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Increasing Gender Equality in the Financial Industry

Laura Corso Hopkins ’01 has been working in the financial world since college, starting her career on the East Cost in NYC and at the FDIC in Washington, DC. She encourages women to pursue a career in finance and help increase gender equality in this field.

Laura Corso Hopkins ’01

I graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz (“UCSC”) in 2005 with a degree in Economics. When I was at Carondelet, I didn’t know I wanted to be in finance, however I do remember Ms. Clark being a teacher that inspired me. Ms. Clark was my civics teacher, and she was always very confident and well spoken, she was never afraid to speak her mind and she gave the impression of being fearless and I found that to be very inspiring.

My first job was in New York City in 2006 and it was a very big adjustment. I missed California my first few months in New York, but after a time I adjusted and learned to love city life. I lived on the Upper East Side in a tiny studio and I was only a few block from Central Park. I worked as an asset manager for a hedge fund providing credit facilities to specialty finance companies. 

In 2013, my fiance and I moved to Washington, DC. I was working for the FDIC as a Senior Capital Markets Specialist. I was in the division that dealt with banks that had failed or banks that were on the verge of failing. I would attend bank closing and then afterwards work on the sales of the loans that were held at the failed institution. It was a really interesting job and it gave me a lot of insight into the perspective of a federal regulator.

All of the positions I’ve held in the finance industry have been predominantly male dominated environments. When I worked at the hedge fund, I was actually the only female investment professional on the team. I’ve seen improvements in recent years, but overall the world of finance is still very male dominated, especially as you progress in your career path.

My husband and I were married in 2016 and welcomed our first son in 2017 and our second son in 2019. We moved to California in 2016 because my husband purchased a business in Sacramento, Archer Hall, a Digital Forensics, E-Discovery, and Litigation Support company, which he still runs today. I now work for CalPERS as an investment Portfolio Manager. 

 

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