Baruch College’s Alternative Investment Club partnered with the Chartered Financial Analyst Society New York to host the Student Leader Symposium on Dec. 11, 2025 at the CFA Society New York’s Times Square office. The event featured two panels: Perspective on Real Assets and Leadership in Private Markets.

“It’s great to see the enthusiasm of the students and how they’re thinking about trying to develop their careers,” Steven Carbone, a managing director at the Reinsurance Group of America, told The Ticker.

“It’s something I didn’t think about when I was in college — putting forethought into networking and getting to see the options that are out there.”

The idea to hold the Student Leader Symposium came to fruition when BAI Co-Founders Kirt Bromley and Andrew Horyczun wanted to “do something different” for the club and met Andre Teixeira in the spring of 2025.

Texeira became a student ambassador at the CFA Society New York and with Bromley and Horyczun, he presented the idea of the Student Leader Symposium to the CFA Society. According to Bromley, at least 50% of the event’s attendees were Baruch students, while the rest came from other schools like Fordham University, Columbia University and St. John’s University.

“It really validates our idea that spaces and events like these are necessary and beneficial to students,” Horyczun told The Ticker.

Carbone, a Baruch alum, agreed that to bring students together for an event as this one would greatly benefit their career.

Kyle Katorincek, vice president equity researcher at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, is a CFA Charterholder and Baruch alum. He reflected on the experience he had while balancing schoolwork and studying for the CFA, rewarding and difficult.

“When you’re networking with other members, they see how much effort you put in, and it shows that it teaches you work ethic,” he said. “I was going to school full time and studying 20 hours a week for the CFA, so I didn’t have a lot of free time, but looking back, it was a lot of fun.”