03.09Business Students Win Idaho Research Challenge
Kevin Price, Chris Cox, Nicole Bradshaw, Patricia Mwove, Dr. Peter Crabb
Four NNU students from the School of Business competed against area universities and placed first in the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute’s Global Investment Research Challenge (GIRC) last month. Participating schools included George Fox, Phoenix, and Boise State Universities. The NNU team was comprised of Nicole Bradshaw, Patricia Mwove, Chris Cox, and Kevin Price
Each participating university assembled a team of business and finance students who entered the challenge to work directly with a company in researching and preparing a company analysis. It was a unique opportunity for students to research, analyze and report on a company as if they were practicing analysts in order to promote best practices in equity research and company analysis. The students interacted with investment professionals and top firms while getting real-world experience in equity analysis, sell-side research report writing and presentation skills.
Dr. Peter Crabb, associate professor of business at NNU, and Lori Smith, CFA and vice president of corporate planning and CRO of Idaho Power Company, mentored the team. Ms Smith stated, “I was very pleased to work with this high-caliber group of students. They were engaged in learning how to objectively value a company and they increased their appreciation of the ethical responsibility of a sell-side analyst to the general investing public.”
A panel of local high-profile heads of research, portfolio managers and chief investment officers, all Chartered Financial Analysts, judged the competition. One of the judges, Peter Butler, CFA and president of the CFA Society of Idaho, said about the competition, “NNU’s written report was comprehensive and insightful. They also presented their argument well and handled some difficult questions from the judges with poise.”
NNU’s team will travel to New York City March 18 to compete against 20 universities in the Americas Regional Championship. Team member Nicole Bradshaw concluded, “I have to say it was one of the more challenging and trying experiences in my college career at NNU but so rewarding in the knowledge gained and the friendships developed among our team.”