More than 40 students from Temple University’s Fox School of Business went from Broad Street to Wall Street last month, and they covered more ground than simply the 100 miles that separate the two East Coast cities.

At the second annual Temple Wall Street Day, held in New York City, Fox School students united with university and business school alumni to engage in a panel discussion that was followed by a robust networking session.

The event – which took place Oct. 10 at investment banking firm Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. – provided a platform upon which students could learn about careers in finance and financial services, and have a comfortable arena in which to ask questions of alums who, at one point, were in their shoes.

Visiting America’s financial capital and meeting with top Wall Street executives is an opportunity not often afforded to college students.

“It was eye-opening to be exposed to this brand new world,” said Jesse Worek, a senior double-majoring in Finance and Management Information Systems. “You think of Temple and Fox and, suddenly, your opinion has changed. You’re thinking of people who have gotten recruited for positions on Wall Street and in investment management.

“That’s what I foresee myself doing, and the whole experience was amazing.”

Wall Street Day came together through the behind-the-scenes work of Assistant Professor of Finance Cynthia Axelrod, Director of Corporate Relations at Fox’s Center for Student Professional Development Megan Panaccio, and Temple alumnus Douglas Maine, a Limited Partner with Brown Brothers Harriman.

Together, they assembled a panel that included:

• Alan Cohen, CLA ’74, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Compliance for Goldman Sachs
• Emily Hard, CLA ’04, Assistant Vice President and Relationship Partner with Brown Brothers Harriman in the company’s Boston office
• John Jadach, FOX ’95, Director with LBC Credit Partners
• Maine, SMC ’71
• Jonathan Shelon, FOX ’94, Chief Investment Officer and Head of the Global Access Investment Team with JP Morgan
• Jerry Solomon, CLA ’85, Investment Analyst with Capital Research Company
• Dan Zibman, CLA ’74, FOX ’81, a hedge-fund industry professional since 1996

The bus trip, which included stops at New York City’s Sept. 11 memorial and reflecting pool, came to a close with the marquee of the afternoon’s program – a visit to Brown Brothers Harriman to hear from a panel of prominent Temple alums working in the financial sector. Topics of discussion ranged from personal career-path stories, job descriptions, and first-hand Temple experiences to dispensing career advice and assigning value to networking.

“When you get to hear from speakers of that level, it’s invaluable,” said Bryan Murray, a Fox School senior. “When you know they came from your school, you take even more from that dialogue.”

Murray said he felt instant connections with Temple Wall Street Day’s guest speakers, trading smalltalk and business cards with those who presided on the panel. The Royersford, Pa., native said he split his conversations with the alums between the university’s football team and his desire for a career in financial advising.

Fox School Assistant Professor of Finance Cynthia Axelrod, third from left, meets with Temple University alumni who served as members of the Temple Wall Street Day panel. (Credit: Jim Roese)

Shelon, the JP Morgan executive, said he was mutually impressed by the students, as they were with the panelists.

“I couldn’t believe the range of questions,” said Shelon, who studied Actuarial Sciences during his tenure at Fox. “I would’ve been scared to have been sitting where they were, but they had blocking and tackling questions about looking for a job in general, looking for a job out of state, what’s it like managing a team of your size – some practical questions, and some nuanced. I was delighted to see the students so engaged.”

“The questions demonstrated that Fox students are not simply intellectually curious,” said Hard, a Brown Brothers Harriman executive, “but that they are thoughtfully and consciously striving to educate themselves so that they may use the knowledge they gain at Temple to direct their future plans.”