FUTURE INVESTMENTS

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NYC field trip encourages students to consider finance careers

Knowing what to do with their new degrees can be a challenge for students. This past April, alumni Peter Gingold PAM ’96, Jeremy Herz PAM ’98 and Michael Siegel PAM ’97, teamed up to organize, host and fund student travel and accommodations for a two-day finance field trip in New York City. The trip offered eight freshmen and sophomores in Policy Analysis and Management the chance to learn about various careers in finance.

Gingold, managing director of Angelo, Gordon & Co., remembers what it felt like to be unsure of the next steps. “I came from a small town outside of Syracuse,” he said. “I didn’t know what it meant to work on Wall Street or be an investment banker or bond trader. That was foreign to me. I really wanted to provide an outlet for students who don’t have any understanding of Wall Street.”

The trip consists of an informal reception, meant to expose students to a diversity of ideas and experiences of finance alumni living in the city, and then visiting the offices of each participating alumnus to learn about a variety of careers paths within the industry.

For Siegel, president and CEO of RBC Alternative Asset Management and a managing director at RBC Capital Markets, the trip was a way to encourage students to consider careers in finance. “The interdisciplinary programs at the College of Human Ecology provide students with an excellent foundation for careers in finance, but financial services is not a common career path for graduates,” he said.

Siegel said he was pleased by the quality of students who applied and were accepted for the field trip. “The students represented the College very well,” he said. “They were attentive, personable and asked thoughtful questions. Their preparation allowed for meaningful engagement with the RBC employees.”

Herz, managing director of the credit team for MSD Partners, said he is already looking forward to next year’s finance field trip. “We got some great feedback from the students,” he said. “It was the first year of the program, so going forward we’ll make some modifications, but overall it was a good experience and students showed a lot of interest.”

Alumni considering hosting students for internships and externships, providing invaluable experiential learning opportunities for student career exploration, may contact heaad@cornell.edu for more information.

“As alumni, we have a responsibility to provide resources and help when we can,” Gingold said. “The students appreciate it, the school, the dean and the alumni affairs office really appreciate it, and it’s a great way to provide another resource to make Cornell even better than it already is. Many of us are successful post-Cornell and this is an easy way to give back our time and money to a really worthy cause.”

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