SIF Students Visit NYC

Four students in the Student Investment Fund (SIF) course - Joel Ballou, Ryker Leer, and John Ferrer, and Peter Freymueller – traveled to New York City in April for the group’s annual trip.



On their first day, the students visited Bloomberg Tower, toured the building and office, and met with the executive producer of Bloomberg Television. Next, they met with the IFM Investors' infrastructure team and many team leads at BlackRock. BlackRock also took them on a tour of one of the office buildings they are developing, which demonstrated how the investment process plays out in real life. Following the tours, the students joined BlackRock employees at a networking social at a local Shake Shack.

 



For the rest of the trip, students attended the Quinnipiac G.A.M.E. (Global Asset Management Education) Forum, an event that is tailored toward students. Over 1,500 students attended the event, as well as many representatives from nonprofits and financial businesses who attended for supplementary education and career development. The group was fortunate to meet with David Ragins, a SOM advisory board member with Clarion Capital, Peter Marber, an emerging markets expert and Wall Street veteran with Aperture Investors, and Alec Hajdukovich, a SOM alumnus with Axial Business Development. Through these connections, the students were exposed to private equity, investment philosophy, emerging market debt, and entrepreneurship.

While in NYC, the students took advantage of the opportunity to enjoy a Broadway show, 99 cent pizza, and the hustle and bustle of Manhattan. Two students attended a New York Rangers versus St. Louis Blues game and were able to connect with SOM alumnus Colton Parayko, who now plays for the Blues.



Over the course of the trip, students connected with numerous SOM alumni and were able to observe how investment works in practice as opposed to in the classroom. They also learned about asset classes to which they are not typically exposed, including infrastructure, private equity, fixed income, international investment, and other alternative assets. The trip not only provided them with an excellent experiential learning opportunity, but also allowed them to network outside the reaches of Alaska with students, faculty, and other professionals.

Many thanks to the generous sponsorship from Northrim Bank, which helped make this exciting trip possible!