By Ronald Hanaki
Sports Editor

On April 22, ESU celebrated National Student-Athlete Day inside Koehler Fieldhouse. During the ceremony, it was announced that nineteen studentathletes had made the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll for four consecutive years. Among that exclusive group of student-athletes was senior wrestler Daniel Ingulli.

Ingulli is a double major in economics and business management with concentrations in accounting and finance. Currently, Ingulli has a 3.95 overall GPA with a perfect 4.0 GPA in economics.

As a model student-athlete, Ingulli has achieved many outstanding academic and athletic accolades. He was named the PSAC Wrestling Champion Scholar for having the highest GPA at a regional wrestling tournament held in December. Ingulli had the highest GPA from over one hundred and twenty wrestlers who were there.

Ingulli is a member of both Omicron Delta Epsilon, the economics honor society, and Sigma Beta Delta, the business management honor society.

Originally, Ingulli’s major was just business management. His epiphany was realizing that accounting would help his knowledge of finance. Since he always liked investments and the stock market, he wanted to pursue something with finance, but finance is commission-based.

On the other hand, accounting is salary-based and gives the more steady income. But it’s not easy. Ingulli said that intermediate accounting was one of his most difficult classes.

Nevertheless, Ingulli said, “My concentrations complement each other, so I get the bigger picture.”

Ingulli calls ESU’s personal finance class one of the most important courses that he has taken. The course teaches the student how to handle and manage her or his finances.

In addition to his academic and professional goals, Ingulli enjoys “coaching others in financial decisions and will find that in a new job down the line.”

A year ago, Ingulli took the Bloomberg Aptitude Test (BAT) and scored in the 82nd percentile.

More immediately, Ingulli’s goal is to become a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) and make some money before going to graduate school for his MBA – all before he turns thirty years old. Then he wants to get a doctorate. In the meantime, he has a corporate accounting internship with PPL Electric Utilities in Allentown.

When Ingulli applied for the internship with PPL, his future employer was not sure that Ingulli would have enough time to do an internship with the company because of Ingulli’s busy schedule. In response, Ingulli submitted an Excel spreadsheet that detailed his daily schedule down to the last hour. In a bit of serendipity, it was that detailed hourly schedule that got Ingulli the internship.

Of PPL Electric, Ingulli says, “I enjoy the people that I work with. It’s a good culture there. It pays well, and it is preparing me to take the CPA exam.”

Ingulli has been destined for success. His high school guidance counselor told him, “Keep doing what you are doing, and you will be a big fish that stands out.”

Ingulli said that part of the reason why he chose ESU was its low cost. It was also a decision made easier because of legacy. Among others, his older brother and older cousin went to ESU. His sister is in ESU’s nursing program. In total, the Ingulli family can boast ten or so family members and relatives that have gone to ESU. Personally, it has turned out to be a great experience for Ingulli.

In addition to being an outstanding student, Ingulli was a great athlete in high school and received seven varsity letters.

Ingulli began to wrestle in the seventh grade and has continued to wrestle until last February. He has also played for the school’s rugby club.

As a freshman, Ingulli walked on the wrestling team at ESU. For most of his collegiate career, he was a backup wrestler, but during his senior year, he became a starter at the 174-pound weight class. He also wrestled at 189 pounds at American International, and he wrestled at 197 pounds at Kutztown.

Last February, Ingulli came into the NCAA Division II Super Regional 1 unseeded, but in his first match, he pinned the 5th-seeded wrestler. However, he lost his subsequent matches to wrestlers who finished in 4th place and 5th place.

Looking back, Ingulli said, “Wrestling was really hard and pushed my boundaries. As a result of that, everything seems easy.”

Ingulli continued, “It was just a hard time, but I learned to balance school and athletics. I always had a schedule.”

“This was the first year that I was a starter, and I prepared for the wrestling season to be the starter. I kept my nose to the grindstone, so it was draining,” said Ingulli.

Later, Ingulli was told to create a LinkedIn account by former ESU business management professor Dr. Kenneth Levitt. Ingulli said, “It was the best decision that I made. LinkedIn is essential to being a professional, and I got to tutor personal finance because of it.”

Ingulli said, “During the wrestling seasons, I tutored a lot. I was a tutor for seven semestefor economics mostly. But I also tutored statistics.”

Ingulli is entrepreneurial and wants to give back to the community. His latest project is the creation of a special tutoring program for seniors at ESU who need economics as a General Education class in order to graduate.

Ingulli is also a caring individual who takes time out of his busy schedule to visit and check on his 74-year old neighbor. His neighbor has been a widow for the last ten years, and Ingulli enjoys having dinner and playing board games with her.

Including his internship with PPL Electric, Ingulli has had four internships. Ingulli’s latest internship came through a partnership with the economics and computer science departments.

He is working with computer science professor Dr. Robert Marmelstein on a grant-funded stock-picking algorithm. According to Ingulli, that algorithm has run from 2002 to 2014 and has produced great returns even during the financial crisis.

As an outstanding economics and finance student, Ingulli came recommended by ESU’s economics department to serve as a consultant to the project. Ingulli’s role was to minimize the risk inherent in picking stocks.

Although Ingulli’s ideas and suggestions have not yet been actually implemented, he is confident that the criteria that he has devised will minimize risk but still produce good results. Ingulli says, “Expect lower returns, but lower downsides.”

Ingulli’s other internships include a stint with Raymond James as a financial analyst and an internship with New York Life doing insurance sales. Ingulli was required to get a license to sell insurance, and he was able to obtain his licenses while also juggling school and wrestling. Needless to say, that is a tremendous testament to his time management skills.

Dr. Neelakantan AKA “Professor Pats” is the chair of the economics department, and he nominated Ingulli to be the student commencement speaker at this spring’s graduation.

Professor Pats said, “Daniel Ingulli is an outstanding student. He has taken advantage of all that ESU has to offer, and more students should be like him.”

Ultimately, Ingulli was not chosen to be the student commence speaker in May, but had he spoken, he would have said, “Life is about trying your personal best to reach your full potential. Don’t be afraid to fail; without failure, there is no success.”

Email Ronald at:
rhanaki@live.esu.edu