Last Friday, over 800 people gathered at the Park Hyatt Philadelphia Hotel to discuss current trends in private equity.
The 14th annual Wharton Private Equity Conference, the largest student-run conference of its kind, brought students and industry leaders together to network and learn.
The conference is of great relevance to Wharton and its students because many students demonstrate high interest in a private equity career.
From the MBA graduating class of 2007, 10 percent of them went on to work in that industry, conference co-chair and second-year MBA student Anna Dayn said.
In addition, the Wharton Private Equity Club is the largest professional club in the school with around 800 members.
Private equity is the umbrella term for businesses that are involved in non-public acquisition of companies, Dayn said.
Firms in this industry invest in privately-owned companies that are not listed on the stock market or the bond market.
"[Private equity] is very exciting," Dayn said. "There are very lucrative benefits, and you can really get involved in the operational side of businesses."
Second-year MBA student Leslie Reyes, who attended the conference, said she liked how the panels dealt with real world issues.
"They had a diverse group of panelists, so I got a lot of different perspectives," Reyes said.
"It was one of the best conferences I have attended this year," she added.
For the four co-chairs and 24 conference team members, the event was nearly a year's worth of hard work paying off.
"The attendance was a lot more than we expected," conference co-chair and second-year MBA student Raul Heraud said.
"We exceeded [our seating] capacity," he said.
Opening with a keynote address by David Rubenstein, co-founder of The Carlyle Group - one of the largest private equity firms in the world - the day included speeches from other prominent industry leaders including Guy Hands, founder of Terra Firma Capital Partners, and Dick Kramlich, co-founder of New Enterprise Associates
Nine panels of industry experts took place throughout the day covering topics such as the changing future of buyouts and opportunities in emerging markets.
The majority of those at the conference were professionals in the business, which allowed students an opportunity to network with important industry members.
"We provide a service to the industry, not only to students in Wharton," Dayn said.
