Saint Mary's Students Win Atlantic CFA Competition

Sobey School of Business’ IMPACT Fund Managers Mitchell Norrie, Jorge Gonzalez, Mengqing Chen & Alex Fowler, winners of the Atlantic CFA Competition.

Congratulations to Sobey School of Business’ IMPACT Fund Managers Alex Fowler, Mengqing Chen, Jorge Gonzalez and Mitchell Norrie for winning the Atlantic Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Competition this past weekend.

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition where university students work in teams to analyze and value a publicly traded company. Each team writes a research report on their assigned company with a buy, sell, or hold recommendation and is then asked to present and defend their analysis to a panel of industry professionals.

“We’re happy to see all our hard work has paid off after all the hours we’ve put into the competition since we started back in October,” said IMPACT Fund Manager Alex Fowler. “I feel confident in saying this is the most time any of us have committed to a single project and we certainly couldn’t have done it alone. We’d particularly like to thank our advisors for the competition, Ross Hallett and Mike Mills.”

The team represented Saint Mary’s University at the Atlantic Canada Local Level Competition. Cumulatively, the team put in over 500 hours of work to prepare their report and presentation. With this victory, the team will be advancing to the Americas Regional Competition in Seattle, Washington at the start of April, where they will compete against universities from across North and South America.

There are nearly 100 local level challenges across the world. The winner of each local competition advances to one of three regional competitions, with the winner of each regional event going to the global final.

The performance of the IMPACT Team in the Local CFA Challenge (i.e. Atlantic Region) has been consistently outstanding, as evidenced by their unprecedented streak of three wins.

 The IMPACT Program is unique credit program where students gain firsthand experience in finance, wealth management and portfolio management. Students on the IMPACT team are responsible for managing close to $500,000 in financial investments (mostly equity). They are in charge of portfolio rebalancing, asset allocation, security selection and stock valuation. In addition, the IMPACT program offers unique networking opportunities (a series of high caliber guest speakers from the industry, national and international competitions) and for community engagement and volunteering (e.g. Finance-Focused Career Fair & High School Trading Competition).

Two Sobey students chosen for prestigious $25,000 Frank H. Sobey Awards

For the second year in a row, the Sobey School of Business is delighted to announce that not one but two of our students have been recognized with the prestigious and high-value Frank H. Sobey Award for Excellence in Business Studies.

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Saint Mary's student receives prestigious leadership scholarship

Sobey School of Business student Boyce Campbell (pictured) has been awarded a Futures Fund Scholarship for Outstanding Leadership.Campbell is one of 10 university business students across Canada who have been recognized for their leadership in their academic and extra-curricular activities.

Participating schools are chosen each year by Canada's Outstanding CEO of the Year, an oganization that also honours accomplished Canadian Chief Executive Officers.

Student recipients are selected by their school's Dean's office based on their achievements and demonstrated leadership initiatives in their academic and extracurricular activities. Both graduate and undergraduate students in business degree programs are eligible.

The award program provides students with $7,500 grants to further their educational ambitions.

Boyce Campbell

A Capital Idea: Venture Grade Student Venture Capital Fund to Embark on a North American First

The Venture Grade Student Venture Capital Fund at Saint Mary’s University is about to embark on a journey that represents a first for the university and North America—student venture capitalists investing a fund that they raised themselves in promising  high growth start-ups.

Venture Grade gives students applied and pro-active learning experiences as part of a suite of private equity asset courses. Students learn what it takes for growing firms to successfully compete by assessing risk, making investment decisions, and supporting the entrepreneurial economy of the Atlantic region.

“The Venture Grade Fund is a student-led venture capital fund where students raise the capital, assess the risk and make the investment,” said Dr. Ellen Farrell, Professor of Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship. “The students have a goal of raising $250,000 for the fund. “

“I call this learning entrepreneurship from ‘the inside out.’  Entrepreneurship students are learning the qualities desired by entrepreneurial financiers so they are well equipped to raise finance when they start their own businesses. ”

 The students plan to make their first investment later this semester.

Click here to read more about the great work being done by the Venture Grade students as told by The Chronicle Herald.

Saint Mary’s launches Success Maps to support students

Dr. Steven Smith, Dean of Science, introduces Success Maps.

Saint Mary's has launched Success Maps, a tool to help students set goals, track accomplishments, discover new opportunities, and prepare for their post-graduation career.

Students using the site will be given guidance on their specific academic requirements and suggestions for other worthwhile activities tailored to their year and their major. They can use the site on their own, and as a tool to review their progress with academic advisors.

Saint Mary’s is the first university in Atlantic Canada to offer such a resource to its students, and only the second in Canada.

The launch was attended by Karen Oldfield, Board Chair; Robert Summerby-Murray, President & Vice-Chancellor; and Dr. Steven Smith, Dean of Science.

Kitrina Godding (BSc ’05) spoke about her experiences at Saint Mary's as being a strong foundation for her life as a geologist, offshore surveyor and accomplished SCUBA diver.

Interest in creating the conditions that enhance student learning and supporting students in their educational goals is at an all-time high at Canadian universities.

The Success Maps tool is representative of Saint Mary’s University's ongoing efforts to help students make successful transitions into university, through their academic programs, and into the larger community as knowledgeable citizens of the world.