Author: GW Investment Institute

This upcoming GW Giving Day (April 4 and 5, 2023) we are raising funds for a FactSet subscription! Access to FactSet is instrumental for the research that our students perform in our classes and ultimately helps to improve the probability for higher performance for our GW Student Investment Funds. Our alumni advocate and Teaching Assistant Trevor Haen shared how FacSet is incorporated into weekly assignments and class overall. 

Additionally, the FactSet platform is available to all students, faculty and staff at GW.

“FactSet is a comprehensive financial information system that provides accurate and timely data on financial statements, real-time market tracking, industry analysis, and more. The GWII has quickly and fully incorporated the resource into the curriculum, aiding students in fundamental and quantitative stock research. Through conducting company research, forecasting financial statements, and creating valuation models, students generate high-quality analyses of portfolio holdings and investment recommendations. The industry standard software has facilitated a unique hands-on learning experience for students and prepares them for careers in the financial services industry.”

During the upcoming GW Giving Day please consider making a gift to support students’ access to FactSet! Click to donate: go.gwu.edu/givetogwii

GW Giving Day is next week (April 4 and 5, 2023). Check out a message from one of our former students and alumni advocates, Josh Luberda, BS ‘22. 

Josh was enrolled in the Phillips Student Investment Fund class, the Quant Student Investment Fund class, and the Venture Capital class with the GW Investment Institute during his time at GW. Mr. Luberda is an Investment Analyst at Cambridge Associates.

Consider supporting the institute by donating during the upcoming GW Giving Day. Click to support experiential investment education at GW: go.gwu.edu/givetogwii

GW Giving Day is around the corner. Check out this message from one of our amazing alumni advocates, Skye Kussmann, MBA ‘20 to learn more about student experience in our classes and the impact they make.

Skye was enrolled in Venture Capital class and Ramsey Student Investment Fund class with the GW Investment Institute during her Global MBA program. Ms. Kussmann is a Director at Liberty Mutual Insurance in Boston. 

“By participating in GWII’s Venture Capital class, I gained the skills necessary to think critically about launching a business – and won first place at GW’s New Venture Competition as a result! The hands-on learning opportunities in my GWII courses set me up for career success, and I encourage alumni to donate to continue this programming!”

Consider supporting the institute by donating during the upcoming GW Giving Day. Click to donate: go.gwu.edu/givetogwii

GW Giving Day is less than a month away! Our alumni advocate Austin Lai, BBA ‘22 shared some highlights from our classes.

Austin was enrolled in the Phillips Student Investment Fund class and the Venture Capital class with the GW Investment Institute during his time at GW. Mr. Lai is a Business Technology Solutions Analyst at Deloitte.

“The classes I took with the GW Investment Institute were invaluable for my personal and professional growth. Through encouraging critical thinking, providing ample opportunities for public speaking, and facilitating hands-on, experiential learning, they helped me grow as a student and prepared me for my career. Of all the classes, Foundations of Venture Capital was particularly unique. In this class, I was able to develop a start-up idea with my peers and participate in the GW New Venture Competition without taking on any risk, sparking my interest in fintech-related engagements at Deloitte. I urge you to donate to and support the GWII on GW Giving Day so that current students can benefit from these exceptional classes and experiential learning opportunities.”

Consider supporting the institute by donating during the upcoming GW Giving Day. Click to donate: go.gwu.edu/givetogwii

Next month, GW Giving Day is coming up and we’re excited to showcase one of our outstanding alumni advocates, Kayla Albano. 

During her time at GWSB, Ms. Kayla Albano BS’ 22 was enrolled in Quantitative Investing and Venture Capital classes. Kayla is a 2022 GW Ramsey Scholar and an Associate at KPMG. 

“One of the most rewarding classes that I took during my time at The George Washington University School of Business was the GW Quant Student Investment Fund. Each class was challenging and exciting and was an experience I never thought I would have the opportunity to engage in at the undergraduate level. I learned about the world of quantitative investing through complex research, in-class panel sessions by professionals in the field, and hands-on modeling experience. This class pushed students to stay up-to-date with current market news, adopt a problem-solving mindset, and to always be thinking about how certain decisions in model building could help attain the best results – This was ultimately the most influential aspect of the class that I brought forward with me to my current role at KPMG. I encourage all students in the GWSB to take a class with the GW Investment Institute and I also encourage alumni to give back, as this is an incredible GW commitment to experiential learning.”

Consider supporting the institute by donating during the upcoming GW Giving Day. Click to donate: go.gwu.edu/givetogwii

Full Report: GWII Quarterly Report December 2022

Market Commentary

Following a bearish Q3, the fourth quarter closed the year with a better economic environment despite recession fears. Some major highlights are a better-than-expected GDP growth of 2.9%, the Federal Reserve slowing down its interest rate hikes from 75-basis points in November to 50-basis points in December to tame inflation, China relaxing its stringent COVID policies to ease supply chain challenges and a slight decline in the unemployment rate from 3.7% in October to 3.5% in December showing a resilient labor market. The consumer price index also declined by 0.1% in December, after rising by 0.4% in October. This brought inflation to its lowest rate of 6.5% in December since October 2021.
The S&P 500 closed the fourth quarter with a growth of 7.6% and was the only quarter in 2022 with a positive return. The index however closed the year with a decline of 18.1%. All sectors except the Communication and Consumer Discretionary showed positive returns. The top three winners were Energy 22.8%, Industrials 19.2% and Materials 15.1%. The Real Estate sector closed the quarter with a positive return of 3.8% as mortgage rates cooled off.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2022 the GWII’s Student Investment Funds in aggregate underperformed the benchmark with a return of 5.7% vs. 7.6% for the S&P 500. The funds also underperformed the benchmark in the calendar year -19.2% vs. -18.1% for the S&P 500.

Barikisu Muntari Sumara, GWSB MBA ‘23

We are excited to welcome Prof. Christine Song to the GW Investment Institute. Ms. Song is teaching an undergraduate Applied Financial Securities Analysis class. Students enrolled in this class manage the GW Phillips Student Investment Fund with over $2.5 million in assets under management. 

Prof. Song is a Portfolio Manager at New Century Advisors and manages the US SMID Equity strategy. She has extensive asset management experience and has been a key player in the D.C. investment community. Prof. Song serves on the board of the C.F.A. Society of Washington, D.C., where she founded the Women’s Investment Network (WIN). She is the former President and current board member of the Washington Association of Money Managers (WAMM).

Prof. Song, welcome to GW!

I enjoyed welcoming students to campus this week, meeting them in each of the GW Investment Institute (GWII) classes, and learning more about why they are taking one of our classes and what they hope to learn.

This semester GWII is teaching 100 undergraduate students in the following classes:

GW Phillips Student Investment Fund class: Students serve as analysts and manage approximately $2.4 million (as of 1/20/2023) of university endowment funds. Students focus on a particular sector and use fundamental analysis and the GWII Investment Framework to pitch to sell a current holding to fund the purchase of stock that the student believes will be a better long-term investment. This fund was started in 2008 and named in honor of former GWSB Dean Susan Phillips. The fund’s portfolio advisor is Mark Anfang, GW alumnus and a portfolio manager at Scopus Asset Management.

GW Quant Student Investment Fund class: Students learn about common quant investing strategies and focus on data-driven models. They learn how to identify and analyze different types of data and work in groups to build and test predictive models. The fund was established in 2021 and it had over $88,000 in assets under management as of 1/20/2023. The fund’s portfolio advisor is Aron Kershner, GW alumnus, and Senior Portfolio Manager in the Customized Beta Strategies business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management Quantitative Investment Strategies.

Venture Capital class: Students focus on building and evaluating startups while learning about the venture capital business through group assignments and guest lectures. In this class, students also participate in the New Venture Competition (NVC). The course is taught by Prof. Bill Collier, double GW alumnus and Principal at Noblis Ventures. 

I’m excited to host several GWII Advisory Board members and alumni as guest speakers in GWII’s classes.  

Save the date

I hope you can join and support us during the following events:

GWII Annual Conference and Reception, March 24, 2023 at GWSB

GW Giving Day, April 5-6, 2023 (see list of funding opportunities)

Stay tuned for more details on these events. 

The GW Investment Institute (GWII) teaches students at the George Washington University how to invest and how to think about investing. GW undergraduate and graduate students learn by doing. Our students serve as analysts and portfolio managers, managing approximately $6.5 million in university endowment funds across four student investment funds covering: equities, real estate, and quantitative investing. The institute also offers a class on venture capital. In the GW School of Business finance classes taught by the GW Investment Institute, students:

The GWII has over 1,300 alumni worldwide, many of whom currently work in finance and give back to GWII. Our alumni make contributions by providing guest lectures, mentoring, advising, connections, and donations. 

Your financial support for the GW Investment Institute enables real-world learning and networking opportunities for our students. It also improves a student’s experience at GW and contributes to better industry placement.

Funding opportunities

In the upcoming months the GW Investment Institute will announce a Capital Campaign with a goal to raise $1 million by 2025. Many of these funding opportunities will be included in the campaign. 

Your support is much appreciated and every dollar donated to the institute will go toward providing more opportunities for our students. 

Ways to donate

If you have any questions or would like to learn more, please reach out to Bojana (bjankovic@gwu.edu).