{"id":7218,"date":"2024-03-07T09:00:44","date_gmt":"2024-03-07T15:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/?p=7218"},"modified":"2024-03-05T11:17:12","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T17:17:12","slug":"dukes-finance-students-get-a-taste-of-the-big-apple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/2024\/03\/07\/dukes-finance-students-get-a-taste-of-the-big-apple\/","title":{"rendered":"Dukes Finance Students Get a Taste of the Big Apple"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Most trips to New York City involve plenty of sightseeing, tours, shows and musicals, and expensive trips to some of the world\u2019s best restaurants. They don\u2019t usually involve sit-down meetings with some of the top financial minds in the country. But that was the design of a trip to New York last fall for eight students in ACU\u2019s Dukes School of Finance.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Those students \u2013 seven of whom are in the first cohort of the Dukes Scholars \u2013 were led on the trip by Dr. Jonathan Stewart, professor in the Dukes School of Finance. Stewart has been taking students to New York for several years, allowing them to visit some of the top financial institutions in the world and ask questions of the leaders of those companies to find out what it takes to make it in New York.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stewart and his students were in New York from Oct. 18-22, visiting with leaders from Bank of America, Evercore, Court Square Capital Partners, Tiger Global Management, RBC Capital Markets, and Goldman Sachs. They toured Nasdaq and met with some of the leadership of the second-largest stock exchange in the world. They also met with a panel of young professionals in the finance industry who are members of the Manhattan Church of Christ.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe had an opportunity to encourage and inspire those students to work in New York or another financial center,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cIt\u2019s all happening there (in New York), and we put our students in front of many talented people on the trip.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of students interested in investment banking, so going to Goldman Sachs and Royal Bank\"\" Canada (RBC) was great for them,\u201d he said. \u201cWe went into RBC, where they set us up in the conference room, and we had people talking to us who were dealing in high-level investments and acquisitions daily.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur students were able to interact with a wide range of people who had made a career out of that field, but also some in the room who were just a year or two older than our current students,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cThat gave them a chance to interact with and ask questions of someone close to their age.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kaylee Smoot, a native of Corona, California, who will graduate in May with her Master\u2019s in Accounting, said the time spent with executives of some of the top financial institutions in the country was invaluable.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat time was priceless,\u201d Smoot said. \u201cWe heard from many executives, including from specialized private equity firms and international finance companies, and even received a tour of the Goldman Sachs Headquarters. We had students ranging from first-year to graduate level, and we were each able to walk away with invaluable knowledge about what opportunities awaited us in our future careers.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Stewart said he always gets help from ACU alums in the financial industry, using their connections and contacts with industry leaders in New York to set up the trip. One of those ACU graduates who helped this year was COBA alum Steve Swinney (\u201894), based in Colorado and the CEO of Kodiak Building Partners who tapped his contacts in New York to meet with students from his alma mater.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Swinney said he hoped his contacts showed the ACU students all that is possible for them in finance.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Dukes School of Finance at ACU is a tremendous opportunity for finance students to have so many career doors opened to them that maybe they haven\u2019t had in the past,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted them exposed to all that is possible for them. They must know their ACU education is preparing them for great things. We need excellent Christian finance leaders in the business world.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A crucial part of the trip for Stewart and Smoot was discussing how faith and business mix. Stewart said that while making connections was paramount for the students, allowing those students to see that faith and high finance can mix was just as important. That\u2019s why the panel with professed Christians who are also leaders in the financial industry was part of the tour. The time shared at Manhattan Church of Christ was to ensure the ACU students left New York knowing their faith wouldn\u2019t be trampled in the City That Never Sleeps.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTaking your faith into the business world might look different in New York than it would in Abilene or\"\" Dallas because there are so many perspectives and different points of view in a big city than in a place like Abilene,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cBut to see there\u2019s a place for Christian businessmen and businesswomen to function and contribute and be part of that world was, hopefully, a healthy opportunity for our students.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Smoot, who hopes to secure a financial analyst position in Dallas after graduation, said those conversations were the most important to her on the trip.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn recent decades, we have seen the damage immoral and unethical behavior can do in the finance industry, with many people’s livelihoods still suffering the consequences,\u201d she said. \u201cTo receive an education that equips you with the knowledge to be successful in finance while grounding you with Christ-centered values strengthens your chances of being a light for Christ in a world and industry that desperately needs it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe already see an example of this in the STAR course offered at ACU, a student-managed investment fund I had the honor of leading last semester,\u201d Smoot said. \u201cWe are exposed to real-world dilemmas involving not only the quantitative side of the stock market but also the qualitative side of the finance industry as we discuss the financial and ethical motivations behind different investments we make on behalf of the university.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

New York City comes with preconceived notions, from the friendliness of its citizens to the high cost of living to safety. But by sitting down with those industry leaders, touring Nasdaq, taking in a show on Broadway, going through the 9\/11 Museum, and giving the students time to explore the city, Stewart said he hopes the students began to see New York in a new light.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cWe wanted the students to make real connections, and when you have eight students sitting in a room with three or four investment bankers, that\u2019s a great opportunity,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cThey had a real chance to talk to them, to exchange business cards, and network. There are so many stereotypes of New York, but it\u2019s one of the world\u2019s great cities, and having the <\/span>experience of moving around and riding the subway and seeing the landmarks and everything that goes along with New York City was so much fun to share with those students. We see the cutthroat part of the financial industry in the movies and on TV all the time, and some of that is probably true. But many people are out there doing things the right way and have a faith background and a belief system, and they put that in action every day.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And for Smoot, putting some of those preconceived ideas to rest was just as important as anything else she took away from the trip.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you think of Wall Street, you may imagine exhausted employees working 100-plus hours a week, day trading at a giant corporation that becomes their only identity,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m happy I walked away realizing that while the finance industry in New York does require hard work and long hours, those individuals still have a life. And many of their companies offer impressive on-site benefits to assist with the burden long workdays may exert on them. It makes someone’s dream of working on Wall Street shift from daunting to doable, as long as you are willing to still chase after it.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And each trip Stewart leads helps to re-energize him, he said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI love going to New York and being in the middle of everything,\u201d said Stewart, who thanked Swinney, David\"\" Swearingen, and Jim Litton (\u201801) for their help in setting up the schedule of tours and visits. \u201cIt\u2019s the heart of the financial world, especially in our country. I learn something new on every trip, and I come back energized, inspired, and thinking about ways I can incorporate what we\u2019ve learned on the trips into what we\u2019re learning in the classroom. It inspires me to stand in front of our students and encourage them to dream big and do what they want to do because they can make it happen. We are fortunate to have many people here and ACU friends and family willing to help make that happen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most trips to New York City involve plenty of sightseeing, tours, shows and musicals, and expensive trips to some of the world\u2019s best restaurants. They don\u2019t usually involve sit-down meetings with some of the top financial minds in the country. But that was the design of a trip to New York last fall for eight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5020,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[818,2749,6633,2758,2750,206740,184657,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academics","category-careers-in","category-coba-faculty","category-college-decisions","category-current-students","category-dukes-school-of-finance","category-financial-management","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5020"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7218"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7231,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7218\/revisions\/7231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}