Heft, A Fintech Fanatic and Volleyball Star, Heading to Brown University

Logan Heft, a senior business major and NJIT volleyball player, will intern as a business intelligence specialist at Global X ETFs this summer and then head to Brown University in the fall to study for a master's degree in data science.

Heft, out of Whitehouse Station, was set to attend The College of New Jersey and retire from competitive volleyball after high school. He switched to NJIT after a last-minute athletic recruitment. He didn't know much about the university, but quickly embraced Highlander sports and Martin Tuchman School of Management.

"It just made sense to come here and have the best of both worlds," he said. "When I got on campus, I immediately felt at home."

In addition to being a business major, Heft gravitated to the school's financial technology specialization, which has since become its own major. "Being that this is a tech school, I thought they did a really nice job of balancing the technical skills that are demanded … it felt like a double-major in computer science to me," he noted.

As a financial technology specialist, Heft already studied topics such as machine learning, data cleaning, big data tools and computer programming. "These more technical classes were among my favorites and they strongly influenced my future career path selection," he stated.

He said the faculty member who influenced him the most was Stephen Taylor, assistant professor of finance, who sparked Heft's interest in data visualization.

"Logan attended two of my financial technology courses and we worked together on a research project focused on developing Python-based backtesting tools for options-hedging strategies," Taylor said. "It is always a pleasure as a professor to watch a student's progression. In Logan's case, he increasingly strengthened his Python and data analysis skills over several years, and ultimately realized the benefit of that hard work."

Another aspect of Heft's time at NJIT was the business school's investment fund, where he served as co-president. The club manages a donated portfolio of about $50,000. Investing someone else's money is "fun but also nerve-wracking," he said. "You don't want to be the person responsible for losing it!"

After just three years at NJIT — he's graduating early, having taken extra classes in most semesters, along with summer courses — Heft said he strongly considered staying here for a masters in data science, where he'd still have more time as an NCAA-eligible volleyball player. The team had its most successful season in NJIT history, beating powerhouses like Penn State. But he couldn't resist the opportunity to attend an Ivy League institution.

Before moving to New England next fall, Heft's will first work at home for Global X ETFs, which deals in exchange-traded funds and particularly in themed funds. His role will be to clean data and present it in useful ways to the research and sales teams. He may stay on part-time while in graduate school.

"Overall my time at NJIT has been great," he said. "I'm leaving with lifelong friends and a great degree. The best advice I could give to a freshman coming in is to put yourself out there."