CFA Society Boston Emerging Leaders Career Panel 

The finance industry is constantly evolving and growing in response to today’s ever-changing landscape. There are many different career paths to be explored, all requiring their own unique skill sets and perspectives.

Please join the Emerging Leaders Committee on Wednesday, October 25, 2023, for a career panel & networking reception with leading industry practitioners in the Boston area. During this event, Soumya Mantha, CFA, and Kris Frank, CFA, will host a wide-ranging discussion exploring the panelists’ career paths and advice for the next generation of emerging leaders.

Our panel will include:

• Brent Bell, CFA, Vice President, Investment Strategist at State Street Global Advisors 
• Ariel Babcock, CFA, Head of Investment Stewardship, Fidelity Investments 
• Keon Holmes, CFA, Managing Director at Cambridge Associates 

Food and beverages will be provided. Following the program, there will be 1 hour of networking. 

Date/Time and Location 

Wednesday, October 25, 2023, from 4:30 PM - 7:00 PM (Check-in starts at 4:30 PM) The panel presentation will take place from 5:00pm - 6:00pm, followed by networking from 6:00pm - 7:00pm.

Location: Babson College Boston Campus - 100 High Street, 1st Floor, Boston, MA 02110

Speakers 

Ariel Babcock, CFA, Head of Investment Stewardship, Fidelity Investments 

Ariel Babcock is the head of investment stewardship in the asset management division at Fidelity Investments. Fidelity Investments is a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing, and other financial products and services to institutions, financial intermediaries, and individuals. 

In this role, Ms. Babcock oversees Fidelity’s overall stewardship strategy, including leading the engagement work across Asset Management, acting as a key investment team point of contact for all corporate governance related topics, and developing thematic research and thought leadership that contributes to Fidelity’s sustainable investing, stewardship and engagement activities. In this capacity she also coordinates with the Investment Proxy Research team to ensure consistent and unified messaging across voting and issuer engagements. 

Prior to assuming her current responsibilities, Ms. Babcock was Managing Director, Head of Research at FCLTGlobal (Focusing Capital on the Long Term), a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to develop actionable research and practical solutions to help better focus capital on the long term to support a sustainable and prosperous economy. Her research focused on the levers that drive behaviors in capital markets - including governance, engagement, incentives and metrics - with a particular emphasis on how effective process and strategy can shift investment and capital allocation behavior to improve longer-term outcomes and returns. In recognition of her research on remaking the investor-corporate dialog, the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), the largest professional investor relations association in the world, included Ms. Babcock as part of its 2019 inaugural class of its “40 Under 40” program that recognizes those who “have made noticeable contributions to their companies, communities, the IR profession, and to NIRI”.

Ms. Babcock has been in the investments industry since 2004 having started her career as a trader and research analyst at a long-short financial sector focused hedge fund. She moved on to serving as portfolio manager for value and equity income focused mutual funds at both American Independence Financial Services and Calamos Investments. More recently she worked with clean energy company Tecogen Inc. as Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications following the firm’s IPO on Nasdaq. 

Ms. Babcock earned her bachelors of arts degree in Economics and Environmental Studies from Tufts University and is a CFA charterholder.

Brent Bell, CFA, Vice President, Investment Strategist at State Street Global Advisors

Brent is a Vice President of State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) and an Investment strategist within the Investment Solutions Group (ISG). Brent is responsible for the development of strategic asset allocation solutions including liability-driven investment strategies for ISG clients. Brent joined SSGA in 2003 as a member of SSGA's Consultant Relations group. Prior to SSGA, Brent spent four years at Teradyne, Inc., a semiconductor capital equipment manufacturer, where he was responsible for inventory forecasting and materials planning.

Brent received his MBA from Babson College and holds BS degrees in both Finance and Operations & Strategic Management from Boston College. He has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a Certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM). Brent is a member of the CFA Society Boston, the CFA Institute and the Global Association of Risk Professionals. Brent served on the CFA Society Boston Board of Directors from 2016-2023, serving as Chair for 2021-2022.

Keon Holmes, CFA, Managing Director at Cambridge Associates 

Keon is a Managing Director in Cambridge Associates’ Boston office. He works with a number of universities, foundations, hospitals, cultural institutions, independent schools, and private clients across the world, ranging in size from $50 million to over $9 billion. Keon specializes in constructing and overseeing portfolios for his clients.
 
Prior to joining Cambridge Associates in 2005, Keon worked in equity risk management products with UBS AG in Hong Kong while attending business school. Prior to this, he worked as an Investment Manager for private clients at JP Morgan Private Bank, administering investment portfolios for private clients of the southeast regional office in Atlanta. Prior to this, Keon was an Associate in the equity derivatives group at JPMorgan & Co. in New York.

Keon is a CFA Charterholder, holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, Harvard University and has his BS in Electrical Engineering from Howard University. 

Soumya Mantha, CFA, Research Lead Analyst, Investment Solutions at MFS Investment Management (Moderator)

Soumya Mantha, CFA is a lead analyst on the Investment Solutions team at MFS Investment Management. She has six years of experience conducting qualitative and quantitative research and analysis on capital markets. Soumya received her Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and is currently pursuing her Master of Science in Finance at Boston College. She received her CFA charter holder in October 2021. 

Kristopher Frank, CFA, CAIA, Private Wealth Investment Management Specialist - The McCauley McGuirk Group (Moderator)

Kristopher joined Merrill in March of 2022 as a Private Wealth Investment Management Specialist. He received his BA in Finance from Endicott College in 2017. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation, awarded by the CFA® Institute and is a member of CFA® Society Boston. Additionally, he also holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designation, awarded by the CAIA® Association® and is a member of CAIA® Boston. On the team, Kris is responsible for developing and implementing asset allocation* strategies and analytics, manager selection and due diligence, and performance tracking.

Prior to joining Merrill, Kris was an Associate Strategy Specialist at Eaton Vance covering high net worth and ultra-high net worth solutions centered around concentrated wealth and customized, tax-sensitive solutions. In this role, he worked with some of the largest private wealth teams in the country helping to solve complex situations with solutions focused on diversification, tax-management and income enhancement.

He lives on the South Shore in MA with his fiancée, Alicia, and their golden retriever, Gully, and spends his free time playing golf and hockey. Kris is an active alumnus of his college and the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund.

Pricing 
Member Registration | $50 
Candidate Member Registration | $40
Student Member Registration | $30 
Non-Member Registration | $75

Passport Program 

Members of any CFA society may attend at the CFA Society Boston member rate. If you are only a member of CFA Institute, you do not qualify for the Society member rate.

Professional Learning Credits
CFA Boston has determined that this event qualifies for 1 PL credit hour under the guidelines of CFA Institute's Professional Learning Program.  If you are a CFA Institute member and a CFA Society Boston member, PL credit for your participation in this event will be automatically recorded in your PL tracking tool. Otherwise, you may upload 1 PL credit to your CFA Institute account in the PL tracking tool. 

Registration 
Members can register by logging into their Boston specific account. Non-members and CFA Society Global members must create an account, or log into their Boston specific account, to register for this program. Confirmation details will be sent following registration. If you do not receive a confirmation email, please ensure you have completed the entire checkout process. 

Meeting Safety and Responsibility Policy
All registrants and attendees of all CFA Society Boston programming agree to the Meeting Safety and Responsibility Policy. The CFA Society Boston Meeting Safety and Responsibility Policy includes the following:  

• Personal Safety and Security
• Unacceptable Behavior
• Responsible Drinking
• Privacy Policy
• Zero-Tolerance

Click here to view the complete Meeting Safety and Responsibility Policy.