March
29, 2002
Alumnae
and Students Organize Business, Finance, and Technology Conference
Set For March 30
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Photo: Fred LeBlanc
Ninon
Marapachi '02 (middle front) and (left to right) Afreen
Ali '04, Adity Mutsuddi '04 , Nandita Singh '03, Clarissa
Koh '04, and Alina Zhaliazniak '04 were among the students
who spent spring break on campus working with the MHC Business
and Technology Alumnae Mentors to organize a business, finance,
and technology conference to be held at the College March
30.
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It's a conference
that you can't afford to miss if you are interested in a career
in anything from investment management to media relations. Not
only will there be industry tutorials and career panels on topics
that include technology, law, investment management, media and
entertainment, investment banking, advertising and marketing,
nonprofit organizations, and venture capital, but the conference
will provide opportunities to network with alumnae and other professionals
who are in prominent positions within these and other fields.
In addition, there will be four keynote panels: "Overview
of Careers in the World of Business, Finance, and Technology";"Career
Planning in Difficult Times: Finding the Right Job/Internship/Career";
"How to Be a Star at Work: Success Strategies in the Workplace";
and "Managing Risk and Uncertainty: Mentoring, Networking,
and Active Career Management in College and Beyond."
MHC's first business,
finance, and technology conference, which will also include a
case study on the "Internet bubble" and Internet businesses,
will be held Saturday, March 30, from 9 am to 6:30 pm in several
campus locations. The opening keynote, which is scheduled for
9 am, will be held in Gamble Auditorium. The entire MHC community
is welcome to attend. Speakers and panelists for the conference
include the following alumnae: LaVida Dowdell '74, a veteran
of the marketing and advertising sector with stints at Showtime
Networks and Ogilvy and Mather; Ayesha Vera Yu '97, a vice
president at BNP Paribas; Amanda L. Davis '00, an associate
publicist at Routledge; Farah D. Khan '98, an associate with
Apax Partners (a leading private equity/venture capital firm);
Leylac M. Pekin '00 of Duval & Stachenfeld LLP; Ekaterina
V. Aleksandrova '00 of JP Morgan Chase's Structured
Finance Group; Yuliya S. Smyk '00 of Morgan Stanley's
Commodities Trading Group; Raluca Z. Dalea '01 of JP Morgan
Fleming's Investment Management Group; and Evguenia A. Sokolova
'01 of JP Morgan's Global Risk Management Group. Patrick
Nee, chief technology officer at BenefitPort and cofounder of
a boutique options analysis software firm, will also serve as
a panelist.
These speakers and
others, including current students, will participate in simultaneous
presentation-discussion sessions held on specific career possibilities,
as well as give overviews of the industry/sector landscape, success
strategies, and insights on how to enter and succeed in different
jobs in these different industry/sectors. Conference topics were
developed from student feedback and research on the internship
and job market for different career sectors.
The conference was
initiated by Analisa L. Balares '99 and brought to fruition
by the MHC Business and Technology Alumnae Mentors, a volunteer
group of alumnae that helps students and each other advance in
the fields of business, finance, and technology, in collaboration
with several student organizations (the Finance Women's Network,
the Economics Club, The Network, the Computer Science Club, the
International Club, and the Asian Students Association). Balares,
Aleksandrova, Smyk, Vera-Yu, and their friends founded the alumnae
mentoring group two years ago, and its members frequently return
to MHC to present panel discussions on everything from how to
secure an internship to the unspoken expectations of corporate
culture.
Balares is director
of development and new ventures for Milestone Capital Management,
formerly in high technology investment banking at Goldman Sachs,
and a veteran of the prestigious Sponsors for Educational Opportunity
(SEO) program, commonly known as the undergraduate boot camp of
finance. As a student at MHC, Balares completed numerous internships,
including one with Morgan Stanley's investment banking division's
global energy group and another with the World Trade Organization's
Economic Research Group in Geneva, Switzerland.
"What we are
trying to do with this conference is bring the best practices
from various professional conferences for women, such as the annual
Harvard Women in Business Conference, Columbia Women in Business
Conference, Women in Wall Street Conference, and the 85 Broads
conference [85 Broads is a global, independent network organization
of more than two thousand former and current Goldman Sachs women],"
says Balares. "We also want to bring the benefits and privileges
of training from programs like SEO. These training programs and
conferences represent the highest standards for events and programs
of their kind, and we want to bring them to MHC. They are rigorous,
highly effective, and enable participants to be much more competitive
given the difficult market environment."
Ninon Marapachi '02
has already cracked the "difficult market environment"
and cofounded the Finance Women's Network with her friend Sara
Menker '04 as a way of "giving back." The senior, who
is majoring in economics and minoring in the fundamentals of problem
solving, already has a job secured at Merrill Lynch after graduation.
"Since my first year at MHC, I have been trying to learn
as much as possible about different career paths so that I would
make the right decision when I graduated," she says. "I
went to career fairs. I also talked to students about how to secure
an internship. They helped me a lot; however, most of them did
not have much information about the many different career paths
available, so I was limited to investment banking. I managed to
secure an internship at Merrill Lynch in my sophomore year. After
my internship was over, I realized that I wanted to work in the
equity derivatives department at Merrill Lynch. It was the job
I had always dreamed of: fast paced, challenging, and exciting.
Upon my return to MHC, I decided to organize the MHC Financial
Women's Network to help others learn about the different types
of careers available in the financial sector. The network has
collaborated with the alumnae mentors to organize this conference
to give students exposure to different career fields. I think
it's great."
Says Balares, "We
believe that more knowledge enables us to make better decisions
about our lives and our future. Honest feedback and insights from
those in the trenches (i.e., alumnae and students who have struggled
through interviewing for jobs) will enable students to make important
judgments regarding their lives and careers effectively. We also
believe that strengthening the networks and linkages between students
and alumnae professionals in business, finance, and technology
will help students to become better informed about industries
they are interested in and be exposed to richer opportunities
in terms of internships, jobs, and strategies for success."
In addition to the
groups mentioned above, the following offices are sponsoring the
conference: the dean of students office, the Alumnae Association,
the Career Development Center, and the departments of economics,
computer science, and German studies. For details about the conference,
contact Ninon Marapachi at x5232.
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