アナリスト紹介:デビッド・イーストホープ
David Easthope is the Head of Capital Markets and has been with Celent for over seven years. When he's not busy advising clients on their technology and business strategies, technology choices, and strategic alliances and investments, you'll find David spending time with his family or out on the road cycling.
WHERE ARE YOU FROM ORIGINALLY / WHERE DID YOU GROW UP?
Southern California. While I have lived all over the east coast (Tampa, Washington, DC, Boston, New York), the west coast has never left me.
WHERE DO YOU CURRENTLY RESIDE?
San Francisco
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CITY/PLACE YOU’VE TRAVELED?
For personal traveling, I am a really big fan of Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand). I love the scenery, food, and people. A cocktail at sunset on a Thai beach with your best friend is one of life’s great experiences. For work travel, my best experiences have been London, Tokyo, and Hong Kong.
FAVORITE HOBBY?
Road Cycling. I follow sports like college football, soccer, and baseball. I like to travel, read, and ski. My new favorite hobby is supporting my children’s hobbies.
Favorite Band/Music?
The Southern California music of the 1980s/early 90s has been my soundtrack. I still recall the first time hearing Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N’ Roses. Van Halen 1984 is a perfect album. For cycling music, Led Zeppelin and the Strokes are my favorites. Eminem is also good for getting you up a steep climb.
FAVORITE FOOD DISH?
Thai food is just miles ahead of anything else
WHAT’S YOUR STORY?
Learning about stocks and investing in elementary school and reading the Wall Street Journal in high school were early influencers. I have always loved economics and financial markets. I like to debate financial policy and markets with colleagues and friends. I have always focused on finance and international business in my studies. Also, studying abroad in college in London exposed me to international approaches to markets and investing.
Focusing on equity research out of college was a natural step for me. A turning point came for me when I had a decision out of business school to join the buy side or go into fintech research and advisory. I chose research and advisory and have never left that sector, whether with Celent or in corporate strategy with Charles Schwab. I like working with many different business lines and clients (internal and external) and I enjoy creating lasting impact. I am well prepared to advise clients on major choices and inflection points.
How would clients describe you?
I like to say that clients know me as someone who is immune to hype, but enthusiastic when it’s warranted. My specialty is the investment technology and workflow from research/decisioning through execution/implementation to investment support. As a CFA, I am versed in the rigor and discipline of the buy side approach to investing. Market infrastructures, the buy side, the sell side, and technology vendors who focus on the buy side have been my most loyal clients over the years.
WHAT DOES BEING AN ANALYST MEAN?
One of the best parts of the analyst role is the need, and the luxury, to ponder the future. It is also fantastic to be around so many smart people who have been through many different technology cycles. Iron sharpens iron. My capital markets team members rely on me to challenge them to take the hard path when it’s the right path and to encourage them to say something significant, even if it's uncomfortable or goes against the grain. In my other internal role as a driver of strategic change at Celent, they also expect me to help the firm manage our own path into the digital age from content creation though to client impact.
WHAT IMPACT HAS IT HAD?
I have always maintained that while my clients' day jobs are important, all clients (but especially CIO/CTO/COOs and product managers) should look outside their own organizations for clues as to the needs of their own clients and the resulting future technology architectures. In California, I am surrounded by people focused on building brand new edifices and parallel architectures without consideration of what came before. Sand Hill Road is coming for Wall Street. With so many developments underway that were not imagined a few years ago, it is easy to miss major inflection points. Never stop reading, learning, and creating.