On October 19, a financial panel discussion was held at the Hearst Tower in New York at the Marquette University Circles event. The discussion title was "Beyond the financial crisis – Leaders from innovative investment firms talk about modern investment trends." Dr. Krause, AIM program director, and four Marquette alumni discussed the topic before a group of about 80 guests.
The participants were:
• Steve Czech, Bus Ad ’86, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager, FrontPoint Partners
• Scott Schroeder, Bus Ad ’92, Law ’96, Grad ’96, Co-founding Partner, Balyasny Asset Mngt.
• Ben Somers, Bus Ad ’98, Principal, Head of Business Development, Elementum Advisors
• Jim Bianco, Bus Ad '84, President of Bianco Research
The topics of discussion ranged from federal reserve policy to emerging markets to financial regulation to the potential currency wars. Each of the panelists discussed various issues and interacted with the audience during the Q&A period.
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| Steve Czech |
FrontPoint Partners is led by Steve Czech, who manages a direct lending strategy dedicated to originating and investing in secured loans to small and mid-sized businesses primarily in the United States. Mr. Czech's is based in FrontPoint’s Greenwich, Connecticut office.
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| Scott Schroeder |
Balyasny Asset Management (or BAM) is a market neutral global equity hedge fund with offices in Chicago, Hong Kong, Mumbai, and New York. Scott Schroeder is a founding partner at BAM. During their visit to New York, the Marquette finance students were able to visit Balyasny Asset Management as Scott's guests. Dr. Krause said, "It was an excellent visit - we were able to meet many of Scott's colleagues and they also allowed us to be their during the opening of the stock market. It was a super-charged environment. The students were very impressed and thankful for the opportunity to visit BAM."
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| Ben Somers |
Elementum Advisors is an independent alternative investment manager specializing in collateralized natural event reinsurance investments. It possesses a lengthy performance track record and experience managing portfolios across a range of objectives - from liquid catastrophe bond to high alpha direct reinsurance strategies. involved in the process of offering the clients with high returns on their investments. Ben Somers is a Principal and Head of Business Development and Investor Relations at Elementum. He is located in New York, while operations for Elementum Advisors function in their Chicago office.
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| Jim Bianco |
Jim Bianco is the President of Bianco Research, which produces unique and original insights into movements in the financial markets on a daily basis. Bianco Research is located in Chicago and specializes in the analysis of federal reserve policy and interest rates. Jim has been a featured speaker at many investment conferences and is regularly featured on CNBC, CNN, Bloomberg and Fox Business News.
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| Dr. David Krause |
Marquette University CIRCLES is an innovative business networking program that connects Marquette alumni, parents and friends. The New York Circles event was attended by more than 300 people - including 12 Marquette finance majors and Dr. Krause who visited New York during their fall break. Dr. Krause moderated the event.
