Buffalo, NY – A five-person team from the Canisius University Golden Griffin Fund (GGF) secured first place in the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Research Challenge of Western New York, held Monday, February 15. Canisius University has dominated the CFA Research Challenge in Western New York since its inception in 2010. This year marks the 11th consecutive first-place win for Canisius.
The Canisius team overcame competitors including University of Syracuse, SUNY Geneseo, the University of Buffalo, Ithaca College and SUNY Oswego to take home the first place prize. The team now advances to the Americas Regional Challenge, to be held later this semester via Zoom.
The Golden Griffin Fund team that competed in the CFA Research Challenge in Western New York is comprised of Deu Awuok ’21, Tim Shubsda ’21, Michael Steffan’21 (team captain), Nicholas Szabo ’21 and Tucker Weppner ’21.
The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition that provides university-sponsored teams with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis. The competition tests the analytic, valuation, reporting, writing and presentation skills of students studying business, finance and economics. Teams are challenged to research a publicly traded company and write a written report with a buy, sell or hold recommendation. Teams must then present and defend their analysis to a panel of industry professionals who serve as judges in the competition.
The subject company for this year’s CFA Research Challenge was National Fuel. Headquartered in Williamsville, NY, National Fuel is a diversified energy company with $6.2 billion in assets distributed among the five operating segments, including Exploration and Production, Pipeline and Storage, and Energy Marketing.
Housed within the Richard J. Wehle School of Business and established in 2003, the GGF was one of the region’s first real-money, equity investment funds managed by undergraduate and graduate business majors. GGF students select potential companies in which to invest, manage and analyze portfolio holdings, and evaluate and recommend companies to add to the portfolio.
The Chartered Financial Analyst Institute is a global association for investment professionals. It administers to 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 approximately 150,000 members in 165-plus countries and regions.
One of 27 Jesuit universities in the nation, Canisius is the premier private university in Western New York. Canisius prepares leaders – intelligent, caring, faithful individuals – able to pursue and promote excellence in their professions, their communities and their service to humanity.
