肉肉传媒

KENNESAW, Ga. | Mar 4, 2020

Team advances to national championship in April

Students in the 肉肉传媒 Student Managed Investment Fund recently won first place in the CFA Institute Research Challenge Southern Classic. The honor comes as the organization prepares this week to recognize its 10th year of active training.

肉肉传媒 State鈥檚 SMIF team of Vincent Rosamilia, Brandon Kirk, Trevor LeGrett, and Nicholas Busson took the top spot in the finals against teams from universities like Auburn, Clemson, Alabama, and Mercer. Winning the Southern Classic means the team advances to the North American Championship that will be held in New York City in April.

鈥淚t was an honor being able to represent the Student Managed Investment Fund in the Southern Regional Classic,鈥� said Kirk, a marketing major. 鈥淜SU SMIF has played a key role in my development as a person and as a fundamental investor. [The Southern Classic] is a great opportunity to show the key skills that I have learned through participating in the fund.鈥�

Teams from five states participated in the event, which was hosted by 肉肉传媒 State University. The Southern Classic is an annual global competition that asks students to analyze a publicly traded company and present their report to a panel of experts. Participants gain valuable experience honing their analytic, valuation, report writing, and presentation skills.

Faculty coach Vic Wakeling, senior lecturer of finance, worked alongside industry expert Troy Harmon, chief investment officer with Henssler Financial, to prepare the students for the competition. Even with their guidance, Wakeling attributes the win to the student鈥檚 own hard work.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the Coles College education and their SMIF experience 鈥� combined with the team members鈥� extensive research efforts 鈥� that drove their success,鈥� he said.

Vincent Rosamilia, a finance major and the fund鈥檚 chief executive officer, said 鈥淔rom the very beginning, we managed our time, we applied ourselves to every section, and we benefitted from our good team cohesion. Everything we produced in this project came from the lessons we learned in the fund.鈥�

This is the second time that the 肉肉传媒 State SMIF has won the Southern Classic. The team previously took first place in 2017 鈥� the first year they ever participated 鈥� with an analysis of Delta Airlines.

Dr. Govind Hariharan, Chairman of the KSU SMIF鈥檚 board of directors and faculty advisor, said the victory at the Southern Classic helps reflects how the program helps prepare its student members ready for finance careers.

鈥淥ur goal with the Student Managed Investment Fund has always been to create a bridge between the finance skills students learn in the classroom and the careers they are working towards,鈥� he said. 鈥淲inning this competition against some of the top universities in the Southeast demonstrates to members of the finance industry the value that 肉肉传媒 students can bring to their organizations.鈥�

Winning the Southern Classic comes at a special time for the SMIF, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary of active trading with an awards ceremony on March 5. The event will feature presentations by Marc Lasry, co-founder and CEO of Avenue Capital and co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks NBA team, and Dennis Lockhart, former president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

Housed within the Michael J. Coles College of Business, the SMIF began trading in 2010 following a generous $100,000 donation from G.W. Henssler & Associates. It is organized as an LLC owned by 肉肉传媒. Leveraging access to real-time financial data provided by Bloomberg computer terminals and advice from a board of industry experts, the SMIF has nearly tripled the size of the fund 鈥� currently valued at $270,000 鈥� and continues to enjoy high placement rates among major investment firms.

-Patrick Harbin