One aspect of Booth that keeps surprising me day after day is the incredible access to speakers on campus. On any given day, it is not unusual to find multiple top executives, entrepreneurs, and investors from all corners of the business world on campus sharing their experience and advice with students.
One recent example of this is the Investment Management Conference put on by Booth’s Investment Management Group. It’s not often that you can get CIOs of two of the world’s largest asset managers (Mark Kiesel, MBA ’96, of PIMCO and John Linehan, of T. Rowe Price) as well as many other world-renowned investors – such as John Rogers (Chairman and CEO of Ariel Investments, UChicago Trustee) and Mary Pierson, MBA ’82 (Co-CEO of Fairpointe Capital) – under one roof to discuss their investment philosophies and the changing landscape within asset management, and share their advice with Boothies looking to start careers in the industry.
As one of the co-chairs of Booth’s Investment Management Group (IMG), I had a small part in planning this event, along with a number of my fellow classmates. Here are a few of my takeaways along the way.
Planning an event like this is no walk in the park!
While many of my classmates had pre-MBA jobs which involved event planning, for me this was a first. This was one of those outside-the-classroom learning opportunities that a place like Booth provides. Along with my fellow co-chairs and other IMG members, we booked a venue, set the agenda, sourced speakers, reached out to alumni and local professionals, and marketed the event to students. It was truly rewarding to see the event with 150+ attendees go off without a hitch!
Booth is truly a finance destination
Not only was the caliber of speakers absolutely incredible, but they were all eager to come and be a part of this conference and share their views with us Boothies. Aside from students, our attendee list also included a large number of industry professionals who were intrigued by Booth’s reputation for thought leadership in the world of finance.
Investment Management is changing, and along with it, students’ interests
The diversity of speakers from all areas of the asset management world reflect the changing face of the industry. The conference included speakers from traditional mutual funds and asset managers, but also experts in REITs, emerging markets, quantitative strategies, and impact investing. All of these are areas which Boothies are looking to break into, and it was a great opportunity to get to survey the industry all in one day.
