Buffalo, NY - For the fourth consecutive year, a team of Canisius University students won first place at the Western New York Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Research Challenge. The CFA Institute Research Challenge is a competition between university-sponsored teams that research a designated publicly-traded company, prepare a written report on that select company and then present their findings to a panel of judges. The competition tests the analytic, valuation, reporting writing and presentation skills of university students.
“This is a tremendous accomplishment for our students,” says Richard A. Wall, PhD, professor of economics and finance and interim vice president for academic affairs. “This competition provides students with an opportunity to integrate their academic training in a team environment and become polished professionals at the very start of their careers.”
The Canisius team included - Richard Hilliker ’14, business economics and finance; Josh Kehoe ’15, MBA; Brock Wilkinson ’14, business economics and finance; Randy Toth ’14, finance; and Nick Perez ’14, MBA. Wall serves as the faculty advisor to the Canisius team. Director of the Golden Griffin Fund, Steven A. Gattuso, CFA, CFP, CMA, is the team’s industry mentor.
The University of Rochester placed second and SUNY Fredonia placed third in the competition. The Canisius team also competed against the University at Buffalo, Syracuse University, SUNY Oswego, Niagara University and Nazareth College.
The Canisius team is comprised of students from the Golden Griffin Fund, the college’s first real-money, equity investment fund managed by undergraduate and graduate finance majors. Students develop analytical financial skills during the two-semester finance course taught in the college’s Financial Markets Lab. “The Canisius curriculum puts our students in the top tier in the US, and even the world, of finance programs developing professional investment analysts,” says Wall.
The Chartered Financial Analyst Institute is a global association for investment professionals. It administers the CFA and Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement (CIPM) curriculum and exam programs worldwide; publishes research; conducts professional development programs; and sets voluntary, ethics-based professional and performance-reporting standards for the investment industry. The institute has more than 100,000 members, including the world’s 90,000 CFA charter-holders, as well as 135 affiliated professional societies in 58 countries and territories.
The team competes in Denver, Colorado in March for the North/South Americas finals. The winner of the America's regional will compete for the worldwide championship in Thailand later this year.
One of 28 Jesuit universities in the nation, Canisius is the premier private university in Western New York.
