Atlanta Spotlight | Will Troutman

By Staff Writer Atlanta Trend

• Oct 01, 2023

Harvard undergraduate Will Troutman, Roswell born and raised, is excited about returning to Atlanta after graduation. “I can’t wait to get back home,” he says. “There’s no better place to start a business career than Atlanta.”

Will has learned many things at Harvard, but one discovery in particular was unexpected. “There’re a lot of people from all over the world at Harvard. It was a bit of a surprise to learn that everyone knows about Atlanta and what a great city it is,” he said. “They all seemed to know, and respect, the history of the city as a melting pot of diversity and civil rights. It makes me all the more proud to be from Atlanta and I want to do everything I can to help it grow.”

There is a cohort of Atlantans at Harvard that Will got to know quite well. “We’re all Atlanta proud and not afraid to talk about it,” he says. “I’m on the football team and one Atlanta teammate I got to know well was Truman Jones.  As a fellow Atlantan, Truman introduced himself to me the first time I set foot on campus as a recruit. Truman played for Westminster before Harvard.  He was our team captain last year and is now trying his luck with the Kansas City Chiefs.”

Will has always been interested in sports, history and anything related to business. He started playing tackle football in 3rd grade and never stopped. He was always a strong student and admits that his parents encouraged him along the way. “They didn’t have to push too much,” he says. “I’ve always been competitive by nature and never seem to hit cruise control.”

Sports have probably been a big factor in making him competitive. Growing up he engaged in football, baseball, basketball, crossfit and other sports. He was always doing something.

Will had nine offers to play football from colleges, including Harvard, Columbia, North Carolina and Davidson. “I decided to go for high academics because I thought it would help prepare me better for life after football, “ he says.

Majoring in economics at Harvard, Will says that the style of teaching and learning there was not what he had expected. “In class they tell you ‘These are the things that you need to know, and then, here is a problem for you to solve. Come back to class with a solution,’” he says. 

“And then we go and figure it out. Sometimes there is a right answer and sometimes there is no right answer, just selecting the least bad option. It’s all problem solving and critical thinking, learning to ‘do hard’ better. It has definitely helped me to make decisions on hard problems much more quickly,” he says.

Fluent in Japanese, Will is a member of the Japanese National Honor Society from 2018-20 and also a member of the US National Honors Society. He enjoys fishing, golf and working out in his spare time.

For the future, Will isn’t sure if he wants a career in investment banking or commercial real estate, but “I am sure that I want to do it in Atlanta,” he says. Will Interned in Transwestern’s Atlanta office this past summer, on their Transaction Sciences team.

He can’t wait to get back. “I have so many friends in Athens and at Georgia Tech and we have definitely kept up with each other,” he says. “On return trips, when I see the King and Queen towers, that’s when I know I’m home.”