Dear Friends and Supporters of the GW Investment Institute,
I am pleased to present the GW Investment Institute’s fiscal year 2024 annual report, which highlights an extraordinary year of academic achievements. The GW Investment Institute team is as strong as ever. Our team members are Christine Song and Bill Collier, adjunct faculty; Bojana Jankovic, Associate Program Director; Kathleen Hinman, Program Associate; Willow Newcomb, Communications Associate; and our student interns were Will Ahrens, Yaseen Shah, Elizabeth Ellis, Clement Banwell, Roman Salygin, Paige Graves, and Victoria Matthews. With this fantastic team, we taught five finance classes associated with the GW Investment Institute (GWII) curriculum, hosted 31 industry professionals, and organized industry visits to Sands Capital and Cushman and Wakefield. Additionally, we launched the Quantitative Investment Project to quantify GWII’s Business, Management, Price/Valuation, and Balance Sheet (BMPB) investment framework.
I am proud to announce that we awarded $50,000 in financial accolades to our top 10 performing students, this year’s Ramsey Scholars, for their outstanding dedication and hard work. We also presented the GWII Stock Pitch Awards, funded by the Charles Schwab Foundation, to the six students with the top three stock pitch presentations per semester, totaling $2,500. Moreover, we honored three exceptional students with the GWII Leadership Award, each receiving $2,000.
We continued integrating FactSet into our classes and collaborated closely with BlackRock, allowing our students to gain valuable insights into risk management using their Aladdin technology.
Last fall, we hosted the inaugural Ramsey Scholars Investment Summit, welcoming five cohorts of accomplished Ramsey Scholars who have driven exceptional growth in the GW Ramsey Student Investment Fund over the past five years. This spring, we held an alumni reception in New York City, reconnecting with former students. Furthermore, our Annual Conference on AI & Finance brought together over 60 students, faculty, and alumni, fostering thoughtful discussions on the latest advancements in artificial intelligence within the finance sector.
We continued participating in the McGill International Portfolio Challenge for the sixth consecutive year. Additionally, we were excited to send a GW team to compete in Cornell’s Women in Investing Conference for the first time, marking a new milestone in our commitment to fostering diverse talent in the finance industry.
While our primary goal is to educate students on investment strategies, capital preservation, and growth, I’m pleased to highlight that our Student Investment Funds have again outperformed the S&P 500 Index. This achievement underscores the effectiveness of our educational approach and the exceptional capabilities of our students.
I extend my heartfelt gratitude to our dedicated students, professors, staff, teaching assistants, advisory and governing board members, portfolio advisors, and guest speakers, whose unwavering commitment advances our mission of excellence in experiential investment education. Your collective efforts have led to our remarkable success. A special welcome to our advisory board members, Greg Wong, GW MBA ‘96, and Aron Kershner, BBA ‘05, who joined this past year.
Our achievements and the outstanding performance of GWII’s Student Investment Funds are a testament to the support of our extensive network of over 1,400 alumni, faculty, and staff. On behalf of GWII, I extend my most profound appreciation for your ongoing support and active participation. With immense enthusiasm, I look forward to the future of GWII, confident in our ability to continue advancing the field of investment education and significantly impacting our students’ professional journeys.
Sincerely,
Rodney E. Lake
Director, GW Investment Institute
We invite you to review the full report below: