The Investment Research Challenge is an initiative that teaches students from top local business schools the best practices in equity research. Team members Zachary P. Cressman, Andy Huynh, Gurveer Kehal, Jason Senensky and Faculty Advisor Professor Brian F. Smith competed against nine student teams from universities across the province. The champion team was determined based upon the best combined score for the written report and presentation and qualified for the CFA Institute Regional Investment Research Challenge in New York City in March 2010. Competition is among teams from schools across the Americas, with winning teams proceeding to the global finals in Hong Kong in April 2010.

“I think that confidence was a key driver for us. We set out to win this competition from the very beginning and always believed we would accomplish our goal. Now that we’re here, we will have to redefine our goals in order to achieve success at the next stage in New York,” said Zachary Cressman.

The top four teams selected (Sprott School of Business, Telfer School of Management, Wilfrid Laurier University and University of Waterloo) presented their research reports to a panel of respected Toronto industry professionals. The panelists were:

• James Donegan, CFA, OMERS,
• Harry Marmer, BBA, MBA, CFA, Hillsdale Investment Management,
• Rossa O’Reilly, MA, CFA, CIBC World Markets,
• Ralf Rank, CFA, Brookfield Renewable Power,
• Kim Shannon, MBA, CFA, Sionna Investment Managers, and
• Brian Shaw, MBA, CFA

“The Investment Research Challenge was a great experience and tremendous learning opportunity. I especially enjoyed interacting with our industry mentor, Rob Missere, CFA, who brought a real-world perspective to our analysis,” said Jason Senesky of team Wilfrid Laurier.

Each team had a faculty advisor and was provided with an industry mentor to aid them in the competition. As part of the competition Toronto CFA Society chose a public company, Glacier Media Inc., to be the subject of the student research reports. Toronto CFA Society’s Investment Research Challenge is sponsored by CFA Institute, OMERS and Stalla by Becker Review.