Hi there—I’m Charles Papagiannopoulos. (Yes, it’s a mouthful. Yes, it breaks email forms. No, I won’t be shortening it.)
I’m a current MBA candidate at Yale SOM, graduating in May 2025 and actively exploring my next chapter. The TL;DR: I’m a restaurant kid turned finance nerd turned strategy junkie—with a deep love of good questions, messy problems, and ambitious plans.
I grew up in Central Connecticut, surrounded by trees, small-town charm, and the hum of our family’s restaurant business that’s been running strong for over 25 years. That’s where I first learned what it means to serve, to hustle, and to wear about five hats at once (before I knew what the term “generalist” even meant).
After high school at Xavier (go Falcons) and undergrad at Bryant University, I joined FactSet where I spent several years diving into data, partnering with clients, and learning how financial systems power decisions. But I never fully left the restaurant floor—and I’ve always had one foot in both the human and the analytical.
These days, I’m at Yale refining the craft of strategic thinking, sharpening my storytelling, and leaning into the ambiguity that comes with solving big problems. Outside the classroom, I’m usually playing tennis, doing functional fitness, or chasing any excuse to get moving (rowing built that habit in early).
This blog will be a home for stories—some polished, some messy—about the throughlines I see across strategy, service, business, and life. It’ll also be a place where I reflect on the job search, the people who’ve shaped me, and the ideas that keep me up at night (in a good way).
Thanks for reading—and welcome.