New York Finance Trek Demonstrates the Value of Strong Alumni Support
Johns Hopkins SAIS alumni have always played vital roles in enhancing the impact of the school’s career trek program, which helps students prepare for post-graduation success through direct contacts with key leaders and access to potential employment opportunities in a wide range of fields and industries.
Over the years, in close collaboration with the SAIS Global Careers team, alumni have supported these treks in a variety of ways: helping to arrange site visits, making presentations at networking panels and coffee chats, offering critical tips to students, and serving as enthusiastic all-around boosters for SAIS. Students consistently rank alumni participation in SAIS career treks as a particularly cherished part of the experience.
The students visited four financial institutions in New York City: Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and SMBC Nikko Securities (a securities brokerage firm whose parent company, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, is based in Tokyo, Japan). At each stop, SAIS alumni were on hand to enhance the visits: offering helpful access, arranging discussion sessions, speaking with the students at networking events, among other engagements.
“The trek demonstrated the close cooperation between SAIS and its alumni,” said Manav Kapadia, one of the student participants. “It’s great to see alumni continue to directly support the learning experience of current students.”
Among the 20 SAIS alumni who lent their support to the New York Finance trek were:
From Citigroup: Ed Morse, managing director and global head of Commodity Research; Khaled Al Masri, vice president, Leveraged Finance Underwriting
From Goldman Sachs: John Marshall, managing director, Derivatives Research; Laura Sennett, ESG business lead, Sustainable Investments Group
From Morgan Stanley: Sarah Wolfe, vice president, US Economics Research; Zoe Kirshenberg, vice president, Climate Risk Management
And from SMBC Nikko Securities: Arthur Rubin, managing director and head of Latin American Debt Capital Markets and Liability Management; Anne Marie Thurber, managing director and group head, Structured Export Finance, Americas.
Two members of the SAIS Global Careers team led the trip to New York: Colleen Connolly McCusker, career coach; and Adam Cort, academic services specialist. For McCusker, it was the final career trek of her years as a SAIS staff member, just before she retired in the first week of October.
“The New York Finance trek was an incredible experience, filled with inspiring sights, vibrant culture, and valuable connections,” said student participant Joshua Adegbe. “It truly showcased the power of networking and the endless opportunities that await.”
Enjoyed reading New York Finance Trek Demonstrates the Value of Strong Alumni Support? Learn more about what Washington DC campus has to offer.
Back to Beyond the Classroom Stories