Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Jim Clifton (GE Capital) Visits Dr. Krause's Fixed Income Class

On Wednesday, September 29, Jim Clifton (MU '02) from GE Capital visited Dr. Krause's Fixed Income class. Mr. Clifton is the Manager of the Investment Analyst Program (IAP) at GE Capital. Prior to his current position, Jim was an Audit Manager at General Electric on the Corporate Audit Staff. He also completed the Financial Management Program at GE Healthcare. Jim also has a degree from the University of Chicago.

Mr. Clifton provided valuable information to the students in Dr. Krause's class. His experience at GE Capital is in the area of specialized asset-based transactions. He is directly responsible for conducting risk analysis on new transactions and presenting findings and recommendations to senior management. Jim brought two analysts along with him - Will Patten and Jill White. 

Dr. Krause said, "Jim was an excellent speaker to bring into my class. When he talked about how he and his analysts perform credit portfolio management, analysis of financial statements, computing operating metrics, and evaluating collateral availability - it showed the students that the textbook material is relevant."

Will Patten and Jill White provided some very interesting "day in the life of an analyst" stories. The students enjoyed talking with the students about their experiences with GE Capital in Chicago. 

Mr. Clifton is responsible for providing leadership within a 40+ person team headquartered in Chicago and he is directly responsible for ten investment analysts who are responsible for due diligence on new and existing mid-market credit transactions across the US and Canada. His experience with senior-secured asset-based and cash flow debt transactions, as well as his work with private equity sponsors, was appreciated by the students. Jim and his analysts attended the Career Fair where they met many more interested students.