Finance Open House Introduces Caltech Students to Alumni in Finance

The financial services industry is powered by people from a wide range of fields—not just business and economics. Financial firms need engineers who can build their computer networks, mathematicians who can develop stock-trading algorithms, and writers who can prepare press releases, for example.

On October 12, The Ronald and Maxine Linde Institute of Economic and Management Sciences and the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences hosted the second annual finance open house to give students the opportunity to learn about how a Caltech education fits in a finance career path.

The afternoon began with a series of one-on-one informational interview sessions between Caltech students and alumni from a diversity of majors who work in finance. The day was capped off with a keynote lecture by Luis Reyna (PhD '83 Applied Mathematics), chief credit officer at DBRS, a credit-rating agency based in Canada. Reyna recounted his experience in the industry during the 2008 financial crisis, which took down some of the biggest players in the field, including Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and Merrill Lynch.

Other alumni participating in the sessions with students included:

• James Gerard (MS '83, PhD '85 Social Science)
  Team Lead, Global Asset Allocation
  Investment Research at Fidelity Investments
  
  
• Robert Gingrich (MS '98, PhD '02 Physics)
  Manager of Derivatives and Alternatives Risk and the QIS Group
  Western Asset Management
  
  
• Eduardo Repetto (PhD '98 Aeronautics)
  Former Director, Co-Chief Executive Officer, and Co-Chief Investment Officer
  Dimensional Fund Advisors