Cresset Capital Hosts Professional Development Day for Bay Area Scholars

In July, investment firm Cresset Capital welcomed incoming Posse Bay Area Scholars to its San Francisco office for a day of professional development. The event gave Scholars the chance to sharpen professional skills, learn from Cresset employees and build connections with one another ahead of their first semester of college.

The day built on Cresset’s earlier collaboration with Posse Los Angeles. In 2024, a group of Los Angeles Scholars took part in Launch Generation, the firm’s weeklong program that develops financial literacy, leadership and entrepreneurship skills among young people.

Hoping to deepen the relationship, Posse Bay Area and the team at Cresset began exploring ways to connect more professionals at the firm to the program. The result was a one-day program for the incoming Posse cohort designed to both strengthen college readiness and introduce the students to professionals working across a range of functions in finance.

The day began with a series of interactive workshops focused on pitching business concepts in groups to Cresset Capital executives before transitioning into a designated time for networking and mingling with key Cresset Capital leaders.

Throughout the day, Cresset employees shared their own career paths and explained how teams across the firm, from relationship management to strategy and operations, work together to serve clients. The workshops encouraged Scholars to apply creative problem-solving to real-world business challenges while showing them the many roles that make a financial services firm run.

The professional development day proved profoundly enriching for the Scholars and Cresset employees alike. Cresset employees saw firsthand the collaboration, curiosity and teamwork that define Posse Scholars as the students engaged in discussions, exercises and hands-on activities.

Building on the success of this inaugural event, Posse Bay Area hopes to make the partnership a regular part of its summer programming—giving future cohorts the chance to develop professional skills, explore career paths and build relationships with professionals, even before they arrive on campus.