Where Grinnell Meets Finance

This spring, three enterprising students kicked off Grinnell’s first Liberal Arts in Finance Symposium. The April 6 event featured nine alumni speakers and an array of panels, networking sessions, and meals designed to offer students insight into how a liberal arts background can translate into a successful finance career.

David Jutrsa ’15, Jody Lee ’15, and Pancho Poshtov ’13 (all three economics majors) worked with Arlene Holmes in the Office of Development and Alumni Relations and David Clay in the Investment Office to draw speakers from different fields. Poshtov had organized similar events while studying at the London School of Economics. Attending were: Ben Armstrong ’87, RMB Capital Management, asset management; Jill Cetina ’94, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, U.S. Department of the Treasury, public finance; Christina Mantiziba Cutlip ’83, TIAA-CREF, financial services; Nathaniel Hoch ’11, Royal Bank of Canada, asset management; Ahsan Rahim ’11, Alliance Bernstein, dynamic asset allocation; Ashfaqur Rahman ’02, Royal Bank of Scotland, debt capital markets; Andris Upitis ’96, Viking Global Investors (retired), hedge funds; and Scott Wilson ’98, Grinnell College, derivatives. 

“Finance encompasses everything we learn at Grinnell,” says Lee. “Markets move for economic, political, environmental, sociological, psychological, idiosyncratic reasons; this list is in no way exhaustive. Finance is stunningly beautiful and complex.”

Open to everyone, the symposium offered students a broad overview of careers and current industry trends. Participants were asked to register and submit questions for the speakers in advance. “A common theme was, how do I differentiate myself from students at larger universities,” Jutrsa recalls. “A lot of people had ethical questions: How are you benefiting the world with your Grinnell degree while working in finance?” 

“People stayed afterward to talk with the speakers; resumes were being shared; people were talking and having phenomenal conversations,” Poshtov adds. “Alumni were very excited; I don’t think anyone was disappointed.”

Next semester, Jutrsa says, there are hopes to run an even more ambitious symposium on the liberal arts in business. The event was co-sponsored by the Career Development Office, alumni relations, the economics department, and the Wilson Program.