During a recent virtual reunion, current and former members of the Bermont Carlin Scholars Program, established 14 years ago to prepare top students for roles within Wall Street, gathered to share career stories and advice. The event highlighted related experiences that bond the Scholars of Miami Herbert’s elite undergraduate group together well beyond graduation. With members oftentimes advocating for each other within their organizations, the program today includes nearly 400 students and alumni that thrives within major financial institutions.
“The group is a community of students that care about each other and want to help each other grow,” says Adam E. Carlin, who has sponsored the program since its inception along with Richard Bermont. Bermont and Carlin head Bermont Carlin Wealth Management, a Morgan Stanley group, and a top 50 private wealth management team as listed in Barron’s Magazine. “Future students can know that they have a community at these organizations that welcomes them and understands where they came from,” he says.
The unique experience begins in a student’s second semester of their sophomore year. Those with high GPAs who wish to develop their careers in investment banking or the financial sector have the opportunity to apply by submitting their resume and a report on a Wall Street company, which they later present to the admissions panel. The process includes a two-day Wall Street prep course and initial contact with a Bermont Carlin scholar already in the workforce, enabling an early start to networking within the group. Last year, the thorough selection process, led by Professors Brian Barrett, Andrea Heuson, and Mark Shapiro, yielded 28 Scholars out of 80 applicants.
The new class meets bimonthly for skills development in networking, computer applications, and business etiquette, as well as training for job interviews, ultimately leading to a summer trip to New York City to meet directly with hiring managers at the major Wall Street firms. During the three-day stay, students visit about 20 companies, reflecting the intensity and caliber of the programming.
“The Bermont Carlin scholars are extremely well prepared,” says Bermont, a UM honorary alumnus, former trustee, and former president of the Citizen’s Board. He points out that the new Scholars receive the tools to communicate in the language of finance, a track record of strong extracurricular activity, and a job record—as members will usually complete one or two summer internships before graduation—in addition to carrying academic validity as top-performing students.
Heuson echoes the view. “The students impress with their poise and investment acumen and networking skills,” she says, nevertheless emphasizing the importance of communal ties among members to the success of the program.
“Human Resources professionals, who otherwise have thousands of resumes to sift through, pay closer attention to the resume of a candidate that someone within the organization may vouch for,” she says regarding the willingness of former members to advocate for the current Scholars. “An ally in the firm can also help prepare the candidate for interviews or introduce them to colleagues in other divisions. It is really valuable to become part of this network.”
The strength of cooperation became clear during the virtual reunion. Several former students described how the network-enabled them to reach desired placements.
Alumnus Daniel Moubayed, for instance, credits his previous position within JP Morgan’s debt capital markets division in part to the help that he received from a fellow Scholar.
“I ended up in that seat very much due to a Bermont Carlin scholar a year above me who worked there and had connections to debt capital markets, and her work sounded really interesting to me,” he states. Today an attorney at Davis Polk & Wardwell, he adds, “my time at JP Morgan has served me really well in my current role as a lawyer.”
Scholar Cody Edelenbos, a private equity associate at H.I.G. Capital, likewise found his current position with the help of associations within the ’Canes group.
“I was about seven months into my first year of banking when the opportunity opened up at H.I.G., where two former Scholars worked. Through those connections, I got my resume out of the black hole and was able to start the interview process face to face,” he says.
Achieving through their own merits and supported by a connection as a Bermont Carlin group, Scholars today work throughout Wall Street’s bulge-bracket firms and some of the older alumni have risen to positions of significant responsibility.
For the sponsors, helping to shape principled and dedicated professionals from the time that they are sophomores validates their enduring participation with the program.
“They show the intellectual integrity and integrity of character to go forward with this responsibility,” Bermont says.
“The faculty and students make sure that the ‘fabric’ is strong and that’s what gives the program longevity,” adds Carlin, who also serves as a member of UM’s board of trustees, chairman of the board at the Sylvester Cancer Center, and member of the board at the Frost School of Music. “It’s a pretty special program.”
Backed by a sense of community and dedicated sponsors and faculty, Miami Herbert’s superlative group shows no signs of slowing its rising presence at the major corporations.
