For Alex Kosoglyadov (’09), working on Wall Street is in his genes. Just not the way you might expect.
“For a period of several months, my father, uncle, and grandfather simultaneously worked as confectionary vendors on Wall Street in downtown Manhattan,” says Kosoglyadov, whose family emigrated from Russia in 1991. “They each worked on three different corners—sometimes I jokingly wondered if the fourth corner was saved for me.”
During Kosoglyadov’s senior year in high school, his father suggested he consider a career in finance, in order to land a job inside a Wall Street corner office. He took his dad’s advice and quickly developed a passion for the financial sector; now, seven years after graduating from Baruch, he serves as director of equity derivatives at BMO Capital.
But Kosoglyadov’s path to success didn’t come without a few speed bumps. After joining Bear Stearns’s market intelligence desk the summer before his junior year at Baruch, the firm was suddenly acquired by J.P. Morgan, and all of Bear Stearns’s offers were rescinded.
“I contacted my mentors at Baruch’s STARR Career Development Center,” Kosoglyadov recalls. “They helped me secure an interview with BMO Capital Markets, a firm that I had not even heard of at the time. But I was lucky enough to land that opportunity.” The following year, he secured a full-time position at BMO’s equity derivatives trading desk, and the rest is history.
Kosoglyadov is quick to credit Baruch with much of his success. A Macaulay Honors College student, he jumped on the opportunity to benefit from the incredible financial value offered by Baruch, not to mention the chance to work in the heart of Manhattan and the financial sector.
“Other programs to which I was admitted would have cost me at least $20,000 per year and leave me with a pile of student debt,” he explains. “So choosing Baruch was one of the best professional decisions that I’ve made in my career. I learned the value of hard work and how to manage my time, as I worked more than 20 hours per week while pursuing my degree.”
And what does Kosoglyadov’s family think of his success on Wall Street?
“I think they are most proud of the husband, son, brother, and friend that I have become,” Kosoglyadov says. “In a way, I do believe that my family reserved that fourth corner on Wall Street for me—since their love, dedication, and perseverance allow me to stand where I am today.”
—Gregory M. Leporati