Cantor Fitzgerald is hailed as one of the biggest comebacks on Wall Street in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The firm had occupied the top five floors of the World Trade Center Tower 1 when the hijacked plane collided with the tower, killing 658 of the firm’s employees.
A solid example of resilience, Cantor fought
its way back despite losing more than two thirds of its people. Today, it is
bigger and more diversified than before with its reach in all spheres of
investment banking, private equity and even real estate. The Zicklin Investment Club, in collaboration with the Zicklin GCMC and the University of Hartford, were invited
to an office visit to Cantor Fitzgerald’s office located at 499 Park Avenue on
October 30. I was fortunate to be a part of the group of MBA and MS students.
The day started off in the meeting room to
chat with Crystal Cox, a Baruch alumna and Cantor recruiter, about the dos and
don’ts of the job search process. With cover letters and resumes, Crystal
stressed the importance of good formatting and authenticity. For example, exaggerations
on a resume are usually revealed during a background check. She also suggested addressing
cover letters to an individual who works at the firm is a good practice (even
if it is the global head of HR who will not receive the cover letter) because
it shows that an individual has done their due diligence.
Our first speaker was Ari Schonbrun, Chief Administrative Officer
of Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. On 9/11, only 4 employees of Cantor
who were on the upper floors
made
it out alive. In an astonishing and moving presentation, Mr. Schonbrun
shared with us how he was lucky enough to be one of those 4 individuals.
It was on the 78th
floor, after the first plane hit, he saw a severely injured colleague and moved to quickly help
her down 78 flight of stairs
and
into
an ambulance. Although wanting to go inside to help other friends and
colleagues, he gave in to his injured colleague’s pleas to ride with
her in the ambulance to the hospital. Minutes later, Tower 1 collapsed.
As it did for Mr. Schonbrun, a matter of few seconds had decided life or
death for several others on that fateful day.
 |
| Ari
Schonbrun, Chief Administrative Officer |
After
the terrorist attacks, Cantor opened what was left of their business
within a week. Having lost most of their data, systems
and most importantly, their people, it took tremendous hard work and
sacrifice by Mr. Schonbrun and the firm’s other leaders to rebuild
Cantor and bring it into a new era. Mr. Schonbrun’s message was loud and
clear; resilience, hard work and determination
will inevitably overcome all odds.
Mr. Schonbrun’s inspiring talk was followed
by Youssef Squali, Managing Director and Global Head of Internet and Media
Equity. Mr. Squali helped demystify the role of a research analyst to all of
us. It is a function that not only involves a lot of data analytics and market monitoring,
but also significant interaction with clients. According to him, the skills that
someone interested in the field should develop are strong analytical and
writing proficiency. Cantor concentrates primarily on mid-sized firms, and a
typical research report includes an investment summary (which is key to clients),
a buy/hold/sell rating, risks, highlights and extensive quantitative data on
the stock. Mr. Squali even gave us the group’s latest research report on
LinkedIn, which was very insightful.
 |
| Youssef
Squali, Managing Director and Global Head of Internet and Media Equity |
The final speakers for the day were Adam
Mattessich, Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Trading, and Jared
Kessler, Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Equities. Baruch MBA
alumna and the firm’s VP of Recruiting, Viktoria Slutskaya, also joined us. Off
the bat, Mr. Mattessich opened the floor to questions and my hand shot up.
Since this is my first semester, I wanted to know what kinds of skill-sets were
candidates expected to bring to the table and how quantitatively adept they had
to be for consideration in an entry-level internship. Having a background in engineering
himself, Mr. Mattessich shared that although quantitative knowledge was required,
given how diverse IB was, one can find roles befitting their specific strengths.
While it is understood that students may not have technical expertise without relevant
experience, it is essential to build knowledge and awareness about the markets
and the industry. Mr. Kessler backed this up by stating that with the
constantly evolving regulatory landscape, it is crucial to be up to speed with
regulations like Dodd Frank and Bassel II. He also added that it is important
to identify a role that fits one’s persona. For example, if an individual is quantitatively
geared, Research Analytics may be best suited to him, whereas someone who enjoys
presentations and interacting with people will find IB to their liking. At the
end of the day, these skills are transferable, so there is potential for
mobility as well.
By now the visit was winding down and the
last activity left on our itinerary was visiting the trading floor. This was
the part I was most excited about. Some traders had 8 monitors flickering with
Bloomberg or other data that I couldn’t comprehend. I struck a conversation
with an ETF trader and we discussed the Black Monday affair on August 24th
when ETF pricing had gone awry for over 300 seconds (Cantor was not affected).
He was kind enough to show me how orders came into his system, and while most
of it was automated, some exceptions required his attention. Having never
previously visited a trading floor, I had anticipated it to be a scene of people
shouting on their phones or hooked to their monitors. But as we walked around
the floor, we noticed how co-workers jovially chatted with each other and cracked
jokes at times, which kept the atmosphere light in spite of the demands of
their work.
I had a wonderful experience and took a lot
of takeaways from the visit. Mr. Schonbrun described Cantor as a close knit community
and family, and everyone we met surely reflected that description. The visit
was a great sneak peek at the activities of a premier financial services firm. Kudos to the Zicklin Investment
Club and the GCMC for their efforts in organizing this successful event!
