CHAT

“I remember struggling with math in 7th grade,” admits Muneera Carr (’96 BBA, Accounting). “I chose to focus intently on that particular subject to improve my understanding.”

Carr is the executive vice president, chief accounting officer, and controller at Wells Fargo & Company, so an early difficulty with arithmetic may come as a surprise.

Through hard work and perseverance, she was able to overcome the challenge and grow to love math, so much so that it became central to her career. Those same qualities have carried her to her current professional success.

“My parents were not well-educated, but they prioritized education for their children,” Carr says. “They didn’t have much money but sacrificed what they could to ensure we had opportunities for a better life.”

Carr, who is now one of the senior-most leaders at Wells Fargo and leads a global team of 1,500 people, grew up in Mumbai and, after finishing school in India, moved to Dallas to be near her sister. She began working full time, and her company offered a tuition reimbursement program, which allowed her to attend UTA.

Carr says her time at UTA was filled with learning experiences she still carries with her today. She formed close bonds with fellow first-generation and international students who understood her challenges and offered support.

“There was a camaraderie among the students,” Carr says. “We worked together and helped each other succeed.”

She also credits the University’s professional resources with helping launch her career. UTA’s career office connected her with a job at PricewaterhouseCoopers after college, where Carr stayed for nearly a decade. She went on to work at other financial giants like Bank of America and Comerica and had a fellowship at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Carr embodies a personal brand of giving back. In tribute to her education and the support that made it possible, she created the Carr-Reza Family Foundation Endowed Scholarship to help make the benefits of education attainable for first-generation and international students studying business at UTA.

“Education was a game changer for me,” Carr says. “Now I want to do what I can to help others trail-blaze their own path and jumpstart their professional journey.”