Ribbon cutting celebrates opening of Schwab Foundation Financial Access and Research Lab

“We used to have to do this in a closet,” quipped finance students as they demoed the new equipment in the Charles Schwab Foundation Financial Access and Research (FAR) Lab, housed in Arizona State University's W. P. Carey School of Business.

It was only a slight exaggeration, said Laura Lindsey, chair of the Department of Finance and Cutler Family Endowed Professor. “We used to have this small, windowless office with one or two computers. Students would have to request a staff member unlock the door to use the Bloomberg terminal, which was only available during business hours.”

Those days are over as of May 2, when the school celebrated a ribbon cutting for the FAR Lab, an innovative space for students to utilize advanced finance tools, such as Bloomberg terminals, which require subscription access to the datasets. Finance and financial planning students gave demos of their new capabilities as part of the opening celebrations.

The W. P. Carey school was honored to welcome several guests as part of the opening ceremonies, including Bernie Clark, managing director, head of advisor services at Charles Schwab; the Honorable Kimberly Yee, Arizona State Treasurer; and guests from the W. P. Carey School, the Charles Schwab Foundation, and the ASU Foundation.

“Schwab has been such a wonderful partner to the school, and we’re thrilled by the new capabilities the FAR Lab offers students,” said Lindsey in her opening remarks. “The lab is a flagship space for us where we can expose new students and members of our community to the opportunities available in finance-related careers.”

“We’re supporting you, but you’re also supporting us,” said Clark, after hearing from several graduating students who are beginning their careers at Schwab. “W. P. Carey is a wonderful partner in ensuring we have a pipeline of talent who will make the financial services profession what it will become tomorrow.”

Finance and financial planning are key areas of focus for the W. P. Carey School. Ohad Kadan, Charles J. Robel Dean and W. P. Carey Distinguished Chair in Business, discussed the school’s plans for growth and how the FAR Lab enables that development.

“We have a top-25 finance bachelor’s degree program, a popular financial planning program, a new financial technology degree and a master’s in finance program that is growing rapidly,” he said. “The Schwab Foundation is enabling that growth and allowing us to provide incredible access to best-in-class industry tools. Thanks to Schwab, we are better able to train the next generation of financial leaders.”

Arizona State Treasurer Yee also attended and shared remarks at the opening, focusing on the difference financial education can make for Arizona families. Yee leads the state task force on financial literacy.

“Not only is there a correlation between how we educate students about money and their own success and impact on their families, but that extends to the financial health of our state. That is why the State Treasurer’s Office is focused on financial literacy for Arizonans and excited to see the impact of the FAR Lab for our communities,” she said.

The FAR Lab is now open, and will enable W. P. Carey students and others in the ASU community to prepare for wide-ranging careers in finance — including banking, asset management, advisory, and corporate finance functions. Students will also use the space for peer-to-peer coaching.