George Washington University Athletics
Where Are They Now? Jennifer Franco Dias
7/30/2021 10:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
Lacrosse alumna remains active supporter of alma mater
It didn't take long for Jennifer (Seitz) Franco Dias to realize GW was a special place.
The Columbia, Md., native was strongly considering a different school when she decided to tag along with a few of her high school teammates for GW lacrosse's Junior Day in February 2010.
"I remember taking one tour of the campus and saying to my mom, 'I've changed my mind, I want to go here,'" Franco Dias recalled with a chuckle.
Looking back, Franco Dias is glad she trusted the gut feeling during that fateful visit that led her to the Buff and Blue.
"It worked out really well for me," said Franco Dias, a Class of 2015 graduate who was recently tabbed to serve on the GW Alumni Association Executive Committee. "I can't even imagine how different my life would be. GW was just such an important part of planting the seeds of what my entire life is now. I met my husband and my best friends at GW, and the mentorship I received there led me down my current career path."
Indeed, Franco Dias found wide-ranging success during her time in the nation's capital that has shaped her personal and professional path.
On the field, the defender started all 66 games that she played in Buff and Blue from 2012-15, closing her career with an All-Atlantic 10 First Team nod as a senior.
On the way to her undergraduate degree in Finance, she was an A-10 All-Academic and IWLCA Academic Honor Roll selection while balancing additional responsibilities within the University Honors Program and Real Estate & Finance Alliance.
That ambitious schedule provided challenges every step of the way and, thanks to support from her coaches and athletics staff, ultimately skills that continue to pay dividends in her fast-paced professional world.
"You become very focused and very organized because you have no other option," Franco Dias said. "Your only option is really good time management."
The decorated resume Franco Dias built in Foggy Bottom helped her land a summer internship and then a job with J.P. Morgan as part of the Prime Finance sales team covering hedge fund clients.
Today, she's a vice president with the financial services firm based in New York, where she lives with her husband Francisco, who was a three-time A-10 Most Outstanding Performer while representing GW men's tennis.
The couple married in June 2018 just after she had accepted an 18-month work assignment based in London and he was playing tennis professionally.
With Francisco playing tournaments across Europe, Africa and Asia, they visited dozens of cities across 17 countries together before settling back in New York City in late 2019.
"It was absolutely, completely hectic," Franco Dias said. "We were traveling every weekend and probably couldn't have sustained that for much longer than we did, but at the time, we thought, 'This is once in a lifetime, and we're just going to do it and keep going and make it all work."
Along the way, Franco Dias has been grateful to be able to find ways to stay involved with her alma mater.
She is a member of the alumni council for the Real Estate and Finance Alliance within the GW School of Business, and her role at J.P. Morgan includes recruiting responsibilities, so she's been able to utilize her connections to provide information and opportunities to the next generation in Foggy Bottom. A recent highlight was organizing a career panel for GW Women in Business.
Supporting GW lacrosse, she co-founded an alumnae group to help connect former student-athletes spanning the program's 20 seasons. She works closely with Head Coach Jenny Ulehla and fellow alumnae Erin Berry ('05), Jenny (Heisler) Bernholz ('05), Mackenzie Jones ('15) and Bailey Forcier ('17) to plan events, including virtual programming through the COVID-19 pandemic, and she also shepherded the launch of a quarterly email newsletter – The Crease – to share updates with the group.
"It's been a lot of fun," Franco Dias said. "It's exciting to see that we're able to create some engagement that didn't exist before, and we look to turn that into something that can benefit the current student-athletes and younger alumni with mentorship or career connections as they're starting out."
With the GWAA Executive Committee, Franco Dias will serve a two-year term supporting initiatives and events designed to engage the alumni and campus communities. She's ready to get started, eager to make more memories centered around a place that remains special to her.
"I really do want to do as much as I can to give back to GW because it's made such a lasting impact in my life," Franco Dias said. "I personally got a lot out of my experience there, and I feel a strong connection still six years later."
The Columbia, Md., native was strongly considering a different school when she decided to tag along with a few of her high school teammates for GW lacrosse's Junior Day in February 2010.
"I remember taking one tour of the campus and saying to my mom, 'I've changed my mind, I want to go here,'" Franco Dias recalled with a chuckle.
Looking back, Franco Dias is glad she trusted the gut feeling during that fateful visit that led her to the Buff and Blue.
"It worked out really well for me," said Franco Dias, a Class of 2015 graduate who was recently tabbed to serve on the GW Alumni Association Executive Committee. "I can't even imagine how different my life would be. GW was just such an important part of planting the seeds of what my entire life is now. I met my husband and my best friends at GW, and the mentorship I received there led me down my current career path."
Indeed, Franco Dias found wide-ranging success during her time in the nation's capital that has shaped her personal and professional path.
On the field, the defender started all 66 games that she played in Buff and Blue from 2012-15, closing her career with an All-Atlantic 10 First Team nod as a senior.
On the way to her undergraduate degree in Finance, she was an A-10 All-Academic and IWLCA Academic Honor Roll selection while balancing additional responsibilities within the University Honors Program and Real Estate & Finance Alliance.
That ambitious schedule provided challenges every step of the way and, thanks to support from her coaches and athletics staff, ultimately skills that continue to pay dividends in her fast-paced professional world.
"You become very focused and very organized because you have no other option," Franco Dias said. "Your only option is really good time management."
The decorated resume Franco Dias built in Foggy Bottom helped her land a summer internship and then a job with J.P. Morgan as part of the Prime Finance sales team covering hedge fund clients.
Today, she's a vice president with the financial services firm based in New York, where she lives with her husband Francisco, who was a three-time A-10 Most Outstanding Performer while representing GW men's tennis.
The couple married in June 2018 just after she had accepted an 18-month work assignment based in London and he was playing tennis professionally.
With Francisco playing tournaments across Europe, Africa and Asia, they visited dozens of cities across 17 countries together before settling back in New York City in late 2019.
"It was absolutely, completely hectic," Franco Dias said. "We were traveling every weekend and probably couldn't have sustained that for much longer than we did, but at the time, we thought, 'This is once in a lifetime, and we're just going to do it and keep going and make it all work."
Along the way, Franco Dias has been grateful to be able to find ways to stay involved with her alma mater.
She is a member of the alumni council for the Real Estate and Finance Alliance within the GW School of Business, and her role at J.P. Morgan includes recruiting responsibilities, so she's been able to utilize her connections to provide information and opportunities to the next generation in Foggy Bottom. A recent highlight was organizing a career panel for GW Women in Business.
Supporting GW lacrosse, she co-founded an alumnae group to help connect former student-athletes spanning the program's 20 seasons. She works closely with Head Coach Jenny Ulehla and fellow alumnae Erin Berry ('05), Jenny (Heisler) Bernholz ('05), Mackenzie Jones ('15) and Bailey Forcier ('17) to plan events, including virtual programming through the COVID-19 pandemic, and she also shepherded the launch of a quarterly email newsletter – The Crease – to share updates with the group.
"It's been a lot of fun," Franco Dias said. "It's exciting to see that we're able to create some engagement that didn't exist before, and we look to turn that into something that can benefit the current student-athletes and younger alumni with mentorship or career connections as they're starting out."
With the GWAA Executive Committee, Franco Dias will serve a two-year term supporting initiatives and events designed to engage the alumni and campus communities. She's ready to get started, eager to make more memories centered around a place that remains special to her.
"I really do want to do as much as I can to give back to GW because it's made such a lasting impact in my life," Franco Dias said. "I personally got a lot out of my experience there, and I feel a strong connection still six years later."
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