Letter from the President:

I could not be more pleased with the performance of the Drexel Finance Association (“DFA”) during fiscal 2010. The organization delivered unprecedented growth in all major areas including, but not limited to, membership, attendance and event frequency. Our Executive Board of Directors (“the Board”) worked tirelessly throughout the year to achieve every goal set forth last summer despite a still-challenging job market, especially in the financial services industry.

Synergies enable tremendous growth. Perhaps the most significant accomplishment in fiscal 2010 was the number of premier events the DFA was able to host—eight, in total—which was up 100% from fiscal 2009. The major catalyst for the increase was the DFA’s ability to leverage its relationships with other student organizations and college departments to realize existing synergies. This strategy enabled the DFA to host more events at a substantially lower cost base, which in turn allowed for more efficient use of our SAFAC funding, especially in the much-needed areas of marketing, promotion and member relations. Going forward, I expect the DFA to continue its strategic partnerships with other organizations and departments to better serve the LeBow College of Business community.

Fiscal 2010: A “Banner” Year. As I alluded to earlier, the DFA broke event attendance records several times during the year, which I believe is a testament to the relevancy and practicality of the organization and demonstrates that our mission resonates well with students. Particularly encouraging was the turnout for our “marquee” event in the Spring term, which featured prominent professionals in the hedge fund industry. While the 65 students in attendance was not a record, it did represent a modest increase over the prior year’s comparable event despite a number of headwinds including midterm exams and the university’s co-op cycle shift.

Putting the “Finance” in Drexel Finance Association. For fiscal 2011, the DFA will have a SAFAC budget of $3,642, which represents an approximately 4% increase over last year’s allocation. On a more inspiring note, the DFA boasts a 74% compound annual growth rate for its SAFAC allocation for the four years it has been a recognized student organization. However, during that time, our funding per member (“FPM”) has decreased roughly 19% from $10 to $8.09, which I believe is unacceptable given the organization’s impressive recent performance. I would expect the DFA to achieve a $5,000 allocation and return to $10 FPM by fiscal 2013, based on an estimated 500 members. 

Overwhelming number of Executive Board applicants. In late January, the DFA announced it would be conducting interviews to fill Associate Director positions on the Board. The response was overwhelming as the DFA received over 45 applications in just three days. After a month-long interview process, two freshmen, Bryce Istvan and Chris Krumenacker were named to the Board effective immediately. Bryce and Chris join Emily Lupico and Vicky Lantushenko, who were named to the Board last fall, as its newest members. Freshman Jeff Cho, who is currently Vice President of Drexel Investment Group (DIG), will serve as liaison for the two organizations in an effort to improve relations and ensure students’ interests remain our top priority. We are excited about these additions and look forward to their contributions in the future.

Bulls & Bears Press puts DFA on the map. In March, the DFA announced its participation as a member-organization of the prestigious Bulls & Bears Press, the largest collegiate financial news publication in the world. Coinciding with the announcement, I was featured in the March 28 issue with an interview highlighting the DFA. Our intentions going forward are that DFA members will contribute original articles for publication in the Bulls & Bears Press. The article can be viewed HERE!

On behalf of the Drexel Finance Association, I would like to thank everyone for their continued support and hope to see you at our future meetings and events.

Warmest regards,

Rich Lavner

President, DFA

In accordance with the new reporting schedule, the DFA will be releasing an Annual Report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2010 on Monday July 19, 2010 at 8:00 a.m.

This report, and all other reports on a go-forward basis, will be available by request only and will no longer be posted in their entirety on www.lebowticker.com. However, excerpts from the reports will still be posted on a regular basis.

To request an electronic copy of the Drexel Finance Association 2010 Annual Report, please e-mail: dufinance@gmail.com or DFA President, Rich Lavner, at RL323@drexel.edu.

As many of you may already know, the DFA will be holding its main event for the Spring term, a panel discussion on the hedge fund industry, on May 4th (one week from this Tuesday) in Matheson 109 at 6pm. Registration is REQUIRED (you can do so by clicking here:http://www.lebow.drexel.edu/Event/2913). There will also be a catered networking reception following the panel discussion.

In my honest opinion, I think this event will be one of the most enjoyable and informative events the DFA has ever hosted. We have an incredibly talented panel featuring a mix of Drexel and Ivy League alumni who will give a crash course on the industry.

From Drexel we have Zoya Raynes, VP of Global Capital Introduction at JPMorgan in NYC. Her team is responsible for matching the firm’s high net worth clients with hedge funds that meet their investment goals.

Also from Drexel, we have Rob Delany (you may remember him from our Wall Street 2020 event last year). Rob is the Chief Financial Officer of Sciens Capital Management, a New York-based fund of funds.

Also on our panel we have Robert Fu, Senior Analyst at Attalus Capital, the fund of funds headquartered across the street from Drexel in the Cira Center. Attlaus is also a Drexel Co-op employer.

Finally, we have Arden Armstrong, Senior Portfolio Manager at AlphaOne Capital in Conshohocken, PA. She is a graduate of Brown, holds an MBA from Wharton and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). Her current expertise is with long/short equity funds. She was also the focus of a New York Times article several years back when she was lead manager of a $900 million Mid-Cap Growth Fund at Morgan Stanley. (article: http://tinyurl.com/29rfe9k)

We may also have one more panelist who is an expert on the credit and leverage aspects of hedge funds.

If you’ve read down this far, thank you, and if you aren’t sure what a hedge fund and/or fund of funds is–that is the point of this event. Our panelists will be presenting on the topics in a very clear, easy to understand way and will be happy to answer any questions you may have!

So again, please register for the event if you have not done so already and I look forward to seeing you on May 4th.

And of course, thank you to everyone who has attended any and all of our past meetings and events–you have literally made this a year for the record books.

All the best,

Rich Lavner
President, DFA

Disclosures:

The information contained herein is for the intended use of Drexel University students, alumni, faculty and staff and is for promotional use only.

We encourage all students, regardless of class or major, to come learn about how DFA may add value to your educational experience at Drexel.

This meeting will focus on discussing our upcoming events, including a hedge fund event to be held on May 4, as well as our annual charity 3-point shootout. We will also be looking back at our recently held events and encourage students to voice their feedback, and most importantly tell us what you want to see NEXT YEAR!

As usual, there will be FREE pizza and drinks. We will also be giving away more FREE DFA T-shirts!!!

We look forward to seeing you there!

You can access the newsletter here: DFA Winter 2010 Newsletter

(The link for the DFA interview in Bulls & Bears Press does not work in the .pdf, but the article can be accessed by clicking HERE)

It is important to note that we have revised our guidance to include only those items mentioned in this issue of The Conference Call and therefore, all previously announced forward-looking statements are nullified.

The DFA will hold its Spring General Body Meeting on April 20, 2010 at 7:30 pm in Matheson 408–all are welcome to attend.

With distribution to more than 70 universities and 15,000 students worldwide, Bulls & Bears Press is the largest intercollegiate financial news publication in the world.

The DFA is also pleased to announce it’s participation as a contributing member of Bulls & Bears Press, joining finance clubs from schools such as Harvard, Penn, and Carnegie Mellon, among others.

“We are excited to announce our involvement with Bulls & Bears Press and believe it will prove to be a valuable resource and outlet for DFA members, both now and in the long run,” Lavner said.

The DFA will address Bulls & Bears Press at it’s next General Body meeting (Date: To be announced).

In the interim, please visit www.bullsbearspress.com for more information.

Note: The publication was founded by students from Carnegie Mellon University.

Representatives from Susquehanna International Group (SIG), Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management*, PENN Capital Management, CIGNA, New York Life, and Northwestern Mutual presented on the benefits of their company’s respective Co-op program. For the latter part of the evening, students were invited to network and learn more about these great opportunities.

Attendance was extremely high, so on behalf of all the sponsoring organizations, we hope you enjoyed the event and continue to take advantage of the College’s great networking and recruiting resources.

*In attendance, but did not present on behalf of the company–networking only

The panelists included Shilpa Gadhok (Lockheed Martin), Jeff Walter (GMAC), and Ronjon Bose (The Vanguard Group), while DFA President Richard Lavner served as master of ceremonies.

Among the topics of discussion, panelists detailed the many advantages of participating in management training programs, citing exposure to multiple departments within an organization. In comparison with peers who enter a firm in a traditional entry-level position, the rotations of a training program allow for more career flexibility. Additionally, there are tremendous amounts of prestige associated with these programs. After all, the reason companies invest time and money into management training is to breed its future leaders. Therefore, acceptance into these programs is highly competitive. In some cases, as explained by the panel, you are competing with 50-100+ other students vying for one of three spots in a company’s management training program (numbers and spots are subject to change depending on the company). But, if Monday night’s panelists are any indication, LeBow College of Business’s tagline “Learn Here. Lead Anywhere” certainly holds true.

Before breaking the panel discussion for a networking reception, each speaker was asked to offer advice to the 80+ students in attendance–what could they do now as undergrads to increase their marketability as potential applicants to a company’s management training program? The answer was quite unanimous as all said grades are important but passionate participation in campus organizations is of the utmost. In fact, the DFA received accolades from Vanguard panelist Ronjon Bose who noted the student organization is well-known and respected throughout the company, which specializes in investment management services.

Both the Drexel Finance Association and Drexel Marketing Association would like to thank our panelists for their participation, LeBow UGCS for their support in the event planning process, and finally, the 80+ students who came out to the event–check below for pictures!

–NOTEWORTHY DATES FOR DFA & DMA–

Wednesday February 17, 2010: DMA will be hosting a general body meeting (details will be sent out shortly)

Wednesday February 24, 2010: DMA will be holding a speed networking event at 6pm in Paul Peck. Guest will be from Tierney Communications, Brownstein Group, and Red Zebra Works. Be sure to look for more information about it on Lebow Ticker, Facebook, and the Daily Digest.

Tuesday March 2, 2010: The DFA and Drexel Investment Group (DIG) will be co-hosting the much anticipated Top Finance Co-Op Employer event. Employers will have a HR representative, current employee, and a current/previous co-op student to represent the firm. Each employer will have roughly 5-10 minutes to present their firm, employment opportunities, and relay their company culture. Networking will follow the presentations to allow students and employers to exchange questions and make personal connections. Registration for this event is now open at http://www.lebow.drexel.edu/Event/2864

Panelists (L-R): Ronjon Bose, Jeff Walter, Shilpa Gadhok

(L-R): Oren Eisenberg (DMA Secretary), Richard Lavner (DFA President), Krupa Desai (DMA President)

Capacity crowd for the event!

]]> http://lebowticker.com/orgs/dma/dfadma-event-recap-lebow-management-training-panel/feed 0 http://lebowticker.com/uncategorized/dfa-record-breaking-recap http://lebowticker.com/uncategorized/dfa-record-breaking-recap#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:49:54 +0000 rl323 http://lebowticker.com/?p=1756 Last night, the Drexel Finance Association (DFA) held its first General Body Meeting of the Winter Term in front of a record attendance of 63 students. This surpasses the organization’s previous record of 61 students, which was set last term and is indicative of the DFA’s staying power within the LeBow community. In fact, last night’s attendance represents a roughly 250% increase over last year’s on a comparable meeting basis. In addition to this feat, the DFA had plenty of business to discuss, all of which can be found below.

*Upcoming Events for Winter Term (2Q10)*

February 8, 2010 @ 6pm in Paul Peck: “Market your Dreams, Finance your Future” is a collaborative effort between the DFA, Drexel Marketing Association (DMA), and Undergraduate Career Services (UGCS). This event will highlight the leadership development programs available at Lockheed Martin, Vanguard, Susquehanna International Group (SIG), and GMAC. Students will gain an understanding of how participation in corporate programs at these companies will provide short and long-term career benefits. More information will be sent out via Facebook and e-mail, as well as a Ticker post the week of the event.

March 2, 2010 @ TBA in Paul Peck: “Top Finance Co-Op Employers Event” will be co-hosted by the DFA and Drexel Investment Group (DIG) for the second year in a row and will most likely feature companies, among others, that have participated in networking/professional events with both student organizations in the past. The Top Finance Co-Op Employer Event is very popular with students as it gives them the chance to meet with representatives from companies with highly desirable Co-Op opportunities.

*Spring Term Guidance (3Q10)*

The DFA is in the process of finalizing plans for two professional events and one charity event in the Spring, all of which have been published in the organization’s previous guidance released in December 2009. The two professional events include a panel discussion on the hedge fund industry featuring Drexel alum and DFA-event veteran Rob Delany (CFO, Sciens Capital Management). The second event is still in the planning phase but is expected to feature Danielle Hughes (CEO, Divine Capital Markets) to lead a discussion on the emerging role of women in finance, among other topics. Lastly, the DFA plans to hold its Third Annual Charity 3-Point Shootout at the DAC, which has raised a sizeable portion of money for notable causes.

*DFA Shadow Program*

After a successful trial last year, the DFA has elected to run the Shadow Program again. This gives interested students the opportunity to attend Executive Board Meetings and contribute to all facets of the organizational process. The program lasts roughly 10 weeks (Spring term), but based on performance students may be asked to permanently join the Executive Board for the upcoming year.

Students are invited to submit their resume to dufinance@gmail.com and please be sure to reference the program in the subject line. Interviews will be granted to qualified applicants in the middle of February.

Finally, the Drexel Finance Association would like to thank everyone who attended last night’s General Body Meeting. We hope you enjoyed yourself and will proudly wear your DFA T-shirt!

DFA invites all new and existing members to join us for our first general body meeting of the winter term. After a successful fall term, we hope to look back on some of the exciting events that we have held, as well as looking ahead to some of our upcoming events.

The meeting will be held at 7:30 PM in Matheson 109.

This is a great opportunity for those looking to become more involved in the Drexel, LeBow, and finance communities.

We encourage graduating seniors to come out and see what job opportunities we may be able to facilitate over the coming terms.

As always, FREE pizza will be available and the new, highly anticipated, DFA t-shirts will be available for all members in attendance!