Hamilton’s semi-annual Wall Street Association meeting on Oct. 5, featured a discussion on the current state of the global capital markets with a panel comprised of alumni experts. The event at the Racquet and Tennis Club in Midtown Manhattan was moderated by Susan Skerritt K’77, P’11, Executive Vice President of Treasury Services at The Bank of New York Mellon. Panelists included Harold Bogle ’75, P’14, Managing Director and Global Head of Financial Sponsor Coverage at Credit Suisse; Andrew Taylor ’88, Managing Director at JP Morgan Chase Co.; and Jennifer Murphy Hill ’87, Chief Financial Officer of Global Banking and Markets, Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
The event, like all past Hamilton Wall Street Association events, was well attended with over 120 alumni in attendance. The event afforded recent graduates and students in the college’s Hamilton NYC program an excellent opportunity to network with alumni. This semester’s program theme is “Global Financial Networks, ” led by Professor of Economics Erol Balkan.
The program provided panelists’ perspectives on the current trends impacting the global capital markets. Each panelist had very different professional interactions with the markets, and thus provided varying outlooks and interpretations on current trends. Issues discussed by the panel included the recent downgrade of the U.S. credit rating by S&P, current investment opportunities, recent regulatory legislation including Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, issues facing the Eurozone and their views on what catalyst is needed to drive a global economic recovery.
Following the discussion, the panelists fielded questions from the audience, ranging from regulatory reform, to market recovery, to where investors can find returns in today's uncertain marketplace. Following the panel discussion, there was an additional hour of networking during which students and graduates were able to continue to network and discuss their views on the panel discussion and the economy in general.
The Hamilton College Wall Street Association meeting provided both current and former students a chance to convene and voice their views and also gave alumni an excuse to get together and connect with one another. The event offered the NYC students an excellent networking opportunity and highlighted the willingness of alumni to give back to the Hamilton community away from campus, as well as to help one another in uncertain times.
(Please note that this article will provide a synopsis of the event but will not discuss specific quotes or market opinions as it was each of the panelists’ request to keep this information completely off the record).
Writer Richard Maas '12 is a participant in the NYC program.
