Lehigh holds 19th Annual Wall Street Council Financial Services forum

The 19th Annual Wall Street Council Financial Services forum was held on Saturday, bringing together 231 students and 90 alumni at Zoellner Arts Center.

The forum offered informational presentations and a chance to connect face-to-face with 90 alumni in financial professions to network and explore job and internship opportunities with 61 companies. The companies included EY, JP Morgan, KKR, Webster Bank, The Bank of Nova Scotia, The Bank of America and Citi Bank were present. 

The event was free for students with a $50 refundable deposit given back after attendance and post-event survey completion.

The Bank of America served as the event’s lead sponsor, with six alumni from the company returning to campus to meet with students. The event was also sponsored by Gen II Fund Services and Diamond Dental of Manhattan.

Beginning at 8:30 a.m., students, faculty and alumni gathered for breakfast and networking before the day’s panels and discussions. 

Aidan Skinner, ‘27, a finance major, said he came to the event to meet professionals and learn more about potential career paths.

“There are a lot of impressive banks here, and I’m excited to hear about people’s stories and how they got to where they are,” Skinner said. 

Students from all class years attended, from first-years learning how to navigate the finance world to seniors networking for full time jobs. 

The forum opened with remarks from Paul Brockman, the senior associate dean in the College of Business. Brockman welcomed the students and emphasized the strength of Lehigh’s alumni network and the school’s growing national reputation, including the Wall Street Journal’s 2026 College rankings where Lehigh was ranked in the top 30 nationally for return on investment. 

Brockman said this achievement comes from hard working students, committed faculty and a well developed alumni network. 

According to Lehigh’s Center for Career & Professional Development, 88,000 people are in the student alumni network. 

Brockman said students should make the most of their time with the alumni to seize opportunities by “visualizing the financial landscape” and exploring career paths within them.

“During the networking sessions, you have the opportunity to make important connections that can advance your career development for many years and perhaps even decades to come,” Brockman said. 

Following the opening remarks, Ken Hoexter, ‘93, the managing director at Bank of America, took the stage. Hoexter, who spoke at the event, has many family ties to Lehigh, including his sister, cousins and son all attending. 

Hoexter emphasized the importance of professionalism and attention to detail when applying for internships, such as checking for spelling errors. He said that when companies are reading over 120 applications for a job, the quickest way to be ignored is to have a spelling mistake. 

 “The recruiter pulled my resume out because he thought being on Student Senate was something cool,” Hoexter said. “Sometimes it is weird what might make you pop out.” 

After Hoexter spoke, a panel of young alumni shared their experiences transitioning from Lehigh to careers in finance. 

The panel, led by Billy Healy, ‘20, included former students: Christina Flynn, ’23, an equity capital markets associate at Bank of America; Mike Grekoski, ’24, an investment banking analyst at Citi Bank; Lucas Hudson, ’23, an equity research analyst at Bank of America; and Leeza Khalif ’23, who works in business development at AQR Capital Management. 

They emphasized how Lehigh’s coursework prepared them for what they experience in the work force. 

Flynn said she joined the Lehigh Investment Management Group, which aims to help students better understand financial markets and the finance industry.

Flynn said when she initially joined, she didn’t know much about it. 

“IMG is a great club because you can do stock pitches with guidance from the executive board and even just listening to others teaches you a lot,” Flynn said. 

Students then walked next door to Rauch Business Center for breakout sessions with alumni working in specific areas of finance. Each session was about 45 minutes. 

The different rooms included Sales & Trading; Investment Banking; Portfolio Management and Hedge Funds; Wealth Management; Sell-Side and Buy-Side Research; Private Equity and Private Credit; FinTech and Commercial Real Estate. 

Each room consisted of approximately 15 students and five alumni.

In the Sales and Trading breakout session, Tim Isola, ‘26, asked the group of alumni about the key differences between careers in sales and trading.

Andrew Fife, ‘85, explained that in sales, there’s no planning your day, and the fast paced nature of the financial markets and constantly changing industry calls for adaptability. 

In response to Isola, Fife said sales is a people’s business and having the ability to make a personal connection is crucial to the industry. 

Once students attended three sessions, they headed back to Zoellner for lunch. Students sat with alumni during the meal, allowing them to continue conversations and network in a more casual setting. 

After lunch concluded, students had the opportunity to continue networking with alumni and other attendees until 4 p.m., when the event officially ended.