FMA_Magazine_2018_2019
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Leadership Program<br />
PARTICIPATIONS<br />
<strong>FMA</strong> strives to identify diverse and under-represented<br />
students and prepare them for application to national<br />
financial leadership programs. In <strong>2018</strong> – <strong>2019</strong> alone,<br />
<strong>FMA</strong> students placed in over 20 such programs.<br />
The mentorship and early identification that <strong>FMA</strong><br />
provides rendered student acceptances into elite<br />
programs, including those of Citibank, Goldman<br />
Sachs, Seizing Every Opportunity, Perella Weinberg,<br />
Girls Who Invest, and Evercore, – to name a few.<br />
According to AJ Stanley, “Diversity programs allow<br />
women and minority students who attend ‘nontarget’<br />
schools (which include both predominately<br />
white institutions such as Auburn University, and<br />
Historically Black Colleges and Universities) to create<br />
inroads with a firm, catalyzing the formation of a<br />
professional network and unlocking access to the<br />
highly-competitive recruiting process.”<br />
Financial institutions have a duty to maintain teams<br />
of investors that best reflect the diverse backgrounds<br />
of the clients they serve, and in turn, studies show<br />
diverse teams yield higher returns and have better<br />
team dynamics.<br />
Michael Parker, who has attended several leadership<br />
conferences, shares, “Being a minority, it has been<br />
crucial to my personal growth to be surrounded by<br />
such a diverse group and be able to witness individual<br />
successes. To see people of color and women pursue<br />
and succeed in their careers provides me with hope<br />
and makes me optimistic about this industry’s future.<br />
I firmly believe that individuals become the product<br />
of the groups they associate with, and there’s nothing<br />
better than being a part of such a diverse and high<br />
achieving organization.”<br />
<strong>FMA</strong> believes in this cause and pushes women and<br />
minorities to lean in – to engage early and allow their<br />
voices to be heard.<br />
<strong>FMA</strong> <strong>2019</strong> MAGAZINE 33