A Season of Extraordinary Events

Featured Events , Uncategorized | Apr 06, 2020 | Gabelli School of Business

By Marianne Fulgenzi

What makes a university extraordinary?

Building an established global knowledge and learning network that is enlarged and enriched with business and corporate partners; providing extracurricular event offerings that promote social and professional interaction outside the classroom with students, alumni and business leaders; having alumni who are inspired and committed to donating their time, knowledge and resources to benefit future graduates.

These are just a few of the factors that underscore the prestige of the Gabelli School of Business. In conjunction with the Gabelli Center of Global Security Analysis, Gabelli produces and hosts various events and conferences that highlight a variety of notable, influential business and thought leaders, authors and scholars who provide a unique perspective on the issues and stories that continue to shape the evolving world of global finance.

Rupal Bhansali is one such person. As chief investment officer and portfolio manager for International and Global Equities at Ariel Investments and author of the book, Non-Consensus Investing: Being Right When Everyone Else is Wrong, Bhansali communicated a self-described contrarian message during her presentation, and warned that misdiagnosing quality is the biggest mistake people make in investing.

Authors Howard W. Buffett and William B. Elmicke emphasized the critical importance partnerships play in social value investing. They noted that solving complex, large-scale challenges cannot be accomplished by no one organization alone. In addition to co-authoring the book, Social Value Investing: A Management Framework for Effective Partnerships, Buffet is an adjunct associate professor and research scholar at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and grandson of global investment icon Warren Buffet. Elmicke is professor of practice and founding director of the Picker Center for Executive Education at Columbia.

Wall Street Journal Special Writer and Author Greg Zuckerman shared his experiences in writing the bestseller, The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution. The presentation, a partnership with the American Museum of Finance, was an overview of how Jim Simons and his colleagues at the firm Renaissance Technologies became “the greatest money makes in the history of modern finance.”

In addition to its prestigious roster of lecture series speakers, the Gabelli School boasts a number of conferences that focus on key issues facing today’s business leaders. Among them: the 21st annual Fordham Women in Business conference. Held in conjunction with Women’s History Month, this year’s conference featured female leaders representing different sectors who offered advice and insights on the future of gender equality. Participating companies included Tiffany & Company, BlackRock, Siris Capital, etholon, TED, Google, Spotify, Complex Media and The Thinker Global.