Laura Travers (left) and Sayoko Kumamaru pose with Warren Buffett.
Carroll School Students Visit the 'Oracle of Omaha'
Warren Buffett Hosts 'Smart Woman Securities' Tour
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Carroll School of Management sophomores Laura Travers and Sayoko Kumamaru traveled to Omaha, Nebraska last month to participate in the annual Warren Buffett Trip sponsored by Smart Woman Securities (SWS), a national not-for-profit organization focused on investment education for undergraduate women.Travers and Kumamaru were two of thirty students selected to participate in a group that included women from Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Fordham, Princeton, Cornell, Dartmouth and UPenn.
Upon arrival in Omaha, Travers recounts, the group visited The Gallup Organization and TD Ameritrade, where they heard from various executives including the vice chairman and CFO of Gallup and the executive vice president and CFO of TD Ameritrade.
The first evening of the visit culminated in an exclusive dinner for the group with Warren Buffett at his favorite restaurant, Gorat's. Over steak and root beer floats, the group had the opportunity to converse with and question the "Oracle of Omaha," as Buffett is known, "who was more than willing to share his valuable wisdom and hilarious anecdotes with a new generation of investors," according to Travers and Kumamaru.
The SWS intinerary also included a tour of the Nebraska Furniture Mart, a subsidiary of Buffett's conglomerate holding company, Berkshire Hathaway; a two-hour Q&A session with Buffett at the Omaha Field Club, and lunch with him afterwards at Picolo Pete's. The students also had the opportunity to visit Weitz Funds, and hear its president and portfolio manager outline his approach to value investing. The trip ended with the annual SWS executives' dinner, attended by business leaders from Union Pacific, American National Ban and ConAgra, among others.
Through instructive seminars, mentoring initiatives, and meetings with successful investors such as Warren Buffett, Smart Woman Securities provides resources upon which women can build greater knowledge of the financial markets. By giving young women direct investment experience while still in college, SWS founders say, the program aims to empower a new generation of women investors for the future.
In support of this objective, Travers and Kumamaru plan to launch an official chapter of Smart Woman Securities at Boston College in the fall. Each chapter hosts a ten week seminar series and challenges its members by encouraging them to participate in an investment project and on industry research teams.