Romanian alum’s Robins business education put her ‘light years ahead’ of her colleagues

Growing up as an only child in Romania, Anca “Dolly” Chiriac, ’05, was driven by an intense curiosity about the world. That inquisitiveness would take her far. More than 5,000 miles across the Atlantic, University of Richmond became her second home and the first step in a career path spanning finance, global technology, and management consulting.

A full scholarship made the journey possible. “Richmond totally changed my life in a way that nothing else could have,” she says.

In addition to the university’s beauty, reputation, and size, Chiriac liked that the liberal arts curriculum guided her toward coursework outside her business major. She paired marketing and finance courses with art history and film studies, broadening her worldview and sharpening her communication skills — indispensable as she anticipated a career in marketing. “I am very inclined to quantitative analysis, but I also enjoy talking to people,” says Chiriac, who is fluent in French, English, and Romanian.

Ultimately, it was her aptitude for finance that attracted employers. Shortly after graduating magna cum laude, she landed a position at Citigroup, which sponsored her work visa and placed her on a trading floor in New York City. “It was a great learning opportunity,” she says. “Even in finance, I ended up using my people skills because most of the time I did both sales and trading, and then eventually business development.”

Her rigorous Robins School of Business education immediately distinguished Chiriac from her peers and set her up for professional success. When she began Citi’s training program, much of the material was already familiar. “I can honestly say that [only] 5 to 10% of the training was something I had never heard of before,” she says. “The rest I already knew.”

Chiriac later relocated to Romania and again found herself advanced in both industry knowledge and proficiency. “Coming back to Romania after my UR experience and my two and a half years at Citi, I was [about] 20 years ahead of my peers. Light years ahead,” she says. “There were complex financial structures that I had heard about long before I returned [to Romania.]”

When the demands of banking became difficult to reconcile with caring for her young daughter, Chiriac reinvented herself. She left banking. Working remotely from her home in Bucharest, she broadened her expertise into business development and customer success roles, continuing to navigate a changing job market.

“I had to somehow make it work,” she says. “It pushed me to try new things and remain relevant.”

She brought her professional pedigree to international companies including Oracle and FlowX.AI, both of which prioritize automation through artificial intelligence.

“AI is a huge enhancement to productivity,” she says. “People who do not make an active effort to stay relevant and upskill will be at a professional disadvantage.”  

Today, Chiriac is a management consultant for a Romanian subsidiary of a French company, helping it digitalize and uniform its employee benefits services. She landed the job through a personal connection; the company doesn’t recruit, she says. A decade ago, a coach in a leadership program told her, “Network or don’t work.” For Chiriac, the message was clear — if you want to advance your career, you must invest in relationships.

Now, she passes that lesson on to others. In addition to her day job, Chiriac tutors young professionals in labor economics and languages. She teaches practical skills and offers insight on getting ahead and staying competitive. “Try as much as you can,” she tells them. “Don’t settle. Keep developing those relationships, because you never know what’s going to pay off.”