In early January, seventeen CMC students traveled to New York for the 2011 Financial Economics Institute Networking Trip. Scott Yingling '11, one of the student organizers of the trip and a student research analyst, offers an account of the trip.
During the week of January 10, 2011, the Financial Economics Institute sponsored the eighth annual New York City Networking Trip, which provided an extraordinary learning experience for fourteen juniors and three seniors.
For the second year, the trip was organized by students. The student-run committee was comprised of a group of three seniors and one junior: Kaitlyn Desai '11, Nathan Doctor '11, Scott Yingling '11, and Jeff McNerney '12. The students met on a weekly basis to organize everything ranging from firm visits to networking events.
During the week, the students visited eight firms including: Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Canada, Wells Fargo, Deloitte Consulting, CitiGroup, and Goldman Sachs. In addition, they attended an opening cocktail party, an alumni reception dinner, and a young alumni panel.
The week in NYC began with an introductory cocktail reception, hosted by Alan Delsman '68 at his home in Brooklyn Heights. At the reception, students had hors d'oeuvres with several CMC alumni working in the field of finance.
On Tuesday morning, the students enjoyed breakfast with Scott Ashby '95 at Morgan Stanley. Mr. Ashby discussed his role as managing director, how the MS firm culture is different from other investment banks, and how a position in Debt Capital Markets is unique from other jobs within an investment bank. This discussion included Morgan Stanley's recent role in the government's regulatory changes. The students also enjoyed speaking with an analyst panel, where they asked questions about the transition from college to the first years on Wall Street.
Next, students visited Deutsche Bank's Credit Risk Management Department and had lunch with Alan Delsman '68, Managing Director; Rich Ferguson '80, Managing Director, Treasurer Americas; Tejas Gala '09, market risk management analyst; and Zain Jamal '10, credit risk management analyst. The students discussed the role of risk management in an investment bank and how to evaluate this risk, especially in the current economic environment.
In the afternoon, the students visited Citi and met with Doug Peterson '80, COO of Citibank. He gave the students a broad overview of Citigroup and spoke about his career path and international experiences that led him to his current position as COO of Citibank. The students also spoke with Ben Taborsky HMC '09 and CMC Robert Day Scholar '09, about his experiences as a quantitative trading analyst at Citi. Additionally, a panel of HR representatives fielded questions from the students about recruiting and internship opportunities.
On Tuesday evening, the students attended a CMC Alumni Association reception hosted by Doug Peterson '80 at Citi. Despite the looming snowstorm, the reception drew many members of the CMC community including current students, alumni, parents, and CMC faculty. The evening gave students an excellent opportunity to interact with alumni, establish contacts, and openly ask questions outside a formal business setting.
Wednesday morning, the students visited JP Morgan, where they were hosted by Peter Barker '70 P'01, the California head of JP Morgan; and Susie Kim '06, an analyst in San Francisco's Technology, Media, and Telecom group. Mr. Barker shared stories from his experience at CMC as well as his career path and answered questions from students. The students had the opportunity to speak with a panel of four analysts, which included Marc Rollins '07, an analyst in JP Morgan Private Banking in NYC, as well as two representatives from HR who discussed internships and the recruiting process.
On Wednesday afternoon, the students headed to Wells Fargo for lunch where they were hosted by Michael Cummings, managing director and business manager in the Securities & Investment Group for Wells Fargo Securities. The students also had a Q&A session with an analyst and associate. John Shrewsberry '87, executive vice president and group head of securities and investment group at Wells Fargo, was the alumni contact who made this trip possible.
This year was the second year that the students had a dinner with young alumni from the Claremont Colleges. Attending the dinner were Tejas Gala '09, market risk management analyst at Deutsche Bank; Erinn Lachner '07, associate project manager at Citi Global Transaction Services; Marc Rollins '07, analyst at JP Morgan Private Banking; Mike Karp '06, working in Business Insights at American Express; Susie Kim '06, analyst in San Francisco's Technology, Media, and Telecom group; and Kyle Salter '07, from the Human Capital Management Team at Goldman Sachs. These alums provided helpful advice on the interview process, anecdotes about work after CMC, and informal perspectives.
On Thursday, the final day of activities in New York City, students began their day by visiting Deloitte Consulting. Celia Ramos, senior manager; David Carney, principal; and Josh Siegel '10, business analyst, hosted the students at Deloitte. Following a presentation which provided an overview of the consulting industry, students participated in an analyst panel which enabled students to ask candid questions. The visit to Deloitte provided a great opportunity for the students to learn about the differences between consulting and banking.
Early Thursday afternoon, the group headed downtown to meet Robert Wetenhall '94, vice president, high yield research analyst U.S. Debt Markets, and Steve McGhee '95, senior trader in the Global Arbitrage Trading Group, to get an overview of Sales and Trading at the Royal Bank of Canada. Mr. Wetenhall gave the students a tour of the firm's trading floor, where scenes from the recent film Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps were shot.
The final visit was to Goldman Sachs where the students met with David Alvillar '01, vice president in Capital Structure Finance Trading; and Andrew Kaiser P'13, COO of the Goldman Sachs Bank. Kaiser discussed some of the bank's broader strategies in addition to Goldman's role in the recent governmental and regulatory changes facing the finance world. Alvillar introduced students to the organization and culture of Goldman Sachs as well as an array of opportunities within the bank. Kyle Salter '07, from the Human Capital Management team discussed the recruiting process and internship possibilities with the students.
This year, Deutsche Bank, RBC, and Goldman Sachs interviewed students while they were in New York. Several students have already secured summer internships based on interviews and connections made in New York. Two students will be joining RBC this summer one as an equity research analyst and one as an investment banking analyst and one student will be joining Goldman Sachs as an investment banking analyst.
The eighth annual New York City Networking Trip was a great success. It tied a record set by last year's trip in the number of firms visited, spanning consulting, investment banking, sales and trading, and asset management. The breadth of firms allowed students to gain a greater insight into the many different opportunities within the field of finance, and the experience will prove invaluable as the students work to establish their careers in finance.
--Scott Yingling '11, FEI Student Research Analyst