A group of Towson University CBE students are competing with four other university teams for the chance to represent the local region at the CFA Institute’s Global Investment Research Challenge this coming April in New York.

Sponsored by the CFA Society of Washington and the Baltimore CFA Society, the local competition challenges students to produce a research report analyzing a chosen company under the guidance of a faculty mentor and a professional research analyst. The student teams will be judged by a panel of experts from top financial institutions. The subject company for the Baltimore/Washington area’s inaugural challenge is Baltimore-based Under Armour, Inc. If selected the winner, the teams will travel to New York for the global competition. Last year, more than 2,500 students from 546 universities representing 45 countries participated in the event.

The TU CBE team’s faculty mentor is assistant finance professor Dr. Michaël Dewally and Jeffrey S. DeVack, CFA, a senior portfolio analyst at T. Rowe Price, is assisting as the industry professional. The students—Trevor Barger, Robert Eubank, McGregor Kennedy, Ryan Larkin and Brian Schug—are all finance majors in their senior year.

The team’s written analysis of the research project is due in January and teams will give formal presentations to the judges on March 2.

The other local participating institutions are American University, Georgetown University, John Hopkins University and the University of Maryland. On Nov. 11, the student team and Dr. Dewally attended the Kick Off Party hosted by American University. The students had the opportunity to be introduced to the standards of the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct and interact with top executives of the target firm. In attendance and leading the presentation was Brad Dickerson, Chief Financial Officer of Under Armour, Inc., and Tom Shaw, CFA, Director of Investor Relations. The student teams were afforded the chance to ask questions directly to the presenters.

Joanne Li, Chair and Professor, was nominated and elected to serve on the board of directors for the Baltimore CFA Society.

Congratulations to CBE student, Robert Eubank, on receiving the Marion Hoffman Ethical Leadership Award. The award recognizes a student who demonstrates integrity in his/her decision making as a leader.

Eubank is a double major in Economics and Business Administration major with a concentration in Finance. In addition, he serves as the Portfolio Manager for the Towson University Investment Group.

Bharat Jain, Professor, had a paper, “Vertical Divestitures through equity carve-outs and  spinoffs: A products market perspective,” published in the Journal of Financial Economics.

Joanne Li, Chair and Professor, has been named the Associate Editor for Financial Analysts Journal (FAJ). FAJ is considered to be among the leading journals globally in the field of finance.

The second issue of Baltimore Business Review is now available.

The Baltimore business Review (BBR) is a joint publication of Towson University's College of Business and Economics and the Baltimore CFA Society. The BBR leverages the relative strengths of both organizations to create an outstanding resource which showcases Maryland’s business opportunities. Read more...