Interview with Emily Cetlin, Associate Bank Loan Credit Analyst at Eaton Vance
This week, we had the opportunity to talk with Emily Cetlin, a credit analyst in the Bank Loans group at Eaton Vance. Emily is a 2015 graduate from Wellesley, where she majored in math and minored in computer science.
We talked to Emily about her role at Eaton Vance, what credit analysts do, why she loves her job, and how Wellesley prepared her for a role in the financial services industry.
Can you tell me about your background? What did you study at Wellesley and what did you do before you started at Eaton Vance?
Emily: I was a math major and a computer science minor at Wellesley. I knew that I didn’t want to continue in math and go to grad school, but I definitely wanted to use my math skills in my work. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I met employees from Eaton Vance at an info session that they hosted in the fall of my junior year. I ended up applying to the summer internship in the Bank Loan group and was hired. That internship led to the full-time position that I’m in today. My only finance experience so far has been through Eaton Vance, but through the internship and working full time, it’s really opened up my mind, my view of the industry, and all the different opportunities that are available to me.
Can you tell us more about your group at Eaton Vance?
Emily: Let me start by giving you a quick summary of what we do since leveraged loans are a little bit different. Eaton Vance invests in many asset classes that you may have heard of such as equities, high-yield bonds, and real estate. Loans are a subset of asset management that not as many people outside of the industry are aware of, especially at the undergraduate level. In leveraged loans, we invest in companies by lending them money and we earn our return through interest payments. We lend a piece of a much larger loan alongside many other investors. We lend to companies that you’ve heard of such as J. Crew, Neiman Marcus, Burger King, and Reynolds — everyday products — and to companies that you may not have heard of like software companies and semiconductor manufacturers.
What is your day-to-day job like?
Emily: As an analyst, my day-to-day job is analyzing companies across certain industries. I cover packaging — companies that produce takeout food packaging to consumer packaging firms. I also cover lodging and casinos, so names like Hilton, Wyndham, Las Vegas Sands, and MGM Resorts. I primarily focus on packaging, lodging and casinos, but I am also a generalist and cover everything from AlixPartners, the consulting firm, to Lindblad Expeditions, a company that operates vacation expedition trips to places like the Galapagos and the Arctic. I get to look at companies across all different industries, which is pretty fascinating.
Most of us are more familiar with equities than loans. Can you explain what working with loans is like?
Emily: Whenever a company is looking to borrow money, they go to the banks such as JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, who are responsible for arranging the loan. The banks aren’t typically investing a significant amount of money themselves; they help syndicate the loan. We typically get a call from the bank whenever there is a new transaction in our market. The bank provides us with materials on the company, organizes a presentation hosted by the management team of that company, and answers any additional questions we may have. We then do our work analyzing the company and decide if it is an investment we would like to make. Once we invest in a company, we monitor the company by reviewing their quarterly reports and setting up calls or visits with management if necessary. We do buy and sell loans, so if we are concerned about getting paid back our original loan in full, we may decide to sell.
Do you use any concepts or skills that you learned from Wellesley at work? How has a liberal arts education benefited you?
Emily: Math at the collegiate level is very theoretical — the theorems, proofs, and concepts I learned from my courses don’t apply to my job. However, the critical thinking skills I gained are very relevant. As an analyst, I help make investment decisions and I have to think about a company from all different angles. When I pitch investment ideas to my entire team, I have to be able support my investment decision. In that moment, there are no right or wrong answers. We may turn down a loan that turns out to be fine, or we could participate in a loan where it turns out that the company is unable to pay us back in full. It is impossible to know in that moment what the right answer is, and you have to construct an argument that takes all the information that you have and turns it into a buy or decline recommendation.
All of the skills I gained from my liberal arts education are very useful. Asset management is an interesting industry because unless you are studying finance at the undergraduate level, it’s not going to directly translate. Even then, business majors typically do not learn about leverage loans. In my group, we hire individuals from across all majors. We feel that as long as you are hardworking, interested in the work we do, and a good critical thinker, we can teach you what you need to learn and give you the tools to become an analyst. Once you have the tools, you start picking up companies yourself and making investment decisions. The amount of responsibility we give our young people is pretty incredible.
What was your experience like since starting at the company?
Emily: My summer intern experience was not much different from starting my full-time role, except that when starting full-time, the expectation was that I would eventually cover investments myself. About 9 months into my job, my boss felt like I was ready to start covering companies. She transferred 15 companies to me, most of which I had been working on with her already. From there, I continued to build my portfolio as I presented new deals and we made investments. Now I cover 40 companies and across those 40 companies, we have $2.8 billion invested. It’s a lot of responsibility, which can be intimidating at times, but is very rewarding. I am part of a 5 year Research Associate program where I cover credit, work towards becoming a CFA charterholder, spend 6 months on a rotation in our London office, and prepare to apply to business school. Now that I’ve been here for almost 3 and a half years, I am starting to think about an MBA and the next steps I want to take in my career.
Could you tell me a little bit more about the culture at Eaton Vance?
Emily: The culture at Eaton Vance is very strong. Because of the Research Associate program, there is a group of us who are under 30. Outside of that, all of our senior analysts and portfolio managers have been at the firm for a long time. My boss has been at Eaton Vance for 18 years and the senior analysts on my team have each been at the firm for 15 years. When I was an intern, this showed me that Eaton Vance was a great place to work. The employees had a good work-life balance — something that can be hard to find in finance — and enjoyed working together. As a result, people stay and spend their careers here. We spend a lot of time together. Everybody knows each other and their families very well and we enjoy spending time together outside of work. We often get drinks after work and occasionally do fun activities such as bowling and boat cruises. We have holiday dinners coming up as well. It’s nice to like who you work with because it makes work more enjoyable.
What do you like about going to work every day?
Emily: I like that every day is different. I follow 40 companies that we are actively invested in, that I am keeping up-to-date on, but I am also looking at new deals all the time and constantly picking up new companies and different industries. One day, I am looking at a casino operator, and then the next, I am looking at a company that provides equipment to semiconductor manufacturers. I have my core industries, but getting to look at companies all across the board and within different segments of each industry has been super fascinating.
What do you like to do outside of work?
Emily: One of my favorite things to do outside of work is to spend time with my Wellesley friends. A nice thing about being in the Boston area is that a fair number of Wellesley students stay here after graduation, so it is easy to get together on weeknights or over the weekends. It takes a little more planning than walking down the hall or going from Beebe to Tower, but being is Boston makes it easier. I actually recently went apple picking with Mashiwat Mahbub (’15), Ambika Lall (’15), and Alex Poon (’14). We had a blast!
Do you have any advice for students interested in finance?
EC: There are many opportunities that you have at the undergraduate level: being part of the Investment Society, participating in a stock pitch, or taking a class at MIT or Babson. These are helpful and can give you a bit of a leg up, but are not necessary in my opinion. The biggest piece of advice I would give is to connect with people in the industry and learn about what they do. It wasn’t until I spoke to someone that I started to realize what opportunities were available to me. I know it’s easy to get bogged down in your day-to-day routine — you need to be focused on classes because it’s important — but use this time to network and learn. The Wellesley alumnae network is very strong — take advantage of that! Reach out to an alumna who has a job you think you might be interested in or want to learn more about. Even if there isn’t an internship or a job available, that conversation could help guide you and might help you better interpret the information in a job description at another firm. Even once you get your first job, connect with alums, continue learning, and stay open to different opportunities.
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