Welcome

Andover Women in Finance

Our vision is simple: to make the world of finance accessible to female students at PA.

Ignite Curiosity: 

Introductory Course

In the first term of the school year, we will cover key financial concepts through interactive presentations and case studies.

Explore Careers: 

Speakers Series

In the second term of the school year, we will host guest speakers to engage with female leaders and learn about various career paths.

Pursue Interests: 

Research Projects

In the third term of the school year, we will organize collaborative research pods to delve deep into specific finance topics.

Featured

"Women in Finance Hosts First Session of Andover’s Finances Panel With Fernando Alonso"

"Andover’s CIO Kirsten Glantz Speaks on Investment Strategies"

Meeting Reports

Speaker #12: Dr. Raynard Kington

Thursday, February 20, 9:50 am

Before NIH, Dr. Kington was a division director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and served as director of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). He has also been a senior scientist at the RAND Corporation and assistant professor of medicine at UCLA. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine) in 2006. and trading, chief operating officer and chief risk officer of the Corporate Treasury division as well as the chief operating officer of GS Bank USA. She was also responsible for producing GS Bank USA's first Community Reinvestment Act strategic plan which may be found in the New York Fed's website. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs she lived and worked in Asia and Africa with Save the Children and USAID. She holds a BA from Princeton University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Speaker #11: Schuyler Heuer

Tuesday, February 11, 6:00 pm ET

Schuyler Heuer is a managing director with responsibility for $100bn in global deposits and related banking services within the wealth management business at Goldman Sachs. Prior to her current role she held a variety of positions over her 20+ years at the firm including macro sales and trading, chief operating officer and chief risk officer of the Corporate Treasury division as well as the chief operating officer of GS Bank USA. She was also responsible for producing GS Bank USA's first Community Reinvestment Act strategic plan which may be found in the New York Fed's website. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs she lived and worked in Asia and Africa with Save the Children and USAID. She holds a BA from Princeton University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Speaker #10: Yuan Wang

Sunday, February 16, 6:00 pm ET

Yuan Wang is currently the Senior Vice President and Head of Finance for McCain Foods North America, the largest business unit of McCain Foods, a ~$15B family owned manufacturer of French Fries and appetizers with sales in over 160 countries.

Yuan brings ~20 years of global experience in Food and Beverage finance and strategic M&A. Prior to McCain, she spent a decade at PepsiCo, where she was most recently Senior Vice President and CFO of the Integrated Strategy and Transformation function. Her career at PEP spanned corporate and operating finance roles across Canada, the US and Thailand, including CFO of Asia Beverages and CFO of Canada Beverages. Prior to PepsiCo, Yuan was an investment banker focused on the consumer industry, working in Hong Kong, NY and Chicago with Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers.

Yuan is a strong people leader, with experience managing large, diversified teams across different geographies and business units. She has a proven track record of delivering results in strategic and operating roles with expertise in P&L Ownership, Mergers & Acquisitions, Financial Planning & Analysis, Revenue Management, Cost containment & Productivity, Performance Management and Transformation. When Yuan is not working, she enjoys spending time with her family and traveling, reading and cooking. Yuan holds a BA from Harvard College and is a graduate of Philips Academy Andover (class of ’99).

Speaker #9: Katie Costello

Tuesday, January 28, 6:00 pm ET

Katie joined Gryphon in 2024 and is responsible for analyzing, executing and monitoring investments within Gryphon’s Industrial Growth Group. Current Gryphon portfolio company involvement includes AirX Climate Solutions.

Prior to joining Gryphon, Katie was the Head of Finance at Pandion, a Series B logistics startup. Before that, she was a Vice President at H.I.G. Capital and a Senior Associate at ACON Investments. She started her career as an investment banking analyst at Perella Weinberg Partners.ord Graduate School of Business (1998). She also has served on the Alumnae Board and Investment Committee for The Chapin School in NYC. at Waseda University in Tokyo. Prior to completing his Masters, Antonio returned to Japan as a Nikko Securities Fellow. Antonio holds a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.

Speaker #8: Kirsten Glantz

Thursday, January 23, 9:50 am ET

Kirsten Glantz joined in August 2017 as Chief Investment Officer for Phillips Academy’s Investment Office. Before joining Andover, she spent ten years at GM Asset Management, where she was Director of Absolute Return Strategies, managing a multi-billion dollar diversified portfolio of hedge fund investments on behalf of the company’s pension funds. She had previous investment experience at Reservoir Capital Group, Brencourt Advisers, and HBK Investments and was a financial analyst in the Fixed Income Division at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Kirsten earned her A.B. magna cum laude in Economics from Harvard College (1994) and her MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business (1998). She also has served on the Alumnae Board and Investment Committee for The Chapin School in NYC. at Waseda University in Tokyo. Prior to completing his Masters, Antonio returned to Japan as a Nikko Securities Fellow. Antonio holds a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.

Speaker #7: Antonio Gracias

Tuesday, January 21, 6:00 pm ET

Antonio is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Investment Officer of Valor. Antonio founded Valor in 1995. He has over 25 years of experience in private equity investing. Antonio was a Director of Tesla from 2007 to 2021. During his tenure, he served as Lead Independent Director for eight years, and helped take Tesla public. He is a Director of several Valor portfolio companies, including Space Exploration Technologies, WEKA and Zipline. He is a member of all Valor Investment Committees.

Antonio holds a joint B.S. and M.S.F.S. (Honors Degree) in International Finance and Economics from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. He also studied corporate structures and economic development at Waseda University in Tokyo. Prior to completing his Masters, Antonio returned to Japan as a Nikko Securities Fellow. Antonio holds a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.chool’s outreach programs and was promoted to assistant head of school for operations and finance in 2018. He earned a B.S. in material science engineering from Cornell University and his M.Ed. in school administration from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. 

Speaker #6: Fernando Alonso

Thursday, January 17, 12:30 pm ET

Fernando “Ferd” Alonso, Assistant Head of School for Operations and Finance, joined Andover in 2005 as director of the Mathematics and Science for Minority Students program, (MS)2. He also served as a house counselor and an instructor in mathematics. Ferd has been a teacher and administrator for more than 25 years and has held positions in his native Puerto Rico at his alma mater—Baldwin School—as well as at Westtown School in Pennsylvania and the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut. Ferd was appointed dean of administration and finance in 2016 following seven years as director of Andover Summer Session and the school’s outreach programs and was promoted to assistant head of school for operations and finance in 2018. He earned a B.S. in material science engineering from Cornell University and his M.Ed. in school administration from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. 

Speaker #5: Alexandra McGuigan

Tuesday, January 14, 6:00 pm ET

With over 15 years of experience in the financial services industry, Alexandra McGuigan is the founder and CEO of Inclusive Asset Management (IAM), a boutique consultancy firm that encourages connections between institutional investors with female and minority fund managers across the globe. She is also a CAIA charterholder and holds an MBA from the University of Technology, Sydney (with a stint at Paris Dauphine).

Alexandra is passionate about advancing diversity and inclusion in the finance sector, leverage her expertise in institutional sales, marketing, and distribution to design, develop, and implement strategic initiatives to change the demographics of the industry. As a former global director of 100 Women in Finance, Alexandra worked with corporates, governments, and nonprofits to achieve Vision 30/40, a goal to have 30% of investment team and executive leadership roles held by women by 2040. 

Alexandra is also a speaker, MC, and diversity and inclusion expert, and she enjoys sharing her insights and learnings with various audiences and platforms.

Speaker #4: Karen Wilson

Sunday, January 12, 2:00 pm ET

Karen E. Wilson has a career spanning global leadership roles and leading global cross-sector initiatives with international organizations, private sector organizations, foundations, and academic institutions. Ms. Wilson's expertise lies in strategy, sustainability, finance, business development, entrepreneurship, innovation, venture capital/private equity, impact investment, sustainable investment, and impact measurement as well as extensive networks throughout the world garnered over decades working across the private, public, academic and NGO sectors. At GV Partners, Ms. Wilson is committed to mainstreaming sustainability and impact by working with investors, companies and other types of organizations on embedding sustainability and impact into their strategy and decision-making

Speaker #3: Zoe Weinberg

Tuesday, January 7, 6:00 pm ET

Zoe Weinberg is the Founder & Managing Partner of ex/ante. Previously, Zoe served on the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence and at Google AI. Prior she focused on national security, working in Mosul Iraq during the counter-ISIL operation in 2017. She was an investor at the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank and at Goldman Sachs.

Her work on national security has been published in the New York Times and Foreign Affairs and she co-hosts the podcast Next in Foreign Policy. Zoe received her JD from Yale Law School, MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and BA from Harvard College. 

Speaker #2: Dr. Aly Blakeney

Tuesday, December 10, 6:00 pm ET

 Dr. Aly Blakeney (Dr. B) is an Instructor of Economics and World History at Phillips Academy Andover. Her research interests primarily involve young adult financial wellness, particularly in regard to accessing and completing higher education. She is a member of the Higher Education Financial Wellness Alliance (HEFWA) Research Committee and (full disclosure) the faculty advisor to Women in Finance.

Dr. B received her bachelor's in Economics and Political Science from the University of California, Merced, her master's in Resource and Applied Economics from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and her PhD in Economic Education from the University of Delaware. She lives on campus with her husband and service dog, Nanook (aka, PA's one and only sentient teddy bear).

Speaker #1: Maggie Arvedlund

Tuesday, December 10, 6:00 pm ET

Ms. Arvedlund is CEO and Managing Partner of Turning Rock. At Turning Rock, Ms. Arvedlund serves as head of the Firm and is responsible for strategic direction and overall decision making for the business. Prior to founding Turning Rock, Ms. Arvedlund was a Managing Director at Fortress Investment Group where she spent eight years. During her tenure at Fortress, Ms. Arvedlund served on the Investment Committee from 2010-2015. Prior to joining Fortress, Ms. Arvedlund worked at Hall Capital Partners where she held roles in the portfolio management and research divisions. Prior to Hall Capital Partners, Ms. Arvedlund held a number of senior operating roles in several privately held businesses.

Ms. Arvedlund received a BS with Honors from Vanderbilt University in Economics and an MBA in Finance from NYU’s Stern School of Business. Ms. Arvedlund serves on several non-profit boards including Summer Search New York City and is a founding member of the NYU Stern Private Equity Advisory Board. Ms. Arvedlund is a member of the Economic Club of New York and serves on the U.S. Small Business Administration Council for Underserved Communities.

Meeting #5: SVB Collapse and Finance Trivia

Tuesday, November 12, 6:00 pm ET

What we got done:

Meeting #4: Primary & Secondary Markets

Tuesday, November 5, 6:00 pm ET

What we got done:

Meeting #3: VC & Early Stage Funding

Tuesday, October 22, 6:00 pm ET

What we got done:

Meeting #2: Intro to the Finance World

Tuesday, October 15, 6:00 pm ET

What we got done:

Meeting #1: Welcome to Women in Finance

Tuesday, October 8, 6:00 pm ET

We had an amazing start to the Women in Finance 24-25 activities! Welcoming 40+ female-identifying PA students, we introduced the vision, mission, and structure of WIF.

What we got done: