Here are the two Entrepreneur of the Year Award recipients for Traders Magazine’s inaugural "Wall Street Women: A Celebration of Excellence." An independent advisory committee of women chose the winners from nominations by the industry. The 16 awards will be presented on Nov. 10 at the New York Academy of Sciences.
The Entrepreneur of the Year award is given to women who have pursued, and succeeded on, an entrepreneurial path in the financial markets.
Other award winners will be announced through the week.
To See Slideshow of All Winners: http://bit.ly/tFKh0G
Mellody Hobson
Firm: Ariel Investments
Years in Industry: 20
Prevoius Firms: Ariel
Status: President/Chairman of the Board of Trustees
Be the labor great or small, do it well or not at all.
That’s Mellody Hobson’s philosophy, handed down to her from her mother when she was a young girl growing up in Chicago. It’s something she still lives by to this day.
And it has served her well-earning her acceptance into Princeton University and internships at Ariel Investments and T. Rowe Price during her sophomore and junior years. After graduation, she returned to her Windy City roots and rejoined Ariel on a full-time basis.
"I just fell in love with this business after interning and came back to Ariel right after graduation," she said.
At that time, Ariel was only eight years old and part of the Calvert Group, a mutual fund company. Hobson was the firm’s 19th employee; she started in client services and marketing. The fledgling Ariel saw Hobson wear many hats, as she rose through the ranks.
"Of our original crew, only three are left," she reminisced. "I served as a liaison to the Calvert Group, who distributed our mutual finds."
Hobson continued her ascendance through the years and through Ariel’s separation from Calvert in 1994. She rose to become head of marketing and then transitioned into the chief operating officer spot and finally became chief of staff for chairman John Rogers Jr.
There were challenges along the way, such as in 1994 when Ariel became a stand-alone company, overseeing two operating funds taken out from under Calvert’s existing mutual fund aegis. But Hobson’s first major challenge was the 2007 financial crisis and the ensuing market turbulence.
"It was a brutal time. It was the first time in our core products that we weren’t insulated on the downside," she said. But the firm made adjustments, and fund performance rebounded after the market bottom in March 2009, she added.
Dana Telsey
Firm: Telsey Advisory Group
Years in Industry: 27
Previous Firms:: Baron Capital, CJ Lawrence, Bear Stearns
Status: CEO and Chief Research Officer
Dana Telsey knew from a young age that she wanted to work on the Street.
Telsey met Ron Baron, a family friend and chief executive of Baron Capital, when she was 13 and learned that she shared his passion for finance. It was then that a mentor/student relationship began-and thus, Telsey’s journey.
"He lived in the same apartment building as my family did," Telsey recalled. "My sister and he walked their dogs together."
In 1982, Baron took on Telsey as a summer intern, and she learned the value of consumer retail research firsthand. Upon completing college, she joined the firm full time in 1984.
"I started as his assistant, a secretary, and left the firm as an analyst," she said. "I learned the business at the hands of a superstar."
Telsey left Baron in 1991 and joined brokerage C.J. Lawrence, where she applied her knowledge of research and analysis on the sellside. After three years, she joined Bear Stearns, where she could take advantage of the firm’s major investment-bank presence and gravitas.
"It was a bigger platform and didn’t have a strong retail research team," she said. "I could carve out a franchise-host conferences and learn from the experts in the retail industry about how the whole retail business worked."
Over 12 years, she grew the Bear research team from one analyst to 18 people. But noticing the big brokers’ shift toward execution and away from research, she left in 2006 and founded Telsey Advisory Group.
Starting with just four people in 2006, Telsey has grown the firm to 70 people and its research coverage from 38 firms to 145. She expanded the firm with a nine-person trading desk, and it is now a registered broker-dealer that also provides investment banking services.
"I’ve always had a passion and love for what I do. This is my life," she said. "It’s exciting to be in control of your own destiny."
