Consulting to Supply Chain to REPE

I just turned 28, graduated in Poli Sci/Econ from a top 15 liberal arts in 2009. Did 2 summers at a BB(1 in IT and 1 as a Summer) After grad started as a consultant with a major F500 investment analytics firm, after 2 years, got my series 3 and traded metals and energy on the street for a small half retail/half institutional shop. Company went under, moved out West and took a job in the supply chain industry for a top ocean shipper. Started in sales, got 3 promotions in 3 years and was leading a team of 3 handling all pricing, FP&A and operations functions for a specialized commodity.

Connected with a recruiter who loved me and got me in the door to a MM REPE Firm doing acquisitions, proprietary developments and structured investments. Nailed 4 case studies and started 6 months ago. 6 discretionary fund vehicles with $5B in committed capital. I’m the lead fund analyst, working directly under the CFO. Responsibilities have been all over the place, from researching and helping my associate create our new fund pitch deck, to leading the valuation process for our open ended fund, and most recently creating a high level fund model to study the impact of adding fund/property level debt to returns etc.

I love the work, the people and the culture, but don’t necessarily want to spend my career in real estate. So my question is…if I want to make the switch to traditional PE, what is the best professional education I can undertake? I’m not doing a full time program, so my options are limited. A couple of my colleagues are doing CFA, but after reading all the comments on here, I almost feel like my time would be better spent networking or pursuing a part time MBA. I also know some people with the CAIA but don’t know that is worth the time either.

I’d love the feedback and would be happy to answer any questions about my journey to PE and the case studies etc. Thanks everyone!