Internship Spotlight: Leslie Nut-Komlah ’27, Microsoft
Working with senior leaders, Leslie Nut-Komlah ’27 supported a high-visibility financial planning project at the tech giant’s global headquarters.
Internship: Microsoft, Redmond, Washington
Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia, and Tema, Ghana
Pronouns: he/him/his
The SOM classes you’re using on the job: Corporate Finance and The Executive
Go-to work lunch: Trader Joe’s Pad See Ew
After-work routine: Playing soccer or going for a run
Favorite thing about internship city: The view of Mt. Rainier and the weather this summer
I spent the summer at Microsoft’s global headquarters in Redmond, Washington, as a finance manager intern on the central finance team. Sitting directly under the CFO, we support business performance consolidation and produce financial reports for internal and external stakeholders. I was especially excited to be SOM’s first intern on this team.
Before SOM, my experience focused on cloud operations and expense management. I helped organizations save money on their cloud bills, stay accountable to expenses, and negotiate enterprise agreements. As I explore potential paths after graduation, I valued the opportunity to spend a summer with a hyperscaler at the center of the AI infrastructure boom. Microsoft was the perfect place to continue doing the analytical decision support work I love, but at immense scale. I had visibility into the performance of all business units, the preparation of materials for the board of directors, and the processes supporting a wildly successful earnings call, as well as access to senior decision-makers.
My main project was supporting Microsoft’s Executive Incentive Plan (EIP), the annual exercise of setting performance-based compensation goals for the company’s most senior leaders, including the CEO and their direct reports. Because these targets and associated payouts are audited and publicly disclosed in a proxy filing, we have to ensure alignment with business priorities and consistency with any other disclosed information.
I supported the compensation committee and HR department by working with business teams to propose performance metrics, targets, and payout ranges. Serving as the connective tissue between forecast owners and those supporting executive compensation, I ran a kickoff that explained the process to over 30 stakeholders, pressure-tested performance assumptions, and consolidated everything into a recommendation for board approval. The most intellectually stimulating part of the work was developing AI-focused performance metrics with limited historical precedent. I worked alongside business partners to figure out what a reasonable target and performance range means for a line item that did not exist a year ago.
My first year at SOM gave me the foundation I needed for the summer. Microsoft’s EIP sits at the intersection of corporate finance, HR talent management, and corporate governance, requiring a deep understanding of each group’s priorities. SOM’s core curriculum trained us to look at business situations from the viewpoints of various internal and external stakeholders.This made it much easier to navigate what each group needed, tackle the ambiguity of modeling new metrics, and defend my recommendations strategically. Beyond the core, courses like the elective Corporate Finance taught me to focus on actions, like how a company funds and allocates hundreds of billions of dollars towards AI projects, rather than simply accepting the public narrative. I was able to dissect financial data, draw my own conclusions, and discuss my findings with my team of seasoned finance professionals.
I never imagined I would be given a role with this level of visibility. A board of directors’ most important job is attracting and retaining executive talent, and the Executive Incentive Plan is the mechanism for holding that talent accountable to results. My work fed directly into materials shared with Microsoft’s CFO, CEO, and board of directors, forcing me to quickly get comfortable communicating at varying levels of detail, understanding what each leader prioritizes, and proactively anticipating hurdles.
Beyond the work, my summer in Seattle was fantastic. My team had just six MBA interns, and our cohort grew extremely close. Whether renting a boat on South Lake Union, grabbing dinner, or watching summer blockbusters like Spider-Man and The Odyssey, I always had great company. Escaping the East Coast’s heat waves to explore the Pacific Northwest was incredible. I spent weekends enjoying the World Cup energy in the city, hiking the North Cascades with fellow SOM students, summiting portions of Mt. Rainier, and going whale-watching in the San Juan Islands.
I came to SOM to prepare for a career as a finance leader. This summer showed me exactly what is required to run a world-class finance function at a company with the size and scope of Microsoft. I experienced how important a finance team can be as a strategic partner to the business, HR, and the board of directors, ultimately holding the broader organization accountable. Mastering the ability to navigate complex stakeholder dynamics at this level provided the exact foundation I need as I continue on my leadership journey.
If you are heading into your summer internship, my biggest piece of advice is to ask questions early, build relationships with colleagues before you need things from them, and never be afraid to introduce your own ideas. There is much more room to add value than you might expect.
