Focus on Banking | A Profile of Marc Torres

The towering Park Avenue offices of Lehman Brothers might not be physically located in lower Manhattan, but the financial district's frenetic pace is still evident on every floor. With an eye on several screens' worth of news and market intelligence, Marc Torres, Fordham '00, keeps his finger on the pulse of domestic and international markets just as easily as his downtown colleagues do.

Torres, who works in Lehman’s Private Client Services division, markets the firm's financial products to high-net worth individuals. He and his partners in the group help well-off investors place their assets in appropriate areas depending upon their objectives.

Finding prospective clients isn't hard: Torres constantly devours the latest issues of the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, even People magazine.

People? "Why not?" says Torres. "Potential customers might be in a magazine, they might be in the society pages. I'm often picking up magazines my wife subscribes to, just to see who's mentioned, who got a new house, who's moving to the East Coast."

Torres' beat covers the North Atlantic states, from Northern Virginia all the way to Connecticut. Once he contacts prospects and informs them of Lehman's services, his partners on the trading side step in to assess the clients' investment needs.

On the Fast Track

Torres commutes about a half-hour each way to work from his home in Queens and is at his desk by 7:30 a.m. each morning. "I get in, I see what's going on, glance at the headlines," he says. "In this business you need to know a little of everything."

Lehman's open-plan office layout allows for constant interaction between Torres, his partner, and the other staff members. His partner, just over the wood-trimmed divider in the next cube, is often on his feet with a headset plugged into his phone, gesticulating as he talks to clients or tells the team about late-breaking news.

It's the kind of fast-paced yet relatively relaxed atmosphere Torres thrives in. "At any given time I may have 15 or 50 clients that I am talking to. It’s really about the relationships I’m able to build. And I’m on the phone for the better part of the day, updating people on issues. If something’s happening in the world, I reassure them, tell them what our researchers’ thinking is or how the markets will be affected by whatever they’re worried about."

Often, says Torres, he'll take a short trip by train or plane to meet with clients and potential clients face to face. "It makes them feel comfortable, and you can really get to know the person that way," he says. "If they're local, we'll invite them to come into our offices, too, so they can see the breadth of what we offer."

"The main difference at Lehman," adds Torres, "is that we’ve really opened up the firm to our customers. They have institutional access to our products—not just the packaged products designated for private clients. That’s pretty unique."

Path to Success

Before attending business school, Torres worked in telecom sales for quite a while. "Although I was moving up, even moving into management, I was still a little bored. I felt as if I was going to be capped in what I was doing. And, yes, I wanted to make more money, too. I knew Wall Street was going to be my ticket. I wanted to gain skills on the financial side."

Torres considered going to school part-time, but decided that he would be happier concentrating on studies for a full two years. "I knew Fordham had a great reputation in the New York area. So I went full-time, and got a degree in finance."

He approached his summer internship search during business school as if it were "a fifth class," he notes. "My highest concern was to get a good internship. So I was relentless in sending out resumes. I outlined in my cover letters the reasons each company should hire me. I was essentially selling myself. That's how I landed at Lehman. I had a great internship, and ended up working here part-time while I finished school."

Torres describes Lehman's training program for MBAs as truly well-rounded. "You really get exposure to all facets of banking, including capital markets, sales and trading, and research. Then there’s several weeks of specialty training in sales, for this job. You learn the questions to ask people to get them to open up to you."

Working in PCS is rewarding, but at the end of the day his family comes first, says Torres. "I'm here early and I work hard, but I try to be out of here by about 6 every day. After 9/11, I think a lot of people started putting things in perspective if they hadn’t before. I make sure that I go home and spend time with my family."

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