Harbus

Issue date: 1/14/08 Section: News

On Saturday, November 17th, Spangler and Aldrich took on a new life as Wall Street professionals, government officials, academics, and students from the Harvard community and a dozen other major business schools convened for the 2007 Harvard Business School Finance Conference. The conference featured a combination of speeches and Q&A from prominent industry professionals, panel discussions probing into current industry trends, and a recruiting fair and social reception to allow students to directly interact with potential employers. And as anyone familiar with large event planning can attest, hosting a conference requires an incredible level of work and dedication that no single individual can manage - fortunately, the HBS crew was up to the task.

To this, Jason Kreuziger (OJ), co-president of the HBS Finance Club noted "the club could not have executed this event without the incredible amount of support from our peers and future colleagues. The club and this conference have offered an opportunity to put into practice a number of the skills learned in the HBS classroom. Without question, having a dedicated team with people like Johnita Mizelle (OF) and Andrew Saunders (OE) made all the difference. This experience forces one to appreciate how diverse leadership styles can be effective. To this, striking the balance between providing autonomy while establishing and executing on clearly defined objectives was key to our ultimate success."

Rytis Vitkauskas (OF), co-president of the club, added "In some ways we got lucky to have the right people on board, but the depth of our team allowed us to run the entire event without a major incident. We have also conducted ex-post meetings and polls with both the planning team and attending students to determine what went well, identify areas of improvement and document best practices for the institutional memory of the club to carry forward in future academic years."

The day itself was a great opportunity for students to learn from those who have already experienced successful Wall Street careers. Leading off the keynote speakers was Professor Clayton Rose, Chairman of Highbridge Capital, JP Morgan's $32Bn hedge fund, and a Senior Lecturer at HBS. A memorable piece Mr. Rose's speech was his response to the question of what someone graduating from HBS should pursue professionally. His response: "Equities in Dallas", a callback to the famous book "Liar's Poker", which he explained to represent to us that HBS students should do whatever they are passionate about, and that is where they will find their greatest success.

Continued...

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