First Annual Caltech Finance Open House Brings Together Students and Alumni

With the aim of connecting Caltech alumni with students interested in internships and careers in finance, the first annual Finance Open House took place on October 12. The afternoon featured informational career sessions with alumni finance professionals, a keynote lecture, and a reception. The event, open to all Caltech undergraduate and graduate students, was sponsored by The Ronald and Maxine Linde Institute of Economic and Management Sciences and the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences.

The day's activities kicked off with one-on-one informational interviews for students with alumni who, after earning science and engineering degrees, went on to build successful careers in finance. Participating alumni included:

• Sam Barnett (BS '12), Founder and Chief Executive Officer, SBB Research Group
• Samantha Foster (BS '98), Senior Investment Analyst, USC Investment Office
• Rosemary Macedo (BS '87), Chief Investment Officer, QS Investors, LLC
• Andrew Westhead (PhD '05), Director in the Global Execution Services Group, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
• Xiaolei Zhu (BS '90), Portfolio Manager, Cubist Systematic Strategies

Keynote speaker Arturo Cifuentes (MS '81, PhD '85) is an adjunct professor of business at Columbia University and a research associate at CLAPES UC in Santiago, Chile. He spent 15 years on Wall Street working on fixed income, asset management, derivatives, and securitization. His varied career included working as an investment banker, hedge fund manager, risk analyst, scientist, university professor, consultant, and newspaper columnist.

In his talk, Cifuentes traced a brief history of finance and examined how far we have yet to go in developing accurate financial and economic models. Citing four examples—DCF valuation, unfunded pension liabilities, systemic risk, and the rise of quantitative funds—Cifuentes shared his insights into how Caltech students are particularly well prepared to help address such diverse and high-impact challenges. 

Following the keynote lecture, an informal reception in Dabney Garden provided alumni, students, and faculty with time to continue the discussion. Many students used this as an opportunity to network with the participating alumni.