Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Morningstar Direct's New Asset Allocation Module Adds Fat-Tail Modeling Capabilities

Dr. David Krause, AIM program director, has been using Morningstar Direct for the past seven years to track the performance of the AIM Funds and other investments. Krause said, “I had an opportunity earlier this week to work with the new asset allocation program in Direct and it is an outstanding tool for portfolio planning. It has some powerful features that allow for traditional mean-variance modeling, but it also has the latest in non-normal distribution and fat-tail modeling. It is a significant enhancement.”

Many financial have used models produced by Ibbotson Associates, which is now a Morningstar subsidiary, for asset allocation methodologies. Now Morningstar Direct has incorporated Ibbotson’s current methodology and a new alternative to the typical approaches to mean variance optimization to meet asset allocation needs.

With the latest update of Morningstar Direct it is now possible to use conventional mean variance optimization (MVO) or new models that utilize “fat-tailed” distributions and use other return and risk metrics. Some key features in Morningstar’s release of Asset Allocation include:

×      Asset class modeling: Model asset class behavior with the option to use traditional log-normal or fat-tailed and non-normal distribution assumptions
×      Optimization: Find optimal asset allocation policies using traditional MVO or other return and risk measures, including conditional value at risk (CVaR) and downside deviation
×      Forecasting: Calculate the probability of future wealth and return outcomes

Dr. Krause continued, “I’ve always been impressed with Roger Ibbotson and his ability to link academia and the applied world. I look forward to learning more about this new tool in Morningstar Direct and how I can incorporate it into the AIM curriculum. This asset allocation tool was sorely needed before the financial crisis and market crash of 2008 – I believe many portfolios would have been well served had they employed this type of fat-tail asset allocation modeling.”


Thursday, June 16, 2011

Summer Finance Internships for Marquette's AIM Students in the Class of 2012

Dr. David Krause, Applied Investment Management program director at Marquette University commented, “Each of the students enrolled in the spring AIM course - FINA 4310 – has already started their summer internship. Similar to the AIM placement rate for our graduates, we have again achieved a perfect record in securing internships for our rising AIM seniors.”

Krause added, "The internship opportunities are with different types of finance firms - including asset managers, private equity firms, investment banks, consulting firms, private equity, and wealth managers. As shown below, the firms are geographically diverse and are located in major cities such as Milwaukee, Chicago, Seattle, and New York."


AIM Class of 2012
Summer Internships

Student
Firm
Location
Jacob Bear
Cascade Investments
Seattle, WA
Sajid Bhimani
RMB Capital Management
Chicago
Brian Brophy
R.W. Baird
Milwaukee
Jacob Brull
Russell Investments
Milwaukee
James Carlson
Shatkin Trading Chicago
Chicago
Katherine Curiel
Northwestern Mutual
Milwaukee
Harrison Davis
Citigroup
New York
Kristina Gergens
UBS
Chicago
Christopher Gwinn
BNP - Paribas
Chicago
Leonard Hartanto
Timpani Capital Management
Milwaukee
Nick Hiller
Broadview Advisors
Milwaukee
Jeffery Hoffmeyer
Lakeview Equity/
Corporate Finance Associates
Milwaukee/
Chicago
Patrick Keeley
Northwestern Mutual
Milwaukee
Thomas R. Kelly
Stark Investments
Milwaukee
Daniel Leibforth
UBS
Chicago
Theodore Linn
Naval ROTC
Quantico, VA
Caitlin McMahon
BNP - Paribas
Chicago
Jonathan Nolan
Francis Investment
Waukesha
Vincent Ong
Johnson  Controls
Milwaukee
Colleen Osborne
BNP - Paribas
New York
Jonathan Schwerin
Windermere Wealth
Brookfield, WI
Rupali Varma
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
New York
Bronson Wetsch
Mason Street
Milwaukee
Alice Wycklendt
Heartland Funds
Milwaukee

Dr. Krause continued, “The AIM program provides employers with bright, educated, and motivated investment research and asset management professionals. We are very grateful to the many financial firms who partner with us in providing internships. Our students benefit from summer internships and we know that many employers return year after year to seek out talented students. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement."

For more information about the program please visit the AIM web site or e-mail Dr. David Krause at: david.krause@marquette.edu.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

100% Placement Again Achieved for Students Graduating from Marquette's AIM Program

Dr. David Krause, Applied Investment Management program director said, “Since the AIM program was created in 2005, it has been our mission to provide Marquette University’s undergraduate students the opportunity to integrate the financial principles they learn in the classroom along with relevant internships and investment experiences so that they may become proficient and ethical investment professionals.”

Dr. Krause continued, “We knew if we stayed true to our mission that we'd be successful. I'm pleased to again report that we've been able to continue our outstanding placement record for our AIM students. We have again achieved 100% career placement for the students who graduated in December 2010 and May 2011 from the AIM program.”

“The following list of the recent AIM graduates displays the firms and cities where our AIM alumni will be working,” Dr. Krause added. “We are sincerely grateful to the companies that have provided internships and career opportunities for our students the past seven years. And we wish the best of luck to the AIM graduates in the Class of 2011 as they begin their careers.” 



AIM Class of 2011 Career Placements

Name
Firm
Location
Kyle Boser
Wells Capital Management
Milwaukee
Luke Darkow
Morgan Stanley
New York
Andrew  Freedman
Clearbrook Investments
Stamford, CT
Ben Hariri
PWC
Chicago
David Hermanny
Wells Capital Management
Milwaukee
Timothy Hildebrand
Northwestern Mutual Capital
Milwaukee
Kristin Holzhauer
Mason Street Advisors
Milwaukee
Caitlin Johnson
JP Morgan
Columbus, OH
Daniel Knight
UBS
Houston, TX
Shannon Lawton
Ernst & Young
New York
Ethan  Matter
Lazard
Minneapolis
Ross Michler
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
New York
Tom Molosky
JP Morgan
Milwaukee
Jose Manuel Munoz*
Geneva Capital Management *
Milwaukee
Michael Muratore
Stephens
Chicago
Mike O'Carroll
RBS
Stamford, CT
Timothy O'Donnell
Lazard
Minneapolis
April (Yao) Qi
PWC
New York
Mark Rutherford
Cascade Investments
Seattle, WA
Christina Starkey
JP Morgan
New York
Peter Stucki
Hewitt Associates
Chicago
James Werner
Forward Uniplan Advisors
Union Grove, WI
Herwin Yip
Morgan Stanley
New York
David Zakutansky
BNP - Paribas
New York
* Internship - will return to Marquette in Fall 2011


  
The career opportunities for students majoring in finance and participating in the AIM program include: security analysis, risk management, credit analysis, consulting, investment banking, mergers and acquisitions, sales and trading, corporate treasury operations, commercial banking, private equity, and financial wealth management. 

“We have over 120 AIM graduates that are working across the United States, and for that matter, around the world,” Dr. Krause stated. “Our AIM alumni have found success in all areas of finance and we look forward to that group achieving continued success."

For more information about the program please visit the AIM web site or e-mail Dr. David Krause at: david.krause@marquette.edu.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Ziegler Capital Management Acquires Lotsoff Capital Management: MU Alumnus, Scott Roberts to Head Combined Firm

Scott Roberts
Ziegler Capital Management (Chicago, IL) acquired Lotsoff Capital Management effective June 10, 2011. The combined firm will have over $4 billion in assets under management across the fixed income, active equity and alternatives spectrum. 

The CEO of the combined firm will be Scott A. Roberts, CEO of Ziegler Capital.  “This is an exciting opportunity to bring together the strong investment management skills and decades of industry experience that both firms have to offer. Our portfolio management teams will remain in place for our clients and will now be able to add significant infrastructure and resources to their areas of expertise.  We are very optimistic about the future of the new firm”. 


The combined firm is expected to be called Ziegler Lotsoff Capital Management and their headquarters will remain in Chicago. Scott is a 1985 Marquette University alumnus with accounting and finance degrees - he is a former student of Dr. David Krause, AIM program director.


Lotsoff Capital Management, LLC was founded in 1981 as an interest rate risk consulting firm providing customized investment solutions and grew to become an innovative investment manager with expertise in core fixed income, active equities and alternative investments.  Lotsoff has a broad institutional client base in the Taft-Hartley, Public Fund, Endowment and Foundation, Healthcare and Corporate arenas as well as an established high net worth client base.


Ziegler Capital Management, LLC has a proven history of providing investment solutions for institutions, mutual fund sub-advisory clients, municipalities, pension plans and individual investors.  Through its affiliation with The Ziegler Companies, Inc., the firm has established long-standing investment management relationships in the non-profit foundation, endowment, senior living and health care communities.  The firm recently established an affiliation with Rizvi Traverse Management LLC, a private equity firm headquartered in Birmingham, Michigan.

The details of the combination are contained at: http://tinyurl.com/3ebvoz9. The combined product offering will include:

Ziegler's assets under management:








Lotsoff's assets under management: