Five students in the LSBE Financial Markets program participated in the CFA Institute Research Challenge in early February in Minneapolis. Nathan Swanson, Alex Zachman, Tom Christner, David Cascalenda, and Ross LaDuke from LSBE represented UMD well, taking home second place out of nine universities in the competition. The team from LSBE advanced to the "Final Four" presentation round along with teams from University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management, University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University.
"Out of the three years that we have been participating, this was our best finish," said Joe Artim, Director of LSBE's Financial Markets Program.
The competing teams researched a CFA Institute-designated publically traded company, which was Polaris Industries, prepared a written report on that company, and then the four best teams were selected to present their findings to a panel of CFA charter-holding industry judges.
Teams actually worked with Polaris Executives to gather information.
"The experience of participating felt like it was a real, career project," said LaDuke, senior Economics major. "We had to present as if we were industry research analysts."
"This project expanded upon the approach and process that we utilize in the Financial Markets Program, and allowed us to take our education to the next level while representing the University," added Cascalenda, senior Financial Markets Finance major.
The University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Carlson School of Management won the local challenge based on an aggregated score of their written research report and oral presentation. The team from Carlson will compete in March in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the National Competition vying to advance to the Global competition round in April in London, England.
"It was a great opportunity to represent our school and program," said Christner, senior Financial Markets Finance major. "We're very happy with our results."
The CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Institute is the association of investment professionals that sets the standard for excellence in the global financial community.