Hundreds of students, faculty members and business professionals attended the Sixth Annual Principal Investment Conference held yesterday at Stanford and sponsored by the Graduate School of Business (GSB). The conference focused on the field of investment, in which jobs rank among the most sought after positions in business due to their high returns and profitability.

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Phoebe Kuo

Students and recruiters mingle at the sixth annual investing conference at the GSB.

Prominent figures in the investing world discussed topics ranging from international investing to real estate investing. Keynote speakers Carl Thoma of Thoma Cressey Equity Partners and James Coulter of Texas Pacific Group, Inc. — both Stanford GSB alumni — addressed various types of investment, especially private equity, and discussed the opportunities available in each field.

Ali Rashid, a second year student at the GSB and one of the head organizers of the event, named several goals for the conference.

“We’re putting on this conference to give back to the GSB by getting Stanford’s name out there and educating our fellow classmates on various opportunities in investment,” Rashid said.

Richard Wang, also a second year student at the GSB and a head organizer for the conference, added that the purpose of the event was to discuss issues and trends impacting all forms of institutional principal investing.

“The conference also serves as a conduit for members of the Stanford GSB community to interact with members of the principal investing community and vice versa,” he said.

Wang also addressed the developments the conference since its inception.

“The conference has evolved by discussing more topics such as distressed debt investing, incorporating more forms of institutional principal investing such as hedge funds, and involving more members of the Stanford GSB family,” he said.

The conference was started in the late 1990s by a group of Stanford GSB students who wanted to hold investment conferences, already popular among East Coast schools, to Stanford and the West Coast.

“Many East Coast business schools like Harvard and Wharton already have investment conferences, but it’s easier for them since they have a larger student base and a huge business community in the surrounding areas,” Rashid said. “Although the Stanford business school comprises less than 400 students, we have many top business leaders in California coming to speak to us, plus several speakers flying from other parts of the country.”

Lewis Cheng, a first year student at the GSB, attended the conference to gain perspective from veterans in the investment industry.

“Lots of MBA students are trying to get into this field,” he said. “So it’s important for us to learn how viable it is for post-MBA students to get into investment. Also, I get to explore the different classes within investment to help me decide my plans for the future.”

Rashid expressed contentment at the event’s outcome.

“We are very fortunate that Stanford has a significant amount of alumni in private equity, real estate and other investment fields that are willing to give back to this community and share their expertise with us.”