The Notre Dame Wall Street Club held an information session Thursday evening to introduce freshmen and sophomores to the club and make the path to Wall Street a little bit easier.
Four senior leaders, Greg Bennett, Anne Lenzi, Tom McMackin and Chris Masoud, who is also one of The Observer's Assistant Managing Editors, led the event.
The event gave students a broad introduction to the activities of the Wall Street Club and demonstrated how the club can facilitate acceptance into a position on the Street.
Caitlin Lynch, a 2011 graduate, employee at J.P. Morgan and Wall Street Club founder, said the club helps Notre Dame students succeed by giving them skills beyond those taught in class.
"What we were trying to do was to create a platform of support to help students get jobs in sales and trading and investment banking," Lynch said. "We wanted to provide a network of guidance and support as they traveled through the recruitment process."
The club was started by seniors last year and just recently gained official recognition from the Student Activities Office. Lenzi said this year's leaders plan to focus on reaching all students, not just upperclassmen searching for internships.
"We want to reach out to freshmen and sophomores more," Lenzi said. "We want to let them know what is available to them earlier."
Notre Dame Vice President and Chief Investment Officer Scott Malpass helped forge an important connection between club members and alumni.
Malpass said he decided to connect the Notre Dame Wall Street Club with the Wall Street Leadership Committee alumni group after James Ingallinera, a 2011 graduate who drafted the club's charter, approached him about networking opportunities.
"The main charge [of the Committee] is to promote Notre Dame on the Street," Malpass said. "I connected the two, and the combination has been just really fabulous for Notre Dame."
Freshman Pedro Suarez said he attended Thursday's event to obtain more information.
"I'm possibly interested in investment banking and wanted to find out more about it," Suarez said. "I also wanted to learn more about how to prepare myself for that career."
For students like Suarez, leaders of the Wall Street Club wanted to emphasize the increasing attention Wall Street firms are giving Notre Dame students.
"Recruiters are coming more and more to Notre Dame every year … because our students have been going to all of these big banks and crushing it," Bennett said. "They realize that Notre Dame kids are intelligent, hardworking and humble."
Malpass said this increased attention is due in large part to the Mendoza College of Business's number one ranking and the hard work of Notre Dame alumni on Wall Street.
"Our alumni who have been out there for years have developed a great reputation," he said.
Malpass added the key to continuing this momentum is to increase the amount of information provided to students earlier in their college careers.
"We've had a presence on Wall Street for a long time, but because [Notre Dame] is not located on the East Coast, it's not as natural of a pull," Malpass said. "But that's changed; our students are now much more aware of the opportunities available and how to seek them."
