Fordham Students Meet Warren Buffet in Omaha

"If Congress had voted down the second TARP [Troubled Asset Relief Program], we'd be meeting at a McDonald's somewhere . . . and you'd be picking up the check," Warren Buffett, the world's third wealthiest person and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, a Fortune 500 Company, said of the government's response to the 2008 financial crisis.

Two Fordham students had the opportunity to meet Buffett at a conference in Omaha, Neb. from March 31 through April 2.  Rebecca Horne and Nicole D'Souza, both GSB '13, served as Fordham's representatives for an annual event that marks the only time Buffett meets with undergraduate students each year. 

Organized by the national organization of Smart Women's Securities, a student club that focuses on personal finance skills and value investing techniques, the trip featured company tours, lunch and a question-and-answer session with and an exclusive SWS dinner with Buffett.  The group visited Union Pacific, TD Ameritrade, Nebraska Furniture Mart, a Berkshire Company and ConAgra Foods.  During the visits, they heard from high-ranking company officials about career planning, the daily operations of multimillion-dollar corporations and sustainable business growth.

The highlight of the trip, though, was an exclusive dinner with Buffett, according to Horne.

"Being at dinner with him was like going out to eat with my grandpa," Horne said.  "We talked about everything from boyfriends to playing bridge to movie premiers. I actually felt bad for him because we were so anxious to talk to him that I was afraid he would never get to eat."

While D'Souza said that she enjoyed talking with Buffett about careers and life, her favorite part of the trip focused on a slightly lower-profile speaker.

"The real highlight of the trip was Fordham alum Joe Moglia [chairman and former CEO of TD Ameritrade], who gave us gave us advice on how to choose the right career, stating spiritual soundness and really knowing yourself as the most important factors in making that decision," D'Souza said. "I know all the girls on the trip really took what he said to heart. He was definitely the most dynamic speaker of the trip."

Throughout the group's time with him, Buffett shared his experiences and offered advice on investment strategies, wealth management and corporate leadership, but he did not limit the conversation to business topics, or even philanthropy.

"Though he's known for being the most successful investor of our time, he doesn't talk about business and investing as much as I'd thought he would," Horne said. "He talks a good deal about the other decisions you'll have to make in your life, getting married, raising a family and, amazingly, he thinks that these decisions are the most important ones that anyone can make."

"The most important job you may have is raising your children," Buffett said during the question and answer session, "Because from when they're born, you're their hero."

Even in the midst of a scandal involving one of Buffett's former employees and accusations of an insider trading scandal, Buffett reportedly maintained his composure and poise, ensuring that media attention would not have averse effects on the trip.

"I met him on a day when Berkshire Hathaway was going through a public relations crisis, hounded by news of possible insider trading by a former firm executive, and I never would have been able to tell that all of that was going on," Horne said of Buffett.

Horne and D'Souza's group read hundreds of pages, which they discussed on conference calls, and wrote investment pitches to present to Buffett in preparation for the trip. 

Harvard classmates Tracy Britt, Teresa Hsiao and Tiffany Niver, all present on the trip, founded SWS in 2006 as a non-profit aimed at providing undergraduate women with the opportunity to engage in investing in financial markets as a way to learn about personal finance and investing.  By granting SWS club status in 2010, United Student Government and the Operations Committee allowed Fordham to join Boston College, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell, Harvard, Princeton and Yale as schools with SWS chapters.