Photo (from left) Andrew McClure, Griffin Bryan, Miles Jakubiak, Max Michaelis, Brandon Wentworth
With over 1,100 graduate and undergraduate university teams beginning the journey last September, the global CFA Institute Research Challenge is down to the top 45 global teams; 20 from the Americas region, 15 from the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, and 10 from the Asia Pacific region.
LSBE’s team of Griffin Bryan, Miles Jakubiak, Andrew McClure, Max Michaelis, and Brandon Wentworth earned the right to compete against 19 other finalist teams in the semi-final round of the Americas Region of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute’s Global Research Challenge on Thursday, April 15.
This is the fifth time LSBE has advanced to the Americas Region round, securing the right to compete at this level of the competition since the CFA Society Minnesota began participating in the competition eleven years ago.
The University of Minnesota Duluth annually participates in the Upper Midwest Region round of the competition, which is hosted by CFA Society Minnesota. The team successfully captured the local title on February 25, which was the School’s fifth local victory in seven years and provided the team the opportunity to advance to the next level of the competition, the Midwest US Region round hosted by CFA Society Chicago.
Eight other local winners from CFA Society Chicago, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Iowa, Madison, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Southern Ohio, and Western Michigan competed in the second round of competition on March 25. Three teams from the sub-regional round have advanced and will compete in the semi-final round of the Americas Region; Iowa State representing CFA Iowa, Marquette University representing CFA Madison, and the University of Minnesota Duluth representing CFA Minnesota. Teams advancing have been assigned to one of five groups of four and will now compete against three other sub-regional round winners on April 15 for a spot in the Americas Region final.
The team from LSBE has prepared throughout the year under the guidance of faculty mentor and LSBE Financial Markets Program DirectorJoe Artim and industry mentor David Brandmire, CFA, Vice President, Senior Fixed Income Analyst at Wells Fargo in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
“I am extremely proud of our CFA Research team and their accomplishment of reaching the Americas’ Region semi-final this year, especially given all the disruptions due to Covid-19!” said Artim. “Our team is excited to compete and really wants to advance to the Americas Region final again this year, but the competition attracts some of the brightest and talented minds in investment finance from around the world. Our team will face off against some stiff competition in the next round, Missouri State University [CFA Society Kansas City], Universidad Adolfo Ibanez [Chile] and University of Waterloo [Canada]. I have been deeply pleased with the team’s energy, passion, and commitment to the competition, and believe they are talented enough to advance deeper into the competition later this month. This is our fifth time advancing to the Americas’ Region round. Our team has worked very hard this year and put their hearts and souls into their work. We were deeply honored to capture the local and Midwest US titles this year giving our team a chance to represent our program, school, university, and local at the Americas Region semi-final round.”
The CFA Global Research Challenge impacts 4,000 volunteers, 6,000 students from over 1,100 universities globally. The underlying purpose of the challenge is to help develop best practices for future investment professionals and provide the opportunity for experienced practitioners to give back to the industry’s next generation. For more details about the Research Challenge go to the CFA Institute website at cfainstitute.org and click on Research Challenge under Societies.
Quotes from the student CFA team members:
Andrew McClure “Participating in the CFA Institute Research Challenge has been instrumental in developing the skills necessary to succeed in this industry. I am honored to represent UMD, alumni, and the Financial Markets Program through this intense, but rewarding journey. I have come to truly appreciate the power of collaborative discussion amongst our team and mentors, ultimately improving the quality of our pitch. The team’s success this year has been a function of relentless drive and the quality of the education we are receiving from our professor, Joe Artim. I look forward to seeing more teams excel out of the University in the future as it has been gratifying to take on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Griffin Bryan “Having the opportunity to participate in the CFA Research Challenge during these unprecedented times has certainly been the single-most impactful learning experience that I have been a part of during my time at UMD. The sheer amount of work and effort that our team has put in is immeasurable. Late nights and early mornings are the norm when working on a project of this magnitude and I don't think we would be able to do as well as we have if it weren’t for our team chemistry. When you're personally putting in hundreds of hours of work, it definitely helps having teammates right at your side grinding with you. It certainly has been rewarding to see our hard work pay off with the advancement through the local and regional rounds of the competition. However, we didn’t come this far just to come this far. When we started the competition in late September, we all had a bigger goal in mind...reaching Globals. Being able to leave our legacy with the program as being the top CFA team in the world is something that we have been dreaming of since being admitted last year. We are excited to compete at the national level as we represent the LSBE Financial Markets Program and the University of Minnesota Duluth.”
Miles Jakubiak “The CFA Research Challenge has been an amazing experience, representing the University of Minnesota Duluth at such a high level is something I am immensely proud of. Our team has grown closer through the process, and we have all learned invaluable skills that we will carry with us into our respective careers. Networking with past participants and CFA professionals is also very helpful in learning more about the research process and the different career paths available going forward. Our team is excited to represent the school as best as we can and to see the next University of Minnesota Duluth CFA teams continue to succeed.”
Max Michaelis “The CFA Research Challenge is one of the most academically rewarding experiences that a student can partake in. Representing the University of Minnesota Duluth has been an honor, and our team's advancement in the competition has been a testament to how hard we have worked to continue the legacy of UMD in the CFA Research Challenge. This competition has exposed me to what it's like to be an equity research analyst along with what drives a company's growth starting at the macroeconomic level all the way down to the firm's management. I would like to thank Joe Artim for making all of this possible. He has pushed us to be the best professionals and students that we can be, and being able to use him as a resource for the Research Challenge has pushed our team to the next level. I will remember this experience for the rest of my life. I can't wait to apply the knowledge and skills I have gained from it in my real-life profession.”
Brandon Wentworth “It has been an incredible opportunity to represent the Financial Markets Program in the CFA Research Challenge. I think the program's continued success demonstrates the quality of learning we get, which allows us to compete directly with some of the top teams in the world. The experience has driven my teammates and me to strive for perfection in an intensely competitive environment where we have learned skills and gained knowledge that will be invaluable in our career development. I look forward to seeing what the rest of the competition holds for our team and am excited to watch more teams from UMD present in the future.”