new COLLeGe nimBUS Volume 9, Number 1 Fall/Winter 1992 New Colleagues Experience pairs with enthusiasm when student interns for alum. by Heruy Smyth impressive. Her reswne was a dis­ by Bonnie Gorla aster, and her cover letter was un­ or about sixty days this past focused and did little to TZ ~en I decided to do an internship F summer Bonnie Gorla, a recommend her. On the telephone Y Y ~ver the summer, I researched New College student in her last with her, however, I recognized in how other people had set up internships in year, was my intern. She is the her voice the hunger I remembered the past. During my search, I came into first intern I ever hired as well as as a student long on ambition but contact with the New College alwnnae/i the fust intern hired by our office. short on experience. I called her coordinator. In our meeting, I explained As a middle manager in an office academic advisor and liked what I that I would be in New York City during with a hiring freeze, an intern was heard there as well. the summer and would be interested in get­ a luxury I did not expect. Neverthe­ I pitched the idea of using an in­ ting some "real world" experience in eco­ less, when I received Bonnie's let­ tern to ftll the gaps in my area to nomics. Carol Ann Wilkinson proceeded ter and reswne in late April, I saw my boss as well as our regional to compile a list of names, phone nwnbers an answer to my area's persistent manager. They liked the idea, espe­ and addresses of alumnae/i who were in problem of too few resources and cially in light of the work assisting the New York City area and open to estab­ too many projects. Bonnie in the preparation of her lishing internships for New College stu­ On paper, Bonnie was not very Continued on page 2 dents. With the list in hand, I called the alwnnae/i and sent them each a reswne. A week later, I received a call from Henry Smyth of Coutts & Co. in New York. We discussed Coutts & Co., a pri­ vate investment bank, and the type of work they engage in. When I arrived in New York, I met with Mr. Smyth. He in­ terviewed me and then gave me some read­ ing material to familiarize me with the banking world. As an introduction to the investment aspect of this bank, I began reading the Wall Street Journal. Some of the projects I worked on for Coutts & Co. dealt with the Latin Ameri­ can Money Market Fund that they are de­ veloping. I met with some representatives from aleading Mexican investment fum to create a model portfolio for the fund . In ad­ dition, I constructed a Lotus-based matrix to analyze this fund's competitiveness with other Latin American funds. I also be­ gan organizing the fund's Risk Factors sec­ tion. During my seven weeks with Coutts & Alumna eli ranks grew by 107 in May as New College graduated Co., I was able to get a flavor of the mid­ its 26th class. Six of the new alums, Keith Forbes, Patricia Fin­ town Manhattan business world. I con­ geroff, Lara Farinholt, T.J. Evens, and Carla Eastis, are pic­ ducted some research for my thesis tured above. Continued on page 2 A He Ip in g Hand Continued from page 1 together. We quickly realized, how- ject as well as sources for additional Smyth ever that before she could be of much material. Bonnie left us with reams of use to us, Bonnie had to undergo a lit- current primary material to use for her thesis. 1 invited Bonnie in for an mter­ tle orientation. Prior to starting the in- thesis, material she would have never view and spent a long time talking ternship, I gave her some background come across in the course of ordinary with her about her work at New Col­ reading on Latin American financial research. But she also came away with lege, job experience and interes~ in instruments and markets. As further a much clearer sense of the culture and Latin America. On the latter pomt orientation and to provide some per- demands of a modem global banking there wasn't much. No Spanish, no spective, I also gave her materials on organization. And not least, she got a Portuguese, and not much familiarity the US financial markets as well. In great resume builder. with Latin America beyond some retrospect, I think by this time Bonnie Everyone agreed Bonnie was a course work in economic develop­ began to get an idea of what she was great success. She received a strong ment. But I liked her. I liked her moti­ in for. letter of recommendation from my vation and I'm-New-College-and-can­ From her first day with us to her boss and she has one from me on de- therefore-do-anything attitude. She of last, we made sure Bonnie had the dis- mand. Our experience with Bonnie course had no idea what she was in for. tinct sense she was making a contribu- made it much easier to recommend an- A word about our work. I'm in the tion. After introductions all around, I other New College student for an in- Latin American Structured Finance installed her at a desk outside my of- ternship in the future. And that's Department of Coutts and Company flee and taught her the telephone sys- exactly what I plan to do. AG, a global private bank headquar­ tern. I set her up with an aging PC we I hope from my experience my fel- tered in Zurich and a wholly-owned scrounged, loaded up word processing low alwns see the possibility of support­ subsidiary of National Westminster and spreadsheet software, and told her ing New College by creating internships Bank Pic, a large UK banking group. to read the manuals and learn the pro- where they work for New College stu­ Basically, what I do is come up with grams, quickly. The next day, she was dents. I'm not saying interns don't re- Latin American products and services loading data into the spreadsheet pro- quire a great deal of time and to sell our private banking clients, and gram and, the day after, typing memos supervision. They do. But ifBonnie is then go out and sell them. Our clients on the word processor. I was im- any example of what New College is include individuals, corporations, in­ pressed. producing these days, they are more vestment managers and offshore About four days into the internship, than worth the effort involved. funds. While different, they all have I gave her all the Latin American fund one thing in common: they're either literature I could lay my hands on Henry Smyth '76 is an investment moving money into or out of Latin (probably twenty pounds worth), led banker at Coutts & Co. in New York. America. We either have a structure her through one example, and told her for them or we create one. to start reading. We needed to do a For some time we had planned to competitive analysis as part of our Gorla launch a Latin America Money Mar­ fund proposal to senior management ket Fund for our clients but had been and Bonnie was going to do it. In all, I using the materials in the bank. I was frustrated by overriding priorities. I suppose she went through about thirty able to talk with people from other ar­ convinced my boss we could use Bon­ fund prospectuses m the next three eas of the bank to gain a broader un­ nie to do a lot of the legwork and re­ weeks, pulling out material for her derstanding of how investment banks search necessary to put this fund analysis and loading it into the spread­ are run. In addition, I attended several sheet. All this was done against the business meetings and visited the backdrop of endless grunt work- mak­ main branch ofNational Westminster Internship ing copies, answering telephones, Bank to see how they operate. Work­ sending faxes, writing and rewriting ing with Coutts & Co. has bee~ re­ Possibilities? memos - you get the idea. The result warding. It has given me expenence was exactly what we needed, on time in the banking world, as well as pro­ Did the thought, "I could do and under budget. vided me with current research ~te­ something like that," cross your In the midst of all the projects and rial on Latin America for my thesis. I mind while reading Henry's and grunt work, Bonnie was also doing a found my internship to be an invalu­ Bonnie's descriptions? If so, send in­ able experience, and I hope other formation (about your organi111tion, lot of reading in her area of interest. In the type of work available for an in­ the process, she began to focus on po­ alumni and students will take advan­ tern, academic areas which might ap­ tential thesis topics. Her interest in tage of this great opportunity. ply, preferred times of year, etc.) to economic stabilization policies in the alumnae/i office. We'll make Latin America led her to recent privati­ Bonnie Gorla is busy finishing her sure the infonnation is available to zation of state enterprises, specifically thesis and other requirements for students and help you get in touch. in the telecommunications sector. I graduation from New College in May gave her stacks of material on the sub- 1993.