Survey says Rachael Rothman, CFA, is one of the top rising stars in investment research. For two years running, she has gained national attention for her market savvy and stock analysis in U.S. equity research. In 2005, Institutional Investor ranked her to its 2005 “All America Research Team” and in 2006 the Wall Street Journal listed her on its annual “Best on the Street” survey.

But what does Rothman — a senior analyst who covers the restaurant and gaming sectors at Merrill Lynch — say about all of this acclaim?

“It’s taken me a long time to get here,” she says. “Career evolution is about building skill sets and trying to leverage them every day to the benefit of our clients.”

In that journey of more than 15 years, Rothman spent a long time far afield of finance in the hospitality industry. She earned a bachelor of arts in romance languages and literature at age 20, a graduate degree in hotel restaurant management at age 24, and a master’s degree in economics at age 28. Even with all these credentials, she says that the one element responsible for her entrée into equity research was the CFA charter.

Hear what Rothman has to say about her varied career:

What was it like getting the Wall Street Journal award?

Very exciting. But winning the award in 2006 sets you up for a challenging 2007. You want to under promise and over deliver, not the other way around (laughing). I mean it gives you something to strive for again, but by the time the award comes out, you’re pretty far into your 2007 stock picking already. Earlier this year, we lowered our rating on a stock and the next day, the company announced it was putting itself up for sale. Shares rose nearly 20 percent. By the time the Wall Street Journal survey was released, I had already gone from first to worst. I learned quickly that although things happen beyond your control, you want to be thoughtful and diligent in your analysis and work hard for your clients every day.

Can you briefly tell us about your career path after you graduated college?

I went to work at a scuba diving resort in Mexico. I had partially worked my way through college being a dive tour operator, and I knew somebody that ran a dive resort in Mexico. I worked there until I went to school for hotel and restaurant management at Cornell University. I love the hotel industry, traveling, global tourism. Going to Cornell was in line with my prior work experience, and I thought it was where I wanted to build my career. After graduating, I moved to Colorado to work as the general manager of a hotel. In total, I spent the better part of a decade working in the hospitality and tourism industries.

You tried it out for that long — what drew you away?

In the hotel business it’s every man for himself. I kept thinking, as I moved up from front desk clerk to general manager, that the type of skills that you would deploy would become more and more sophisticated. Instead, as I moved up in the profession, nothing really changed. I found myself increasingly frustrated with staffing and operational issues, working every night, every weekend, and every holiday. I was working when everybody else was on holiday, and the job wasn’t particularly lucrative.

So, you went back to school again, this time to study economics?

Yes. I thought a PhD in economics would provide more choices than a straight MBA. At every juncture in your life, you always want to make sure that the decisions you make create more opportunities for you, such that if you look back and you aren’t on the exact path that you wanted to be on, at least you have more choices. I didn’t want to pursue an MBA because I believed it would overlap closely with my graduate degree in hotel and restaurant management. My other issue was I needed to get paid to go to school, not the other way around. Generally when you pursue a PhD the university pays for your course work as well as a teaching stipend. Although there are many career paths one can follow with a PhD in economics, I left the program after two years with just a master’s degree. The program material was more theoretical and mathematically focused than I expected. So after two years I realized that wasn’t what I wanted to do, and I decided to go back to work. I chose equity research because it seemed like the best way to combine my knowledge of the hotel industry and my finance skills.

How did you end up in the CFA Program?

My roommate from Cornell worked in sell-side research and was a CFA charterholder. The more I talked to her, the more I thought, if she could do this, so could I. Cheers to her for telling me about the career and the CFA Program. I love my profession, and I never would have found out about it, or the CFA Program, without her.

Do you think the CFA Program was instrumental in helping you secure a job?

Absolutely. Had I not passed the Level I exam, I could not have gotten the first-round interview with my nontraditional background. Completing the Level I exam, on your own time, paid for with your own money, while juggling three or four other things in your life, shows potential employers that you are the kind of person that they want on their team.

Do you see earning the CFA designation as critical in your profession?

Yes, our clients are almost all required to have it. It is important to have the same qualifications as our clients in order to be taken seriously and to limit any inequalities. You should do everything you can to enhance your credibility, and the CFA [charter] is a great way to do that.

Do you see evidence that any of your colleagues agree?

There’s strong support for the program from senior research management, not only to attend the training but to take time to study. It is viewed as a critical success factor. There’s a focus on providing a standard of credibility in the industry, and this is one great way to provide that base of knowledge and background to our research teams at Merrill Lynch.

So, what did being named “Best on the Street” tell you about yourself?

Once your efforts have been recognized, you know you have the skills to be successful, and you just need to continue to strive to maintain a high standard of performance. On the flip side, you have to have a good sense of humor about when things don’t go your way. The markets continually humble all of us. You still have to get up, put a smile on your face, and move forward the next day.