Photo (Left to Right): Logan Rodgers, Charlie Montang, Cal Bartyzal, Giovanni Podesta, and Will Yager
UPDATE April 12— While the team gave an impressive presentation, it unfortunately did not make it to the next round. We are so proud of our team. More information about the Research Challenge’s upcoming events can be found on the CFA Institute’s website.
UPDATE April 6 —Outstanding performance by the student team of Cal Bartyzal, Charlie Montang, Giovanni Podesta, Logan Rodgers, and Will Yager at the CFA Midwest Sub-Regional round of the Global CFA Competition advances the team to the Americas’ Region Semifinals.
The Midwest Sub-Regional round included the nine local winners from Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio and Michigan. Teams participating were University of Wisconsin-Madison, Marquette University, Northern Illinois University, Marian University, Iowa State University, John Carroll University, Ohio State University, University of Michigan and the University of Minnesota Duluth.
Teams from Northern Illinois University, John Carroll University and the University of Minnesota Duluth have advanced and will now compete against 16 other teams advancing from their sub-regions in North, Central, and South America on Thursday, April 7. The 17 teams have been broken up into three random groups of pairings consisting of five/six teams in each group. Two teams from each group (six total) will advance to compete in the Americas’ Region Final on April 28 for two spots in the Global Final on May 16.
What began with over 1,100 teams around the globe last fall is down to the final 41 schools from three regions: the Americas (17), Asia Pacific (11), and EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa; 13).
ORIGINAL STORY FROM MARCH 3
Hard work has paid off for a student team from the LSBE Financial Markets Program, who competed in the Upper Midwest local finals of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute’s Annual Research Challenge.
Cal Bartyzal, Charlie Montang, Giovanni Podesta, Logan Rodgers, and Will Yager have earned the right to advance and compete virtually in the Midwest Sub-Regional round this month along with eight other local winning teams from colleges in Chicago, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Iowa, Madison, Milwaukee, Southern Ohio, and Western Michigan.
“Over 1,100 university teams participate each year in this competition, which attracts some of the world’s brightest and best young talent,” said Joe Artim, director of the LSBE Financial Markets Program and the team’s faculty mentor. “To have our team finish in the top 50 in the world is truly a testament to our students and program.”
The team was one of two LSBE teams who advanced to the Upper Midwest local finals of the CFA Challenge that was held Thursday, February 24, in Minneapolis. Also competing was the team of Nana Kofi Austin, Sam Glubka, Joel LaChappell, Jake Salonek, and Dominick Taylor. Teams from four states participated with the final round being between the teams from LSBE (2), Bethel College, Gustavus Adolphus College, North Dakota State University, and University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management Graduate School.
For the CFA competition, teams conducted extensive financial analysis on the subject company, Ecolab Corporation, which was selected by the Twin Cities’ CFA Society. The top six teams, judged accordingly by their written report, were invited to present and defend their findings to a panel of CFA charter-holding industry judges.
While both LSBE teams earned the right to defend their research and analysis in Minneapolis, only the team accumulating the highest aggregate score on their oral presentation and defense of their analysis advances.
“I am extremely proud of both our teams! Both teams worked incredibly hard and put in an incredible amount of time on this project, sacrificing weekends, holidays, and weeknights in their analysis of the subject company, Ecolab,” said Artim. “On the one hand, I am deeply excited for our winning team, but also saddened by the defeat of our other team. Both teams put their hearts and souls into the analysis and worked through many challenges and adversities during this process. I deeply admire the fact that both teams chose to protect the integrity of their work by working completely independent of each other.
“The true spirit of this competition and event has strengthened our resolve as a program, and we are honored to represent our program, school, university, and local again at the Midwest Sub-Regional round!” added Artim. “Since the beginning of our involvement in the CFA Research Challenge in 2011, we have fielded many talented teams, and it’s extremely gratifying to know that our teams are capable of competing at the highest levels in this competition. Last year’s team captured the local title, the Midwest Sub-Regional title, and competed in the Americas Region Semi-finals. Over 1,100 university teams participate each year in this competition, which attracts some of the world’s brightest and best young talent. To have our team finish in the top 50 in the world is truly a testament to our students and program.”
Teams from LSBE have advanced to the local final competition each year and have now captured six titles in the past eight years. Teams have also finished as runners’ up in the local final competition four times in the event’s 12-year history. The CFA Research Challenge is designed 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.