Is Ben Bernanke a cool boss?

Is Ben Bernanke a cool boss? Well if you asked Shannon Delaney, Senior Economics Management and Spanish double major, and Adithya Manohar, Senior Astrophysics and Creative Writing double major, that question, they would say, “yes.”

Shannon and Adithya interned with the Federal Reserve (Fed) Bank Board of Governors in Washington D.C. this summer. In their position, research assistant in the Consumer and Community Affairs division, they assisted the mobile banking team by researching literature regarding mobile banking, attended conference calls and meetings and worked with senior community affairs analysts regarding the REO and vacant property situation.

After that,they worked on a project with another intern from the Cleveland Federal Reserve on the best and promising practices of services on the continuum of REO maintenance and disposition. Shannon and Adithya did a lot of research about the different foreclosure programs out there and, after compiling that information, interviewed people from the Enterprise Community Partners, NeighborWorks and National Community Stabilization Trust to get a sense of what best practices are available and if any of them are working.

“Working with the Federal Reserve this summer was a great experience. We learned a lot about the Fed by attending informational meetings designed for interns, about the different divisions of the Fed. This experience also gave us the opportunity to speak to individuals who are a part of organizations that are trying to help the housing crisis. We also learned a lot about the current economy and exactly how significant the housing crisis is,” said Delaney.

          Located right here on Sandusky St. is Wealth Management firm called Family Financial. This is where Austin Bucceri, Senior Economics Management major, worked over the summer. There are currently two financial advisors, partners Bill Hall and Greg Ritter, together they oversee $2,000,000 in assets under management. 

“Family Financial specialises in Wealth Management, this means they primarily deal with managed accounts (mutual funds) and get their client’s portfolio’s properly diversified via equities and bonds within the said mutual funds—this is much less risky and appropriate for their specific target clients,” says Bucceri. Austin spent two months with Family Financial and learned everything there is to know regarding the wealth management business. Amongst a slue of other formal “tricks of the trade” learned, one of the main intangible lessons Austin learned was that in this business you are managing people, not portfolios. You are the clients “money doctor,” as to say every time they have a questions regarding their financial health, or even the slightest problem, they will come to you and expect you to help them in whatever ways you can. No matter the size of the problem, you always take the time necessary to solve their inquiries and leave them with peace of mind.

In his position, E-Commerce Executive, Austin created the firm’s website, FamilyFinancialOhio.com, which is now a fully functioning, web-accessible, website. On top of the creation of this website, Austin also helped manage portfolios alongside Bill and Greg. Through this, he was able to learn how they were properly diversifying each portfolio, and closely study their managing techniques. 

On top of finishing up his Economics Management major, Austin is currently also interning four days a week with State Farm and is, “very excited to see what he will learn form the experience as well.”