A solid investment

Breaking into investment banking is hard. Some graduating college students have found it near impossible. In 2021, Goldman Sachs saw a 50% increase in internship applications, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. received 500,000 applications for 400 internship positions.

After Isaac Grude ’23 went through the process himself, he decided to do something to improve UD students’ chances of breaking in.

“[Investment banking recruiting] is competitive and secretive unless you are in contact with people who can teach you to navigate it,” said Grude, who graduated with a finance degree in May.

In 2021, he founded the Dayton Investment Banking Club to prepare undergrads by offering intensive training and an avenue to find competitive internships.

“These banks pull from traditional schools like Northwestern, University of Chicago, Michigan and the ivies like Harvard,” Grude said. “We wanted to have a more focused effort on Dayton.”

Soon, the club started getting calls from alumni. One such volunteer was Kim Gordon ’99, who was impressed by the student-led initiative.

“Relationships are key in investment banking. If my network or experience could be helpful, I was happy to lean in.”

“Relationships are key in investment banking. If my network or experience could be helpful, I was happy to lean in,” Gordon said.

Gordon, a psychology major while at UD, works for Five Elms Capital as an entrepreneur-in-residence sourcing new platform investments for the growth equity firm based in Kansas City, Missouri.

UD may not be a traditional choice for finance recruiting, but Gordon said she thinks the kind of people who UD attracts tend to be a good culture fit for firms like hers.  

“While access to job opportunities within finance is often limited to New York, Boston or San Francisco, we believe that great talent exists everywhere,” she said.

Gordon said her mentoring provides students with opportunities for networking and forming relationships, which is just as important as education. For that, Grude is grateful.

“Alumni who’ve paved the way in this industry have made a lot of what we are doing possible and are the organization’s biggest asset,” he said.