Kristen Owen didn t start her career in equity research right away.
After graduating from Kent State University in Ohio, she worked at a bank branch in Akron as a financial consultant before deciding to get her MBA at American University.
She then worked in wealth management in Washington, DC, for a year, an experience that has helped her stay focused on the impact her equity research has. I think it provided me with a little bit more context to understand that the research I do my clients are mutual-fund managers or hedge-fund managers but ultimately the people who matter in that theme are our parents, our grandparents, Owen said.