About This Group
The Young Leaders Group establishes an inclusive ecosystem for CFA Society New York’s Millennial and Gen Z generations including recent charterholders, exam candidates, and university students. The group is focused on developing members’ professional and leadership skills, fostering of new relationships, and cultivating an environment to learn from and work with one another. Initiatives include informal networking events, industry panel discussions, career development workshops, and mentorship programs, among others.
Co-Chair: Kunal Hegde, CFA, CAIA
Co-Chair: Zhaoning (Elizabeth) Ren, CFA, FRM
Vice-Chair: Michele Chiacchio, CFA
Vice-Chair: Kathy Chiang, CFA
Vice-Chair: Sagar Desai, CFA
Vice-Chair: Girish Massand, CFA
Vice-Chair: Yolanda Zhang, CFA
Join the CFANY YOUNG LEADERS GROUP on LinkedIn. NOTE: Group discussion forums are for the sole purpose of facilitating communication among members. Please do not use them to promote your own products, services, or business including publications, websites, and blogs. The views expressed by the members of the LinkedIn Groups do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of CFANY.
Yolanda (Jiayao) works in FX derivatives trading at BNP Paribas where she provides FX swap hedges to asset managers, corporates, official institutions and liquidities to hedge funds. Outside of her job, she has passion in ESG, history and astronomy. She received her joint BA degree in Mathematics and Economics from New York University. She became a CFA Charterholder since 2023
Girish Massand is an institutional solutions strategist for BNY Mellon Advisors, Inc. In this role, he is responsible for driving new business development by engaging with retirement plans, nonprofits, and family offices to deliver customized investment solutions. Girish has been with BNY Mellon since 2015 and was previously part of the Finance organization supporting Corporate Treasury and Wealth Management. Through these roles he gained valuable experience in asset liability management, liquidity and risk analysis, financial statement analysis, and business metrics analysis.
Michele is the Founder and CEO of MXC Global Management LLC, a global investment manager focused on fundamental and special situation investing in public securities. Previously, Michele worked in equity derivatives trading at J.P. Morgan where he helped 
Kathy Chiang is an investment professional focused on fundamental equity research. She currently works as a Vice President at BlackRock on the Global Allocation Fund, covering global consumer equities. Kathy graduated from Cornell University in 2018 with a double major in Mathematics and Economics, and a minor in Business. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, traveling, exploring the new restaurant scene, and volunteering with Muddy Paws Rescue, a foster based dog rescue organization. She has been a CFA Charterholder and member of the CFANY Society since 2021.
Sagar Desai has been a member of the CFANY society since 2019 and has been a charterholder since February of 2022. He currently serves as a Director at Yieldpoint, a hedge fund focused on investing in the physical commodities space, targeting a stable return. Prior to Yieldpoint, Sagar served as an Investment Analyst at Metallica Commodities Corporation, working directly under the firm’s CFO. Sagar began his career at Deloitte in New York City working on complex financial transactions within the Transfer Pricing division after graduating from Georgetown University in 2018. Originally from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Sagar is a big Philadelphia sports fan and can be found at Woagies in the West Village during football season.
Zhaoning (Elizabeth) Ren, CFA, FRM, is a quantitative finance professional in the Global Scenario Generation team of Bank of America. She has previous experience in industry research and credit analysis. She received BS degree from Shanghai University and MS in Finance from University of Rochester. Outside work, she is a yogi, a cyclist, and an amateur chef in the making
Kunal is a financial professional with 4+ years of experience specializing in hedge funds and insurance. He is currently an Associate at the Blackstone Group within the Alternative Asset Management department. His previous roles included Senior Associate at SS&C GlobeOp and Portfolio Underwriter at Chubb. Kunal graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance. In his spare time, he enjoys volunteering with Rescuing Leftover Cuisine and mentoring high school and college students. He is a CFA Charterholder and a member of the CFA Society of New York, as well as a CAIA Charterholder and member of the CAIA Society of New York.
