Front row: John F. O. Bilson, IIT Stuart Professor of Finance and Director of MS Finance Program; Xiaoyi Lei; Larissa Miller, Finance StaffBack row: Michael Rybak; Jason Strimpel; Raghav Dubey; Ben Hurh Not pictured: Brian Rieger
A team of five Illinois Institute of Technology Stuart School of Business graduate students took first place at the Chicago CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Institute Research Challenge on February 16, advancing to the Americas Regional CFA Challenge taking place in New York City April 9-10. Regional champions will advance to compete for the global title on April 11.
The challenge, in which teams of three to five business and finance students worked directly with an equity mentor in researching and preparing company analyses, offers students the unique opportunity to learn from leading industry experts and compete with peers from the world’s top finance programs. The teams researched a publicly-traded company, Zebra Technologies Corporation, worked with a CFA charterholder who mentored the team, prepared a research report on the company, and delivered a final presentation for evaluation by high-profile panels of experts from top financial institutions.
The IIT Stuart team, comprised of Master of Science in Finance students Raghav Dubey, Brian Rieger, Master of Mathematical Finance student Ben Hurh, and recent Master of Science in Finance alumni Xiaoyi Lei and Jason Strimpel, along with Faculty Advisor Michael Rybak, bested teams from University of Chicago, DePaul, Loyola, and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the local final round. In addition to advancing to the regional competition, the team was rewarded with internship offers from Morningstar, Inc.
“IIT Stuart finance students are familiar with both technology and finance,” said Associate Dean John F. O. Bilson. “The combination provides our students with an immense advantage in the application of financial analysis to high tech companies like Zebra Technologies. Our student’s victory in the CFA Challenge is a direct reflection of their effort, intelligence, and technical capability.”
The CFA Institute Research Challenge (formerly the Global Investment Research Challenge) gathers together university students, investment industry professionals, publicly traded companies, and corporate sponsors for local, regional, and global competitions. The annual educational initiative promotes best practices in equity research through hands-on mentoring and intensive training in company analysis and presentation skills. Additionally, all participants are introduced to and held to the standard of the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct.