Sean Gissal, Marquette's Chief Investment Officer, Visited the AIM Program to Review the AIM Funds' Q1 2011 Investment Performance

On Monday, April 18^th, the Chief Investment Officer at Marquette University, Sean Gissal (CFA), visited the AIM students in the Class of 2011 to review their Q1 2011 investment performance results. Also in attendance at the presentations was Megan Zhou, Endowment Investment Analyst at Marquette University.

Sean Gissal has worked in Marquette’s endowment office since 2005. Prior to joining MU he was an Investment Analyst at the City of Milwaukee’s Employee Retirement System and an Investment Associate at State Street Global Advisors. Sean received his accounting degree from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

The students presented the performance of the three AIM portfolios – the Small Cap Equity Fund (benchmark: Russell 2000 Index), the Fixed Income Fund (benchmark: Barclays US Aggregate Bond Index), and the International Equity Fund (benchmark: S&P ADR Index). Following the students' presentations, Sean Gissal and Megan Zhou asked the students various questions about their investment philosophy, strategies, and process. Everyone agreed that it was an excellent visit and that they looked forward to the next meeting at the end of the semester.

Dr. Krause, AIM program director, said, “It was a productive class meeting today. The students have worked hard the past year at managing the AIM Funds and I know that they enjoyed answering Sean’s and Megan's questions. Given that all three funds generated positive alpha for their one year holding period, they were anxious to talk about their experiences. The Q1 results were strong and they were able to answer all questions about specific holdings in the portfolios.”

Dr. Krause added, "We are the only student-managed fund to post our investment performance monthly with Morningstar Direct for everyone to see. Morningstar Direct is a global investment database that monitors the performance of tens of thousands of investment managers throughout the world. The Morningstar Direct program provides the user with advanced tools for highly customized investment performance analysis. Many of the tables and charts presented to Sean and Megan today were obtained directly from Morningstar Direct."