Record number secure coveted internships

By Ann Brown

April 17, 2008 -- Some 40 students from the Florida A&M University (FAMU)
School of Business and Industry (SBI) are heading to Wall Street. This
marks a record number of students from the historically black university to
be accepted into Wall Street internships. The students at FAMU competed for
their position with not only other students from HBCUs, but from
traditional and Ivy League schools such as Harvard University and
University of Chicago.

FAMU has been making a planned effort to increase the number of black
professionals on Wall Street. "I met with our dean last semester and
presented her with a Wall Street Initiative," says finance professor Karl
Lawrence Ph.D., who is coordinating the initiative. "I set a target of
placing 30 students in Wall Street internships this year, 60 during 2009,
and 100 students during the summer of 2010. I also set a goal of placing 25
students on international internships with Wall Street firms by 2010."

The students have been placed with companies such as JPMorgan Chase,
Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Barclays Capital, among other firms. "This is
a significant achievement because it delivers a strong message that,
contrary to traditional beliefs, African Americans are interested in Wall
Street careers, " Lawrence says. "Our students also welcome the opportunity
to compete against students from Harvard, Penn, and other Ivy League
schools."

Barclays Capital, which began internship recruiting efforts with FAMU in
2005, "shares the vision of FAMU of increasing the number of African
American interns, as well as other diverse interns within the investment
banking industry," says Teresa Foxx, director and general manager at
Barclays Capital in Miami. Tara Udut, Barclay's head of campus recruitment
for the Americas, says the selection process is in-depth and includes a
general information session, several follow-up events for interested
candidates, and on-campus interviews.

Fourth-year student Tiffani Renee Davis, who is completing a five-year
professional MBA program at FAMU, is set to start her 10-week internship at
JPMorgan on June 2. "Internships provide the opportunity to be exposed to a
potential career," says Davis, who will work in corporate finance and
investment banking. "Wall Street presents a challenge to me. I would like
to work on Wall Street for a few years [upon graduating]."

According to Lawrence, students who secure permanent positions with Wall
Street firms can expect to make $90,000 to $100,000 during their first
year. "Roughly 80% of our students typically accept permanent placement
offers from companies that they intern with," he says. "However, our
current goal is to achieve a 100% permanent placement offer rate."

Eleven of the 40 FAMU students headed to the Wall Street this year were
placed by Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO), a nonprofit
organization whose focus is to place qualified students of color in
internships in investment banking, corporate law, asset management, global
corporate finance, information technology, accounting, and philanthropy.
"For the past four years, 25 students from FAMU have been accepted into the
SEO Career Program, says Tamesha Harper, SEO's program manager for the
southeastern region. "According to our data from 2004, 100% of our FAMU
interns have received offers from our partner firms."

Lawrence says he aims to make FAMU "the leading supplier of talent to Wall
Street." One way is by developing talent via an expanded mentorship program
that teams FAMU alumni working on Wall Street with current SBI interns.
Marvin Wilmoth, a JPMorgan investment banker, is a former intern who has
been mentoring since launching his finance career four years ago. "Having a
mentor from your Alma mater helps guide interns through the summer in order
to give them a greater chance of receiving a full-time offer," he says.

"I feel it is my duty to help those coming behind me," adds FAMU alumna
Simone E. Facey, who has signed on to mentor an intern this year. "I
previously went through the internship program. It provided me with the
ability to experience the career first hand." While a void of African
Americans still exists on Wall Street, Facey, who is now in investment
banking at JPMorgan, says "Companies are taking strides in regards to
diversity recruiting. Programs like SEO are providing minority students
with the ability to intern in finance and are shaping the future of the
industry."

Not completely there yet, but we are on our way baaaaaaaaaaaack!