Senior Speaker 2020: Colleen Collins, Finance

We would do well to view the dual coronavirus and financial crises as an opportunity for “rebirth,” observes graduating senior in finance Colleen Collins. “Many of my classmates have been uprooted,” she says, “but we have before us an unprecedented learning experience, an opportunity to roll up our sleeves and adapt. While there are no roadmaps for this, we, as Isenberg graduates, have the right leadership, technical, and analytical skills to succeed. And our generation has the platform to transition seamlessly to working from home.”

In June, Collins will join Loomis, Sayles & Company as a credit research analyst. At the Boston-based firm, she and her teammates will make credit recommendations based on fundamental analysis and value assessment. Collins’s previous hands-on experience includes two summer internships with the investment firm Wellington Management Company. At Wellington, she worked with the firm’s business analytics, high yield research, and trading segments. Additionally, she gained experience as a junior analyst and later rose to become a leader in Isenberg’s student-run Minutemen Fixed Income Fund.

According to Collins, opportunities for women in the traditionally male-dominated investment world are improving. That includes the study of finance at Isenberg, where women had been underrepresented.  Collins originally founded The Women in Finance Society and helped transition that into a chapter of Smart Woman Securities, which is a national nonprofit that aims to educate undergraduate women on finance and investments.

“I’m also proud of our outreach to middle and high schools,” she says. “We’ve opened the eyes of young women to an exciting career path. We’ve built a community that previously didn’t exist here on campus.”

 Another essential ingredient in launching a successful and impactful career in finance, she emphasizes, is finding a dedicated mentor. For Collins, that has been Isenberg Finance Professor Mila Getmansky Sherman, who has served as the advisor to the Smart Woman Securities Chapter and been instrumental in the overall success of the club on campus.

Collins looks forward to returning to campus as an active alumna and is excited to witness the exciting initiatives underway with Dean Massey’s ambitious agenda for the school in the coming years.