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Junior business student earns position at New York City investment firm

Photo by Nathan Spencer

In one of the most competitive financial business markets — Manhattan, New York City — Liberty University junior Connor Carew has landed an enviable position at an elite asset management firm, even before completing his college degree.

As a sophomore, Carew was persistent in seeking an internship with Permanens Capital, which he was offered and then completed over spring break last March. He impressed the executive staff so much that they offered him a full-time position; he started in September.

Alan Alsheimer Jr., senior investment officer at Permanens Capital, said that positions similar to Carew’s are usually filled by graduates from a short list of elite business programs and Ivy League schools, but during the internship, his staff saw how Carew “could help address forecasted needs” as the company plans for growth.

“Upon his departure, we all loved his, ‘I don’t care what it is, I’ll do it,’ type of work ethic,” Alsheimer said. “There is something about showing up, modest, humble, not expecting and entitled, and willing to just work no matter what that work is. We were sold on the character and the work ethic and the friendly natured person that Connor is. There was a universal buy-in from everyone he touched or dealt with.”

In industry terms, Permanens Capital is a boutique asset management firm, meaning it provides custom investment solutions for institutions. It currently oversees about $2.3 billion across multiple asset classes for institutional clients.

Though Carew was a residential student at Liberty when he was offered the position, he was able to quickly transition to Liberty’s online education program in order to continue working toward his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in finance and minor in accounting.

Alsheimer said Carew is in a “very unique situation.”

“He has an opportunity to be exposed to things that someone with a college degree does not (typically) get a chance to be exposed to, let alone someone still working on their college degree, and he’s being paid to do it,” Alsheimer said. “I don’t know of anyone else in this situation.”

As an investment analyst, Carew is gaining experience across a number of areas. His tasks include compiling pitch books that describe the firm and its services to potential clients, helping prepare portfolio performance review materials for clients, and early analysis of market data.

“This job gives me the opportunity to work at a higher rate of speed,” Carew said. “Normally, when you go to any Wall Street bank program, you start as a low-level analyst in a flood of 100 or 200 analysts. You are just another name on a piece of paper and you are stuck in one department.”

Alsheimer added: “Connor is able to touch all facets of the firm, to be involved in everything that we do … instead of going to a large bank where you are lost in the numbers, siloed to one space within the financial services area.”

Carew’s journey from Liberty to New York began in Rhode Island, where as a boy he developed his passion for finance — and his uncanny persistence. His parents operate the Providence Rescue Mission, a privately funded ministry that serves Rhode Island by providing overnight shelter, food, clothing, education, medical care, and long-term addiction recovery programs at no charge. As Connor was growing up, the family lived within modest means. The generosity of Christian businessmen helped them get by.

“I saw this example of Christian businessmen in the industry who used their money not for selfish gain but rather to further ministry in helping the poor and the homeless and the needy throughout the inner city,” Carew recalled, noting he aspires to follow that example, supporting ministry as he succeeds in business. “I believe that we all have inherent talents and abilities that the Lord places inside of our hearts, and for me, through that example, that was finance.”

He was interested in investments even as a child, when he would memorize the newspaper’s stock pages. After high school, he lobbied for an opportunity to intern with a top-performing hedge fund in Providence, where he worked for three summers (2013-15). He spent a year after school pursuing another one of his passions: hockey. Carew played full time Junior A in the Boston area through spring 2014. Though it wasn’t his calling, it was hockey that actually lured him to Liberty in the fall of 2014. He started at goalie for Liberty’s ACHA Division II men’s hockey team for a season and a half.

In addition to hockey and intramural sports, Carew was in the honors program, served as a prayer leader in his residence hall, and participated in the Student Government Association.

“I get emotional talking about Liberty; those were two very formative years of my young adult life,” Carew said. “I was very excited to get up and go to school every day.”

Although he showed promise in hockey, midway through his sophomore year Carew decided to stop playing as he felt God leading him into the business world. Within two weeks of making that decision, he had secured the internship at Permanens. The DII hockey team, meanwhile, went on to qualify for nationals, which took place over spring break, the same week he was completing the internship.

Though Carew knows it was God’s plan for him to go into business, he also realizes that his own faithfulness to that calling — all of his persistence and hard work — were vital to his success.

“Every day we have been given this little piece of land,” Carew said. “While I believe in a supernatural God that can do amazing things, I also believe that you have to plow the field before you can water the plants. God can bring down the rain, but if you don’t sow the seeds, nothing is going to grow. We have to do our absolute best to glorify God.”

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