HWS News
30 May 2018 • Athletics Four Enter Financial World with HSBC
Four recent graduates are heading to New York City this summer to take up positions at one of the world's largest banking and financial services organizations. Catherine Battaglia '18, Justin Ferreira '18, Dylan Quay '18 and Jennifer Sullivan '18 have been hired to professional positions with HSBC Bank USA.
Battaglia, who graduated cum laude in economics, will serve as an investment banking analyst at the company. She credits insights from her professors, such as her adviser, Assistant Professor of Economics Warren D. Hamilton, for providing solid insight into the financial world and giving her the tools she needed to ace her interviews.
"Professor Hamilton's classes, such as Corporation Finance and Portfolio Analysis, helped me create a strong foundation for my interviews in financial services," says Battaglia, who also studied abroad in Italy and was a member of the Heron field hockey team.
The students also credit other resources at the Colleges for their success, especially the NYC Finance Experience trip coordinated by the Salisbury Center for Career, Professional and Experiential Education, where they connected with parents and alums already working in the financial world.
"I went on the NYC finance trip and met a number of alums within HSBC," says Quay, who graduated summa cum laude in economics and will start a position as a global markets graduate analyst.
"I stayed in touch with [HSBC Vice President] Jason Merritt '09 and he helped me prepare for the interview. Being in a markets role requires the ability to break down and articulate what is going on within the markets, and Jason helped me hone in on that," says Quay, a member of the Statesmen football team and the HWS Finance Club.
Both Quay and Ferreira also held internships at HSBC last summer which helped them land the full-time seats.
"I was able to secure my job through my previous internship at HSBC, where I was offered full employment following the summer," says Ferreira, who graduated cum laude in economics and international relations. He will be working in sales and trading. "The HWS alums at HSBC, along with career services, helped me secure my internship and while there, I was able to bounce ideas off alums and learn from them."
Having graduated cum laude with honors in Sociology, Sullivan is headed for a position as a global private banking analyst. It is her liberal arts skills, she believes, that will help her to achieve her goal of working as a banker. "My time at HWS has given me the skills to critically think, analyze a situation from multiple perspectives and ask thoughtful questions," says Sullivan, a Heron rower and America Reads tutor.
Sullivan is grateful for HWS support as well, including Assistant Vice President at HSBC North America Jessica Tarantino '12, who she met on the NYC Finance Experience trip. "I would not have been able to get this job without the amazing support of Career Services and Jess's guidance," she says.