By Josh Siatkowski | Staff Writer
Huddled inside an eclectic restaurant on a windy November night in New York, a group of college students and alumni gathered to share their aspirations in the fast-moving financial hub of Manhattan. But despite the industry’s affinity for East Coast elites, this group wasn’t united by an Ivy League crest. Instead, the tying thread of the roughly 30 people was being a Baylor Bear.
With endless blocks of skyscrapers, millions of fast-shuffling feet and only a tiny presence of Baylor alumni, it’s easy for the Bears of New York’s finance scene to feel as out of place as the 1600-mile distance from Waco would suggest. But there’s a world out there where Baylor’s footprint in the Big Apple is just as sizable as the dominant ones in Dallas and Houston.
Baylor Chief Investment Officer Dave Morehead, alongside the endowment office team, faculty members and a handful of dedicated students and alumni, are trying to make that world for the Bears. One of the ways in which Morehead is acting on that vision is by facilitating Baylor gatherings in New York, like the one that happened Monday night.
“Our office’s view is that we’re trying to help the university any way we can,” said Morehead, who has led Baylor’s endowment to eye-catching success in recent years. “We’re trying to help students any way we can. We’re not just trying to do that via our day job, but we’re trying to use the connections and knowledge and expertise that we have to facilitate career pathways for Baylor students and alums, to further themselves and build community in a place where there are few Baylor alums.”
The idea for a New York gathering for Baylor’s finance alumni began last year, when Morehead joined six young former Bears in a sort of “planting of the flag.” But this year, the number swelled to over 25, and alongside over twice as many young alumni, many career-focused current students make the trek. For both groups, events like the one Monday night make finance roles in New York — which are typically seen as only limited to a prestigious and connected few — feel much more attainable.
New York sophomore Julien Collette, a student in the business school’s Investment and Advisory Network, has been on the hunt for a highly competitive investment banking role in New York this year. Thousands of miles from the city and meeting mostly with professionals from northeast universities, the recruitment process can seem challenging and foreign without help from alumni and familiar faces, he said.
“It feels much more possible,” Collette said of his recruitment process after meeting with alumni at the event. “As more networks are built through Baylor into New York and into high finance, it is going to get a little bit easier for students to see the pathway.”
And although the night was, on the surface, two hours of shuffleboard and appetizers, the face-to-face interaction meant something far more to Collette — and far more to Baylor itself, he said.
“You can get on the phone with somebody, but being in person has so much more meaning,” Colette said. “Being afforded a trip like this is incredible from a networking standpoint, but also just for finance and for Baylor’s reputation as a whole. An opportunity like this helps leaps and bounds with recruiting in New York.”
While the night helped the roughly 10 finance-empassioned students on the trip to demystify the concrete jungle, the event was equally impactful for graduates. 2025 Baylor alumnus Marc Fachiol, who works at the investment bank Jefferies in New York, is already noticing a significant difference from the time he applied for roles in the city, saying the challenge of meeting professionals has shifted.
“If you had told me two years ago that we’d have students coming to Baylor to meet with investment banks, and that we’d have dinners meeting with alumni, current students and people in the industry, I’d have said it was crazy,” Fachiol said.
But even though the opportunity wasn’t there when he was a student, Fachiol still said he felt proud to be a part of the growth.
“It’s such a joy to be part of it, such a joy to see it grow,” Fachiol said. “And I’m excited to see what will happen in two years, will happen in four years and will hopefully happen in 10.”
And for Morehead, the facilitator behind the event, that growth is already in the works.
“In our business, we’re always looking to compound our returns. So the way that we think, we want to do next year, better, bigger and more fulsome than this year,” he said.
But it’s more than just meeting people and getting jobs. There’s a very Christian, very Baylor-esque mission behind the work, too.
“There’s a professional reason to do it, but actually there’s a theological reason to do it too,” Morehead said. “The Great Commission is ‘and to the ends of the Earth.’ New York actually isn’t the end of the Earth, but there is something to be said about taking what Baylor students value … and taking it to a place where that is less apparent.”
