Nov 10, 2008 -- There is no such thing as “the end of Wall Street,” Lance Hirt ’87YC, a partner at Lindsay Goldberg and trustee of Yeshiva University, told students at the second Wall Street Connection Series event on Nov. 3. This came as some reassurance to the more than 150 students who attended the panel discussion and networking event, “How to Find a Job on Wall Street.” Hirt was referring to the phrase that appeared regularly in the media as the recent financial crisis came to a head. “The services that Wall Street provides are needed; companies need capital to grow. Wall Street professionals provide the services that companies need to function on main street,” Hirt said. Students interested in financial careers had the opportunity to hear from and network with over 50 alumni in senior positions at Wall Street firms. They represented diverse fields such as sales and trading, research, operations, hedge funds, private equity, and private wealth management. Students also heard from Rabbi Josh Joseph, chief of staff in the Office of YU President Richard M. Joel, and—by his own admission—an extremely unlikely candidate to work on Wall Street. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Rabbi Joseph studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel. Upon his return to the U.S., Rabbi Joseph pursued a master’s degree from YU’s Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies and semicha [rabbinical ordination] at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary--at which point he “took the natural next step into Wall Street,” he joked. “Sometimes the direct path is not the shortest line between two points, but developing a career means finding what you are good at and using it to help others,” Rabbi Joseph said. The panel also included Michelle Ross ’02SCW, an analyst at Soros Fund Management. Ross, who graduated with a B.A. in biology from Stern College for Women and an M.A. in biotechnology from Columbia University, acknowledged the tremendous value of YU’s alumni network to students. “We will be more than happy to offer you advice regarding your future endeavors,” she told the students. After the panel, students had the opportunity to meet and network with alumni such as Moshe Orenbuch ’84YC , an equity analyst at Credit Suisse; C. Howard Wietschner ’88YC a managing director at Goldman Sachs; Jeff Silber ’84YC, an equity analyst at Bank of Montreal; Meir Lewis ’88YC, an investment banker at Citigroup; and Daniel Posner ’91YC, a managing director at D.E Shaw, who moderated the panel discussion.