Mathieu Milliand, Edward Maraachlian, Arvind Ramanathan and Bianca Tsouvaltsidis relax at the foosball table in the cafeteria at Vigilant Global, a high-finance company in downtown Montreal. | Photo: Jake Brennan
Once a week, he sat at the Scotia Capital options desk on the floor of the Montreal Exchange. There he would trade imaginary shares on a simulated portfolio of options.
“At Concordia, the motto at the time was ‘Real education for the real world,’ and it really felt that way,” says Ramanathan, BComm 01. “That class paid great dividends for me — literally. And it eventually provided a backdrop for how things work here.”
Ramanathan is talking about Vigilant Global, a trading company he founded with two partners eight years ago. Vigilant specializes in micro-trading — split-second automated stock and options transactions for which the company custom designs its own IT. To cut down on transmission times, Vigilant installs its hardware onsite at financial exchanges around the world.
Succeeding in the competitive world of high finance means attracting highly talented workers. Starting with the three partners’ capital and a team of just five in 2005, today the company counts 103 employees. And although Vigilant accepts applications from far and wide, 45 per cent of its workforce graduated from Concordia and more than 50 per cent attended it.
One of the things Ramanathan — or “Arv,” as his employees call their affable boss — likes about Concordians is their flexibility. Edward Maraachlian obtained both his Master’s and PhD in computer science from the university.
“When he started for us, Eddie didn’t know anything about trading — a blank slate,” recalls Ramanathan. “And now he knows everything about connecting to financial exchanges — more than people in Chicago or New York.”
Chatting in Vigilant’s beautiful downtown Montreal offices, Maraachlian is clearly jazzed by his job. “It’s an exceptionally interesting field. It’s fast-paced, it’s challenging, but that just makes the work more interesting — it’s not just work.”
Bianca Tsouvaltsidis learned about Vigilant at a JMSB information session. Her combination of knowledge from Concordia and her natural drive boosted her from junior to senior analyst in just 11 months. She is part of a team of seven, six of them Concordians, and is training Mathieu Milliand, a co-op intern who just signed on as a junior market analyst. That makes Tsouvaltsidis “A Concordian hired by a Concordian who’s now training a Concordian,” says Ramanathan with a smile.
Tsouvaltsidis is quick to point out the benefits of working for a small company. “There’s a flat structure and a community feeling. And you can see the results of your actions. Everything you say is taken into account. You’re not just a number.”
That inclusive attitude extends beyond Vigilant’s walls. With bake sales, themed charity barbecues and a ride for cancer that raised almost $40,000 this year, the company gives back to connect employees to its home town, and each other. Vigilant was the AON-Hewitt Quebec Employer of the Year in 2011.
All this plus plenty of perks and a collaborative, not competitive, atmosphere result in Vigilant’s high employee-retention rate. “We’re a tight community,” says Tsouvaltsidis. “We have each other’s back. It just doesn’t feel like work.”
“People make you feel so welcome,” agrees Marilena Varano, the company’s communications chief. “Vigilant is like a mini-Concordia, not because there are so many Concordians, but the feeling is the same. People here want to help each other.”