Firebird Alumni Spotlight

Tomas Gajdusek ('12) is an alum of the UDC Men's Tennis program and he currently has a career as a Senior Credit Analyst for U.S. commodities.

Gajdusek transferred to UDC his sophomore year to play for the men's tennis team and to obtain his Bachelor's degree in Finance. In his first year as a Firebird, Tomas went undefeated in singles play at No.1. He earned the ECC Men's Tennis Player of the Year award and was named to the 2010 NCAA Division II Men's East Singles Team.

In his second year, he earned ECC First-team All-Conference honors, was ranked 9^th in the NCAA East Region, and was named the ECC Men's Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He went on to help lead his team to the NCAA East Regional semifinals his senior year.

Tomas was not only a great athlete but an outstanding student and teammate as well. He boasted a 3.92 cumulative GPA and was a great leader and motivator, to his fellow student-athletes. He helped academically at-risk student-athletes by tutoring them and holding them accountable for showing up to class. He also led campus tours for incoming student-athletes to help them get acclimated to the UDC environment.

His hard work, dedication, and efforts didn't go unnoticed as he was the first student-athlete from UDC to receive the Excellence in Community and Character award, (the most prestigious award given to a student-athlete by the ECC) to finish out his career as a Firebird.  

Assistant Athletic Director of Communications, Marlena Wright caught up with Tomas to talk about his career and how his time as a student-athlete helped prepare him for life after college.

MW: Tell me about your career path since you graduated from UDC.

TG: After graduating from UDC I started to work as a teller in Citibank in DC. But soon I realized that a career in retail banking is not something I would like to pursue. After a year I moved back to my home city Prague and started to work for ExxonMobil where I still work till now. At ExxonMobil, I held three different positions, one in accounting and then two in treasures while supporting many different business lines in Europe as well as in the U.S. I was also able to finish my master's while working full-time. Currently, I am a Senior Credit Analyst for U.S. commodities.

MW: Also, tell me about your tennis career after UDC.

TG: First year after UDC I have partially taught tennis for about a year, but much more I enjoy playing it so I started to play competitively after a year from graduating again. I try to get on the court as much as my free time allows and I currently play divisional matches on a regional level in the Czech Republic as well as in Germany and from time to time I even go and play regional tournaments.

MW: How are you enjoying your career? What do you like about it?

TG: I am enjoying it quite a lot. The best part is that I am working in finance which is a field I have studied so I can really use the knowledge I gained from my studies at work. I also enjoy working for a company with a global footprint so I get to know people from many different countries. I also enjoy that it has a solid work-life balance.

MW: When did you know what you wanted to do for a career? And how did you go about making it a reality?

TG: I knew that I wanted to stay in finance for my career already at UDC, but I didn't really know exactly what type of work to do and how to get there. In my case, I tried retail banking as well as accounting before coming to finance. And I believe the experience in other fields and learning about opportunities in finance and improving my finance knowledge helped me to really push for the career I am in now.

MW: How did your experience as a student-athlete prepare you for life after college?

TG: It definitely helped me significantly. I have improved my tennis level, I have learned many things that I am still using today and I got to know many people from different backgrounds which are all very helpful in my day-to-day life.

MW: How do you still follow UDC Athletics today?

TG: I like UDC Athletics on Instagram, but to be honest I didn't really follow it in the last year or so partially due to competitions being canceled due to the pandemic. But I am definitely planning on improving that this season as competitions started again.

MW: What's one piece of advice you would give to the current student-athletes?

TG: I would advise them not to worry too much if they don't know what to do in their life after graduating. However, they should definitely try to do their best at studies as well as in their sports and focus on what they are good at. Think about how they can use all this to make their living while enjoying what they are doing.