Academy Feature | Business Students Rock the Street at Värde Partners

Last Tuesday, students from the Organization & Management class and the Future Business Leaders of America club traveled to Midtown Manhattan to visit Värde Partners, an alternative investment firm focused on credit-related assets and distressed securities. The firm, named after the Swedish word for ‘value,’ was founded by women in Minneapolis and has additional locations in London, Singapore, and Mumbai. The educational and interactive office visit was led by female financial professionals representing different departments of Värde. 

The field trip was part of Rock the Street, Wall Street’s Fall Wall Street Experience, a capstone experience whereby students are given a rare glimpse into corporate office settings and the workplaces and work lives of financiers. The experience allows the students to shadow female treasury officers, wealth managers, comptrollers, accountants, entrepreneurs, and more, and our students loved interacting with Värde’s knowledgeable professionals. 

After students received a tour of the offices, finance experts at Värde shared inspiring and practical stories and pieces of advice on a career panel. When asked about how to approach professional networking, one panelist advised, “Be kind and thoughtful, always having the time to care for others without just catering to your seniors.” Another panelist answered, “It’s less daunting if you start networking at the level of peers and form the habit of building and also maintaining relationships.”

The panelists shared their personal ‘one-liners’ that influence their professional lives:

“If you’re going to do it, you might as well do it right.”
“You don’t ask, you don’t get.”
“The five P’s: Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.”
“If one door closes, another door opens.”

After the panel, the Värde professionals led three introductory workshop sessions using the curriculum provided by Rock the Street, Wall Street: Saving and Investing, The Stock Market, and Networking. The final workshop session included an exercise in which students had to reflect on their values, interests, goals, and strengths to create a personal ‘elevator pitch.’ They immediately put these responses into practice; the firm graciously opened the floor for an organic networking hour in which our students fearlessly introduced themselves and engaged in interesting conversations! After the session, we asked students to offer a synonym for the formerly scary idea of ‘networking’: Daniela said ‘connection,’ Liani said ‘friendship,’ and Camila said ‘connection.’ Skyla, who was hesitant at first, explained that she “found [her] voice within the conversation.” 

We are so proud of our students for rocking this field trip experience, and we owe a huge thank you to Angie Birkemeyer Jones and the whole team at Rock the Street, Wall Street, as well as to all of the wonderful and welcoming Värde professionals. Finally, thank you to Mr. Tom Doyle, Director of the Business, Finance, and Law Academy, for coordinating this exciting event! At the end of the day, Mr. Doyle reminded his students, “With opportunities like this under your belt, doors will swing open for you in the professional world, so make sure you hold them open for others.”