive and motorsport industries, Rubarth set out as a finance and supply chain intern. He says, “The opportunity to contribute to a company whose brand is built on racing prowess sounded awesome to me. They were a lean, growing company, so the prospect of having many tasks and projects sounded like I would have more chances to grow and develop.”

In his position, Rubarth was tasked with helping to tackle the supply chain growing pains in Recaro’s aftermarket seat division. 

“Due to a rapid increase in sales, this area of business was struggling to meet the growing demands of its customers. During the early part of my internship, I spent time gathering data and learning the pain points of the production employees building aftermarket seats. The two main problems were the disconnection on which seats needed to be scheduled on the production line and the difficulty in determining which parts were in stock for those seats.”

Rubarth set out to solve both issues, creating a customizable spreadsheet able to determine the priorities of the aftermarket line. He then constructed a dozen different equations using this data to rank which seats were the highest priorities and should be scheduled to be built first. Working with a peer, Rubarth created a tool that provided instant, relevant and up-to-date information on any seat’s parts that could be used to prevent line shutdowns.

The contributions that Rubarth made to these projects helped to directly solve Recaro’s biggest issues. The tools he created assisted in creating over $100,000 in revenue and inventory cost savings. 

“The opportunity to contribute in this way to a company I feel passionate about was a rewarding experience. It taught me an unbelievable amount about business and myself. I feel more prepared than ever to undertake any challenges I come across during my career.”

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