Media contact: Tyler Greer
A group of finance students from the University of Alabama at Birmingham recently showcased their hard work and talents in New York City as they presented the school’s student investment fund’s strategy at a collegiate investment conference.
Students from the Collat School of Business networked with executives from the world’s top financial firms and walked the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
A dozen students involved with the student-directed investment fund, UAB Green and Gold Fund, with assets of more than $550,000, traveled to New York to attend the Quinnipiac G.A.M.E. Forum. During the four-day conference, attended by more than 300 universities, UAB was one of only eight selected to present on its award-winning student investment fund.
“It was an incredible experience,” said Dan Pointer, the fund’s alternatives sector portfolio managers and one of the presenters. Other presenters included GGF portfolio managers Chase Woodruff, Jacob Irvin, Isaiah Chenoweth and the fund’s chief investment officer, Jared Walker.
Pointer was especially intrigued by the opportunities he had to listen to, meet and talk with the senior investment strategist for Goldman Sachs, the global chief economist and chief marketing strategist for Vanguard, senior portfolio manager for Voya Investment Management, and other big names in the world of finance.
Finance professor Ryan Davis, who advises the GGF, arranged for the students to walk the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, courtesy of UBS and Tony Smith, who sponsored the visit. Their stockbroker tour guide has worked on the floor for 30 years and explained the history of the NYSE and its evolution in recent decades. Many students said this was the highlight of their trip.
Walker also was able to attend the Nasdaq closing bell ceremony.
“My biggest takeaway is that the most important skill in the workplace is building and fostering relationships,” Pointer said. “That’s how business gets done.”