James McIntyre and
Melinda McIntyre-Kolpin

College Friends

“My class was the first to graduate from the new campus.”

They are a couple of powerhouses. He is the CEO of a large financial services corporation, and she is chief operating officer at a Santa Monica bank. Each has imprinted their personal style on the business they run. And each of them cut their teeth in business studies at SMC. They manage enormous financial operations. Yet among their most prized assets, each of them lists the other. They are father and daughter.

“My class was the first to graduate from the new campus,” says James McIntyre. “I took accounting and transferred to USC, where I had no problems. I found the two schools to be on a par with each other.” James says “I’ve always had a good relationship with Melinda,” and that he’s been proud to see her develop her own successes, academic and professional.

Linda’s story at SMC was a little different. “When I graduated from high school,” she says, “my professional and academic goals weren’t that well defined. So I went to SMC because I knew I’d get a superb education while I was forming my own course of direction about where I would go in life.” Linda found her way to accounting classes which she quickly grew to love. “And so I began to think I’d better make my career in business.”

Both father and daughter are fans, boosters and counselors to each other. And they have frequent dinners together where the talk usually turns to business. “When I first got to SMC,” remembers Melinda, “I was going to devote myself to child development. It was really a surprise to find myself involved with business. But then,” she adds, “I guess there’s a lot of ‘push’ towards succeeding financially in my blood.”

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