What Good Does Wall Street Do?

The 3rd Annual Sales and Trading Summit was held on October 29, 2009. The evening began with an introduction of Dean Gary Fraser, delivered by the Sales and Trading club's Summit Executive Vice President, Jennifer Tsai. Dean Fraser then spoke to the attendees about Stern's move from the Wall Street location to its current location on 4th Street. Dean Fraser explained that back in the early 90's, Sales and Trading was Stern's core recruiting area. He applauded the strength of the relationships that continue to exist between the Wall Street firms and Stern.

The keynote speaker for the evening, Professor Roy C. Smith, kicked his presentation off with a touch of humor, wishing the crowd luck in their pursuit of a career in Sales in Trading in light of the challenges for the industry throughout the economic downturn. Professor Smith began his career on Wall Street forty-three years ago. Who better then to speak to attendees about the myths and truths of Wall Street? The focus of Professor Smith's presentation addressed the following question: "What good does Wall Street Do?". To illustrate his response, he explained how inventions, such as the railroad, would have been useless without the money to pay for them.

Professor Smith spoke about the Wall Street professionals who comprise a global capital market of $130 Trillion, roughly ten times the size of the United States GDP. These professionals are the intermediaries between the owners and the users of capital. Professor Smith compared the Sales and Trading professionals of Wall Street to the Alex Rodriguez's of baseball. His speech was inspiring and humorous and set the tone for the evening.

During dinner, a panel discussion with representatives from the Sales and Trading Club's Gold Sponsors was led by Tammy Simmons, Senior Associate Director and Senior Career Counselor from Stern's Office of Career Development. Panelists included Philip Giordano and Vinod Addidam, both of Deutsche Bank, and Fritz Meunch and Banjamin Canet, both of UBS. The panelists began by introducing themselves and telling the conference attendees about their backgrounds. Phil, Vinod, and Ben are all Stern alumni.

The panel continued with a discussion of topics about finding your fit within Sales and Trading, the affects of the economic downturn, and characteristics of a successful recruit. The panelists also touched on the role of mentors throughout their careers, what it takes to successfully lead their businesses, and what they would have done differently throughout recruiting and their careers. The panel concluded with a bit of parting advice from each of the panelists.

After dinner, attendees moved to a second location for an evening of networking with the conference sponsors. Students had the opportunity to reconnect with many of the corporate representatives they had met over the past month at corporate presentations. They also met representatives from the Sales and Trading club's newest sponsor, Nomura.

Conference attendees included current Stern students from the Sales and Trading club and the Association of Investment Management and Research and corporate representatives, many of whom were Stern alumni, from seven of the club's sponsor companies. The Summit was sponsored by UBS, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Nomura. A special thanks to Jennifer Tsai and James Vlahakis, this year's Summit Vice Presidents, for working so hard to make the evening possible.