Wall Street Connections Series Gives Students Chance to Learn About Careers in Finance from Top Executives
Some of Wall Street鈥檚 most successful executives and money managers, many of whom are alumni, engaged undergraduate students at an industry forum and networking event on campus in October.
Since it was established three years ago, the Wall Street Connections Series has offered students insight into financial careers and the opportunity to build relationships with the people who might one day hire them. The events are collaboratively organized by YU's Career Development Center and the Sy Syms School of Business Student Council, who partner with the Wall Street Committee, a group of alumni working in finance, to recruit professionals to address the students.
For Riva Wachsman, a finance major at Stern College for Women, the event鈥攁nd the contacts and exposure it led to鈥攔eaped rewards in the form of a job as an analyst at Citigroup that she will begin after she graduates next year. She met Evelyn Havasi-Stavsky 鈥82S, 鈥85C, managing director and global head of Citigroup鈥檚 Asset Finance Group, at a Wall Street Connections panel two years ago and reached out to her for guidance about careers in finance. With some determination, Wachsman landed a summer internship in Citi鈥檚 capital markets origination division.
鈥淚t is not every day that someone of Riva鈥檚 caliber comes along,鈥 said Havasi-Stavsky, who serves on Stern鈥檚 Board and has a daughter enrolled at the school. 鈥淪he is the full package: bright, articulate and charming, with top quality grades, leadership qualities and great experience. I knew that she would be an asset and a great representative of YU graduates.鈥
Havasi-Stavsky knows what it takes to succeed in this field. The Stern College alumnus oversees 50 executives and manages a portfolio in excess of two billion dollars. She has a successful track record of closing highly complex structured transactions.
鈥淓velyn is a role model for me,鈥 Wachsman said. 鈥淭here are very few women who do the work she does, especially observant women. It is hard to work in investment banking and still have a life, but this is someone who does that and takes the time to help people like me. She gave me a lot of encouragement and advice. If it weren鈥檛 for her, I wouldn鈥檛 be starting at Citi in the fall.鈥
Havasi-Stavsky co-chairs YU鈥檚 Wall Street Committee with Lawrence Askowitz 鈥87YC, managing partner at Gabriel Advisors LLC. They help bring speakers in from across the spectrum of careers in finance to give students a broader picture of opportunities in operations, sales and trading, private equity, investment banking, and mergers and acquisitions.
October鈥檚 event featured panelists who represented a broad swath of careers in finance, including the keynote speaker Tobias Levkovich, managing director and chief U.S. equity strategist at Citi Investment Research, and Andrew Herenstein 鈥84YC, managing principal of Monarch Alternative Capital LP.
鈥淚n this difficult economy, it鈥檚 more important than ever for students to build relationships with people already working in the trenches,鈥 said Askowitz, who reported that the panelists were impressed with the quality of the students they spoke with. 鈥淲e can be a resource for them to learn about financial careers in a way that goes beyond what they can get in the classroom.鈥
