IEMS 373 Discussion Explores Skills that Go beyond Numbers

When students in IEMS 373: Intro to Financial Engineering listened to guest speakers Kristen Bitterly (KSM ’05) and Gregory van Inwegen, they learned about derivatives, the recent GameStop short squeeze, and the overall state of the financial industry.
 
But there’s more to a successful career than just knowledge.
 
During the virtual discussion on February 11 hosted by Ivilina Popova, Patrick and Amy McCarter fellow in residence at Northwestern Engineering, Bitterly and van Inwegen walked through their respective career paths and skills that go beyond numbers and markets.
 
Bitterly, head of investments for Citi Private Bank in North America, stressed the value of becoming an expert in equity derivatives early in her professional life. That firm grounding in a single topic helped her earn respect, and built her self-assurance that she could become an authority in other areas.
 
“I always tell people to have specialization and then build on it,” Bitterly said. “If you're you right out of school and you're doing the role of a relationship manager and you're competing against people who have had 20 years of experience managing relationships [with clients], I think that's a much harder transition than to have that specialization.”
 
Next, van Inwegen, global head of quantitative research and asset allocation at Citi Investment Management, highlighted his handling of wealthy clients. Despite having lots of money, they might receive investment advice from informal sources such as friends at cocktail parties, and end up with a haphazard collection of assets.
 
It’s important to teach the client, explaining the ebbs and flows of the market and the importance of having a coherent strategy, van Inwegen said. And his team often serves as counselors as well.
 
“We tell them what to expect,” van Inwegen said. When a sudden downturn occurs, “we say, ‘calm down, take a breath, turn off your TV, go for a run.’”
 
One student asked Bitterly about her experience as a woman in the male-dominated world of high finance.

“I got used to very early on being the only woman in meetings, and the only woman in the room,” Bitterly said.
 
As more women join the profession over time, “we see a lot of positive progress there,” she added. “A lot of companies have made commitments to really balance out gender demographics, so it's going in the right direction.”