On Wednesday, Oct. 21, the Business and Entrepreneurship Career Channel hosted guest speakers Ulysses Smith’13, Investment Advisor Representative for Primerica, and Bob Gray, Senior Vice President at Dana Investment Advisors, to share their experience in investment management and provide insight to students about career opportunities.

Ulysses Smith graduated from Beloit College in 2013 with a major in Business Administration (now, major is titled, Business Economics). After Beloit, Ulysses attended the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and got his MBA in Finance. Ulysses worked at Money Concepts, a broker-dealer based out of Florida, for two years to get the licenses in retail and management investments. After his time with Money Concepts, Ulysses worked with a nonprofit organization for Waukegan 2 College, where he helped minorities select private universities. Today, Ulysses has a team of 50 representatives and works as an Investment Advisor Representative for Primerica.

Bob Gray graduated from the University of Miami of Ohio in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree. After Miami, Bob pursued his MBA at the University of Chicago. Two years later, Bob received his CPA and started his career at Ernst and Whinney, today Ernst and Young. A year later, Bob got the chance to interview and work for Goldman Sachs, where he spent 20 years in the fixed income trading and investment management departments. After his career with Goldman Sachs, Bob ran the institutional money management business for Northern Trust, a large bank and custodian based in Chicago, for nine years. For the past ten years, Bob has worked with DANA Investment Advisors.

Bob describes six different career paths in the field:

1. sales and business development
2. client service and support
3. trading
4. portfolio management
5. research
6. financial advising.

Client service and support are responsible for promptly updating their client on the status of their investments. Traders look at the stock and bond markets and execute sales and purchases to assist in the management of investment portfolios. Portfolio managers are responsible for making decisions on whether to buy or sell securities. Researchers look at a single company’s history and are responsible for giving portfolio managers advice on whether to buy or sell a stock. Financial advisors educate asset owners about the market and different investment opportunities. They also help owners achieve financial freedom.

Ulysses and Bob are available to support Beloit College students with interests in investment management.

Consider signing up for the Business and Entrepreneurship Career Channel!