Hriday Nayak ’25, an economics major, has joined Capital Group, a California-based investment management firm as a research associate. The role is part of a three-year rotational development program aimed at training the firm’s next generation of investors.
“My specific (short-term) professional milestone is to get rehired at the end of this contract and get promoted to a full-time investor role with Capital,” Nayak says. “Becoming a senior portfolio manager at the firm would be a dream come true.” In the long term, Nayak says he’s even open to the idea of launching his own investment management firm.
Nayak credits Haverford’s strong alumni network with helping him learn about the finance industry and clarify his career goals. “Reaching out to alumni helped me understand the different roles in finance and what skillsets they required,” he says.
His coursework and professors also played a pivotal role. “Statistical Methods” with Professor of Mathematics and Statistics Lynne Butler, “Advanced Microeconomics” with Associate Professor and Chair of Economics Giri Parameswaran, and “Topics in the History of Science” with Associate Professor of History Darin Hayton each shaped his analytical and research skills in different ways–teaching him everything from probabilistic thinking and collaborative problem-solving to the value of deep, skeptical inquiry.
Outside the classroom, Nayak honed his skills through the Economic Research Club and the Haverford Student Investment Portfolio. “Conversations in these club meetings helped me narrow down my future goals from economics writ large to mutual fund investing,” he says.
He also credits his mentors, especially thesis advisor Alberto Arredondo-Chavez and alumni Chuck Culp ’06 and Steve Zyman ’05, for sharpening his thinking and exposing him to the world of mutual funds. He adds that his parents and mentors from FLAME University in India helped expand his perspective and push him toward broader intellectual exploration.
Personally, Nayak is aiming to visit all 63 U.S. national parks, all 50 states, and at least 100 countries, ambitious travel goals that he hopes to make progress on through work-related travel in the years ahead.
He offers this reflection to his fellow graduates: “Life is not just this thing that happens to you but something we have the agency to actively shape and change,” he says. “Finding one’s passion doesn’t happen passively–we have to be proactive in finding it by putting ourselves out there, talking to as many people as possible, and reading as broadly as possible.”