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Student Seminars & Workshops
Throughout the academic year, students had various opportunities to participate in various workshops and seminars to build off of what they were learning in and outside of the classroom. These workshops and seminars are taught by practitioners, alumni, and partners such as Wall Street Prep.
ESSENTIALS OF VALUE INVESTING
Select undergraduate and graduate students participated in a yearlong seminar series with Gary Mishuris, CFA, Managing Partner and CIO of Silver Ring Value Partners. Throughout the seminar, readings, such as Benjamin Graham’s Security Analysis and Warren Buffett’s partnership letters, are used to discuss the investing philosophies and processes of successful value investors. Students can use the insights from the readings to build their value-investing framework that is internally consistent and suited to their strengths.
ESSENTIALS OF PRIVATE EQUITY
During the fall 2021 semester, 16 undergraduate students successfully completed the semester-long seminar series. Led by several private equity practitioners, the seminar provided an in-depth understanding of private equity with sessions devoted to prospecting, valuation, LBO modeling, negotiating skills, and the lifecycle of private equity investments. Through interactive discussions and case studies, students were able to develop the skills necessary to pursue a career in private equity and be better prepared for the interview process. Special thank you to our seminar instructors:
» Steve Achatz ‘07, Vice President, Great Hill Partners » Mark Jrolf ‘86, Managing Senior Partner, New Heritage Capital » Eric Lee ’16, Senior Associate, Abry Partners » Rob Nicewicz ‘07, Partner, Abry Partners » Jessica Reed ‘03, Partner, Alta Equity Partners » Tim Yantz ‘01, Partner, Meadow Partners
INVESTING IN YOURSELF
This three-part professional development series hosted by the Cutler Center featured the following workshops for undergraduate and graduate students:
RESUME WRITING WORKSHOP WITH JOE SPINELLI ‘98 FINANCIAL MODELING WORKSHOP FROM WALL STREET PREP
This virtual resume workshop, led by Joe Spinelli ’98, Execution Services Head (Americas) at Millennium Management, was designed for finance students who wanted to learn from a practitioner how to best showcase their experience and skills to improve their chances of securing internship and job opportunities. Mr. Spinelli walked through example resumes to provide helpful tips for formatting and discussed some common mistakes that he sees when reviewing candidates’ resumes. Designed for students looking to break into the finance industry, this Financial and Valuation Modeling Boot Camp from Wall Street Prep helped bridge the gap between academics and the real world by teaching students how to build models the way it’s done on the job. This is the same training used to prepare incoming analysts at top financial institutions.
The writing for finance workshop, led by Jason Orlosky ’04, Chief Strategist & Managing Director at Bridgeway Wealth Partners, was designed for students interested in writing a professional investment research report and exploring how to tailor their writing for a variety of different formats. Students learned how to effectively structure a research report, covering what information should be included, how the process comes together, and tips and tricks for enhancing their reports. Students also spent time discussing how to write and communicate their research effectively in a variety of different formats – how to draw out the key points to discuss, how to send them via email, and even how to turn the information into a blog post.
STUDENTS HEAD TO OMAHA FOR THE BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY ANNUAL SHAREHOLDERS MEETING
As the spring semester wound down, nine Babson College finance students boarded a plane to Omaha, Nebraska, en route to the 2022 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders Meeting, expecting to hear Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger discuss business philosophies, thoughts on industry trends, and their famed company’s recent business transactions.
While that was on the agenda, this group of eager students now found themselves in the same room as some of the biggest business names of the last few decades.
“Literally sat 20 feet away from Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Jamie Dimon,
Tim Cook, Bill Gates, Mohnish Pabrai, and the senior management team of countless Berkshire Companies. Even on just the flight over from Boston, we sat next to doctors, pilots, and fund managers, all of whom were heading to Omaha.”
– Peter D’Ambrosio ’24
D’Ambrosio—along with Pavan Anandani MS’22, Alex Bowers ’25, Tyson Corner ’22, Nick Michaud ’24, Gabriel Papa ’23, Arya Patel ’24, Nathan Watts ’23, and Ryan Watts ’23 —attended as part of a sponsorship program from the Stephen D. Cutler Center for Investments and Finance. A special thank you to our alumni who also provided financial support for this group. The event brought together more than 40,000 investors, fund managers, founders, and other industry professionals ready to find renewed business energy and share ideas across ages and disciplines.
