Ilitch Business finance students gain real-world investment experience, win stock pitch competition
A team of students from the Wayne State University Mike Ilitch School of Business received the Kresge Foundation Investment Award as winners of the school’s spring/summer 2020 SMIF Stock Pitch Competition conducted virtually via Microsoft Teams on July 21.
The competition culminated student participation in a finance course designed to teach the essentials of portfolio management and stock evaluation and selection. The course (FIN 5220 and FIN 7990) was created in 2015 with seed funding from Fifth Third Bank and complements a $2 million student-managed investment fund that was established by Kresge’s Investment Office in 2018.
The online event was hosted by course instructor Sam Levine and attended by members of the SMIF Advisory Board and Ilitch Business Board of Visitors member Aubrey Lee, Jr. of Merill Lynch.
“Kudos to the finance students at Wayne State University's Mike Ilitch School of Business,” Lee said. “The students, led by their instructor Sam Levine, did a great job presenting their ideas on their Student-Managed Investment Fund on Tuesday evening. I am always awed by the level of talent these students display.”
Winning team members Ananda Adibhatla, Jan Bekou and Patrick Nefcy presented logistics company CH Robinson.
