Try to monitor constantly-changing information about worldwide financial markets as it flows from two data-stuffed computer screens on your desk and a television cable channel at your side. At the same time, carry on a spirited conversation about a school close to your heart though a thousand miles away. 

That Betsy Battle manages such complex mental feats daily from an office perched 32 floors above midtown Manhattan between Times Square and the greensward of Central Park has made her a high flyer in the financial world.

As the person who allocates to and oversees outside managers for the multi-billion-dollar Quantum Endowment Fund, Betsy uses every fast-twitch fiber in her neural circuitry to make big-stakes decisions. Much of the money she and her team earn for the fund is subsequently used in international philanthropic efforts. 

“I can’t just pick out one or two or three teachers who influenced me,” she says of her formative years at GPS. “I can point to the collective and cumulative effect the school had on me as I moved from grade to grade, whether I was learning English or taking math. The discipline and mentoring were enormously important.”

Accomplishments followed her to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she swam on the varsity team for two years, was elected president of her sorority, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with an undergraduate degree in journalism. But when she went optimistically knocking on doors for a writing job in New York City, none opened. That led to Betsy’s unplanned entry in the world of finance and an epiphany.  Landing a position in a training program at Bankers’ Trust in New York City, she spent five years in the slower-moving world of banking transactions before venturing one day onto the firm’s in-house trading floor.

“It was a huge adrenaline rush,” she says of her visceral reaction to the frenzy of traders screaming at each other as prices rose and fell. “It was like the time as a kid that I saw someone jump a horse for the first time,” she says of that defining moment. 

Betsy discovered she had the composure, accuracy and competitive zeal to succeed in the fast-paced world. As a woman, she was a rarity on a trading floor when she arrived there in the early 1980s. “There were five of us who became friends; we called ourselves the Bond Debs,” she says.

On the strength of her performance, Betsy was promoted from vice president to managing director. After trading floor experiences at Bankers’ Trust, Citibank, and J. P. Morgan, Betsy took her current position with Soros Fund Management, where she works with the CEO.

“I learned markets, and I love them,” she says. “They live, they breathe, they move, and they teach you to listen.”

What she learned at GPS, she says, has been invaluable. “I’m in an environment where I compete with people who, by and large, have gone to Ivy League schools, and I can tell you that my writing is generally better than theirs. That’s definitely [a product of] GPS.”

So keenly does she regard the school (“I am absolutely amazed at the facilities and offerings; it’s like a small college.”) that she serves on the GPS Board of Trustees. She and her sister Jean also present the Battle Award each year to a “B” average student who combines school involvement with a “sense of mischief.”

Why “mischief” as a criterion? “The more opportunity I’ve had to observe big hitters in business,” Betsy explains, “the more I’ve seen that those who take every bump in the road too seriously never get it done. Maintaining a sense of humor is important.”

Betsy credits her family and GPS for instilling confidence in her. “My parents made me absolutely believe there was nothing I couldn’t do,” she says. “GPS did the same thing for me at the same time. That’s a very compelling combination.”

She adds, “GPS is still doing its part to nurture that belief.  Every young woman who leaves the school should feel she can do anything she wants to do.”