Alumna Elizabeth Goldsberry works with Ilitch School on new investment fund
In April, the Kresge Foundation and Wayne State University announced a $2 million student-managed investment fund that complements a course designed to teach students the essentials of portfolio management, stock evaluation and selection. One of the Kresge officials facilitating the partnership, Elizabeth Goldsberry, a managing director of the foundation’s investment office, is an alumna of the Mike Ilitch School of Business who credits her business school experience for helping her to develop strong ethics and values.
“I chose Wayne State based on its strong reputation and flexible program options and was so fortunate that many of my professors were not only highly skilled in course content, but work-life educators as well,” Goldsberry said.
She added that because WSU held a number of evening class sessions, it allowed her to obtain a business degree while she worked during the day.
After graduating, Goldsberry spent most of her early career at Ford Motor Company in a variety of finance and treasury-related roles. Prior to joining Kresge, she worked at Fannie Mae, a government-sponsored mortgage association in Washington D.C. as Director of Finance in its Capital Markets group.
In her current position, Goldsberry is responsible for financial matters, risk management, internal controls and compliance for the foundation’s investment portfolio. She is also playing a critical role in the new student-managed investment fund partnership between the Ilitch School and Kresge.
The fund is a carve-out of the foundation’s $3.8 billion endowment and is intended to provide a real-world investment experience to Wayne State business school undergraduates while exposing them to local career opportunities in investment management.
Students will manage the fund out of the new home of the Mike Ilitch School of Business when it opens for classes this fall. The state-of-the-art setting for this educational opportunity features a finance and data analytics lab, which is equipped with professional financial tools including 12 dual-screen Bloomberg terminals and a real-time stock market ticker that is visible from Woodward Avenue. An additional grant from Kresge helped the school purchase the terminals.
“It’s our objective to provide students with the real-world opportunity to learn, practice and apply their investment acumen by managing a live portfolio,” she said. “Our long-term goal is to increase the pipeline of local students pursuing a career in investments and investment-related fields.”
To support the Student Managed Investment Fund or another Mike Ilitch School of Business program, please contact Steve Moore, Director of Philanthropy, at 313-577-9212.
