UNC Charlotte students to compete in national investment challenge

A team of UNC Charlotte students will represent North Carolina in a national investment research challenge in April.

M.B.A. students Russell Heydorn, Rakesh Patel, Kevin Ruster and Adam Schorr and M.S. in Economics student Kevin Crimmins qualified by having the top report and oral presentation in the state investment challenge, held Feb. 26. Eleven-university sponsored teams participated in the first round of competition; students from UNC Charlotte, UNC Chapel Hill, Elon University and Appalachian State University were selected as finalists.

This is the second consecutive win for a team from UNC Charlotte.

As state champions, UNC Charlotte team will compete in the Americas Regional Investment Research Challenge, to be held in Omaha, Neb., on April 7. The competition is sponsored by the CFA Institute, the global, not-for-profit association of investment professionals that awards the CFA and CIPM designations. The Institute covers the costs of travel, accommodations and group meals for student teams.

The UNC Charlotte students are enrolled in the Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF) in the Belk College of Business, a year-long finance course established to give students hands-on experience in investing and financial analysis. Assets for the SMIF are provided by the UNC Charlotte Foundation and are real funds from the university endowment. Dr. Judson Russell, clinical associate professor of finance, is the SMIF advisor and served as coach for the student investment team. Edward Sim CFA, a vice president at Bank of America, mentors the group.

“Competitions like the investment challenge give our students the opportunity to put their classroom knowledge to the test,” said Belk College Dean Steve Ott. “The UNC Charlotte team’s victory in the state challenge is a credit to their abilities as well as to the quality education they are receiving here in the Belk College of Business. We wish them well in the national competition.”