MBA student finds career inspiration at London conference

Graduate | Jan 28, 2016 | Gabelli School of Business

Shrey Patel attended the Alternative Investments Conference, sponsored by the London School of Economics recently.

For Shrey Patel, MBA ’17, a trip to London was the perfect opportunity to network and fine-tune his career aspirations.

Patel was one of about 320 attendees at the January Alternative Investments Conference, held annually by the London School of Economics. Just getting a chance to go was an accomplishment: About 7,700 applied to attend.

While there, the finance major, who has an internship this semester with Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO investment firm, was able to hear and meet some of the giants of alternative investments, such as Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital, a global investment company.

“I mentioned that I was from Fordham and that I was interning with Mario Gabelli, who was his mentor back 15 or 20 years ago, and I offered to volunteer at his conference,” Patel said of Scaramucci. “Overall the trip was definitely worth it.”

Patel had met Gabelli, BS ’65, during the investor’s visit to Fordham in December to talk with MBA students at the Gabelli School of Business, which was named after the businessman after he made a $25 million donation to the school in 2010.

The student’s long-range career goals are to work for a hedge fund and then eventually manage his own fund.

“That was one of the big things about going to this conference, to see people who have done it—launched their own funds that are actually successful—and are still doing it,” Patel said.

The trip was invaluable when it came to networking, a process made easier with a high-tech name tag that allowed attendees to swap contact information simply by touching the tags to each other.

“We didn’t have to carry business cards or anything around,” Patel said.