Investment Team Makes Top 3 at Prestigious Competition

A group of finance students from Cal Poly Pomona’s College of Business Administration earned the chance to manage the CFA society of Orange County’s investment portfolio after placing third in a recent competition.

Once a year, CFAOC invites teams from Southern California colleges to spend a year growing $30,000 of fictitious seed money while following its strict guidelines of acceptable investments. Participants summarize all transactions in a written report before presenting to a live audience.

“The judges mentioned scoring and awards were very difficult,” Finance, Real Estate and Law chair Wei Yu, Ph.D. said. “There was a very tight spread among the top three teams. The department is so proud of our team, especially because it is out first time competing in this prestigious competition.”

Accompanied by faculty co-advisors, professors Pawan Tomkoria and Alex Wei Wu, Ph.D., more than a dozen students headed to Fullerton, Calif. to represent Cal Poly Pomona at the 2017 CFA SMIF Competition. The third-place finish comes with the chance to run a real, live portfolio for CFAOC during the 2018-2019 calendar year.

The SMIF team tuned up with a mock presentation in early December during an event celebrating the CBA’s first student-managed investment portfolio, also supervised by Tomkoria and Wu.