Before sunrise (at 6:15am to be precise) on Friday 9/10, the AIM students in the Class of 2011 met Tim Wojs (AIM ’06), an equity analyst at R.W. Baird, who led them to the large room where Baird holds their morning equity meeting. Following the fast paced, high-tech meeting that was filled with research analysts, traders, and sales personnel, the students had an opportunity to interact with Bob Venable and Jon Langenfeld – the Co-Directors of Equity Research at Baird. Following this, a meeting with the leaders from Baird’s Institutional Equity Sales and Trading function was held. David Tarantino, Dan Renouard, Rob Haugen and Patrick Savage talked with the students about the Sales & Trading functions at Baird.
After finishing with the equity professionals at Baird, the AIM students next moved upstairs to visit with the fixed income pros. Dan Tranchita and Jay Schwister briefly talked with the students about the status of the debt markets -- and the next hour was spent with Pat Lawton, Director of Fixed Income Capital Markets, and two of his employees: Billy Flynn and Anne Mongoven (AIM ’10). The visit ended at 9:00am and the AIM students were back on campus and in their first class before most other college students were even out of bed on a Friday morning.
But this was just the beginning for the AIM students, as three investment professionals from Mason Street Advisors spoke to them at their 11:00am Fixed Income class with Dr. Krause. Christi Kubiak, Quinn Noel, and Ray Auth (AIM '06) talked with students about Mason Street's approach to fixed income portfolio management. The three discussed the fixed income investment processes employed at Mason Street and how they perform their various tasks.
In the AIM students’ noon investment class in the AIM Room with Dr. Krause, they were next visited by Keith Hanson, an analyst at the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio. A regular annual visitor to the AIM program, Keith talked about STRS’ equity selection and portfolio management processes.
The day was still nowhere close to being done (and with no lunch break), four AIM students next pitched their equity recommendations to the AIM Equity Fund from 2:00 – 3:00pm. Outside investment professionals from Northwestern Mutual and over 40 students were in attendance for their stock presentations. A 30-minute ‘open house’ for juniors interested in the AIM program followed with most of the AIM seniors talking one-on-one with interested undergraduates. Following the open house, five more AIM equity presentations were delivered before investment professionals, Accounting and Finance faculty, and over 30 students.
Finally, after 5:00pm, the day’s activities were finished and most of the AIM students headed for their apartments – still dressed in their business suites and ready for the weekend. This was one example of a very busy day in the life of an AIM student.
