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Dale A. Burnett is a senior associate in the real estate private equity group of American International Group's AIG Investments. He is responsible for the evaluation, execution and asset management of equity investments in commercial real estate developments and joint-venture partnerships in the U.S., Europe and Russia. He also serves as co-chairman of the Rise2College Foundation, a non-profit organization he helped start that aims to increase enrollment of working-class urban high school students into competitive colleges and universities.

Is your present life what you envisioned as a teenager or even as a child?

I have to say life has exceeded my expectations. I grew up and went to high school in South Jamaica, Queens, during the crack-cocaine era in New York. At that time, there were 2,500 murders a year in the city, so I did not always think I would make it out alive, much less be successful. On the other, I always believed I’d do well and always hoped that I would be a successful businessman.

Today I think I have been blessed beyond what I thought simply because I have done things I never envisioned. I never thought I would open my cellphone and call a congressman or start a nonprofit. I’ve been fortunate to travel all over the world, and I live a good life that I can see getting better.

I also never thought I’d attend Dartmouth as the first person in my family to go to college right after high school. Because I did not grow up around politicians and executives, I was not exposed to certain things. As a result, I did not decide to get an MBA until I was 28 so even graduate school was not a part of my original vision.

I made that decision when I was a strategy consultant to the Blackstone Group. I wasn’t on the principal side where the financial benefit was being reaped. I realized then I wanted to be a deal maker - the carpenter, not just the tool. My nature is to figure out how to create value and then realize it. Working in the private equity space is a way for me to live out that part of me professionally, and it was more lucrative and offered greater opportunity for advancement.

Have you revised your medium- or longer-term aspirations given the current global financial crisis?

If anything, I accelerated my goals because I expect there to be many opportunities as markets correct from this recession. I’ve also become more politically engaged and worked hard to position myself as an adviser to local and state level policymakers. I joined the Council of Urban Professionals Political Action Committee, and last year I helped raise money for Barack Obama's presidential campaign. In general, I think I have started to think more on a macro level and less on just my assets and my investments.

How would you describe your adjustment from an academic setting to a work environment with a distinct business culture? What are some of your takeaways from networking or affinity groups?

Corporate culture may be foreign to some. In my case, it was to some degree, and the socializing that makes work easier took place in bars, which I didn’t patronize as much nor did I realize it made a difference if I did. Because of that, I did not have a strong social rapport with my colleagues, and I did not have a support network to help me matriculate into a culture that frankly was unfamiliar. During my early work as an analyst in the management consulting practice at Ernst & Young, I traveled all over the country and integrated well over time, but I did so in a pretty choppy, trial-and-error manner that I would not recommend.

Graduates matriculating into corporate America should seek a sponsor and search out available support networks. And, new graduates should actively seek mentors or they may end up doing things the hard way. If you don’t have a mentor, you find out things when it’s too late - like at your review.