Conference Offers
Valuable Exposure
to Finance Industry

More than 60 students, alumni, and faculty of The Claremont Colleges met for the Third Annual Claremont Finance Conference earlier this month, an event designed to give current students exposure to the finance industry and network with professionals.
The event opened with a lunchtime address at the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum, featuring keynote speaker Harry McMahon '75 P'08 P'09, and was followed by two panels and a networking reception at Scripps College.
McMahon, executive vice chairman at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch and chairman of the Claremont McKenna College Board of Trustees, discussed the role of government regulations in the economic crisis and, among other helpful suggestions, encouraged students to become engaged in finance issues, develop a passion for not-for-profit causes, become specialized, and adopt a winning attitude.
The first panelists, Julie (Spellman) Sweet '89, a partner at Cravath, Swain & Moore LLP; Ryan Haight '00, portfolio associate at Wells Fargo Asset-Based Lending Group; and John Barrymore, managing partner and chairman at 6Pacific Partners; talked about new banking regulations and rating agencies. The panelists discussed how new regulations would fail to correct important issuesfor example, the lack of transparency in rating agencies.
The second group of panelists, David Ward, senior vice president, senior portfolio manager, U.S. Trust Bank of America Private Wealth Management; Patrick Shim '04, principal, The Bluepine Group; and Eric Bright '04, vice president, Bel Air Investment Advisors LLC; discussed wealth management. The panel answered audience questions about investment portfolio diversification, the impact of demographics in emerging markets on investment returns, and due diligence when selecting an investment.
The Oct. 2 conference concluded with a networking reception at the Scripps College Humanities Lounge.
The Claremont Finance Conference was organized by students from the five undergraduate colleges. The following Claremont McKenna College students served on the planning committee: Nik Miller '10, Nick Sparks '10, Amanda Yang '10, and Yuchen Zhang '10. The following Claremont McKenna College departments sponsored the event: The Robert Day School of Economics and Finance, the Financial Economic Institute, the Office of the President, the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations, and the Career Services Center. Tiffany Williams '05