Beedie School of Business News

The Beedie School of Business RISE team. From left to right: Raymond Chan, Ehsan Seyedin, Gary Gu and Allen Liu.

For the second consecutive year, MSc in Finance students from Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business have won a major award at the prestigious RISE (Redefining Investment Strategy Education) investment competition hosted at the University of Dayton in Ohio – the world’s largest competition of its kind.

The Beedie students won first place in the Balanced Investment Style category for their work on the Student Investment Advisory Service (SIAS) fund, the student-run investment fund which sees Beedie students managing $11.8 million of the university’s endowment portfolio.

Ehsan Seyedin, Raymond Chan, Gary Gu, and Allen Liu attended RISE to represent the SIAS fund and present the entire team’s work on the risk-adjusted return of the portfolio from December 2012 to January 2013.

The SIAS fund was judged to have the best risk adjusted return in its category, underscoring the quality of mentorship and teaching from which the current cohort has benefited, along with the hard work they have put into the fund. Keep reading…

Tags: Beedie School of Business, Bloomberg Radio, CNBC, compliance, endowment portfolio, experiential learning, investment, Kathleen Hays, MSc in Finance, Redefining Investment Strategy Education, RISE, risk management, SIAS, Simon Fraser University, Steve Liesman, Student Investment Advisory Service, University of Dayton

Contact:
Andrey Pavlov, 778.782.5835; 778.782.7922; apavlov@sfu.ca
Derek Moscato, 778.782.5038; drmoscat@sfu.ca

The graduate finance degree at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business has a new designation – Master of Science in Finance.

The change reflects the evolution of SFU’s popular graduate finance program, which attracts students from around the world.

Two years ago, faculty members and industry professionals redesigned what was then the Master of Financial Risk Management program – expanding the offering of core quantitative courses.

In addition, the new MSc designation better reflects the two fields of specialization: risk management and investment management.

“The Master of Science in Finance designation properly reflects our vision and emphasis,” said Andrey Pavlov, associate professor of finance and academic chair of the Master of Science in finance program.

“The 2008 financial crisis revealed the inadequacy of conventional wisdom pertaining to risk – and investment management.

“It’s clear that more sophisticated tools grounded in reality, rather than analytical convenience, are required.”

Pavlov notes that the MSc designation will help graduates competing in the global arena for careers in finance, particularly in Asia, where an MSc degree tends be better recognized.

The growing focus on quantitative skills will also allow more students within the program to participate in SFU’s Student Investment Advisory Service. The $10 million portfolio is the largest student-managed investment fund in Canada.

In addition to the Master of Science in Finance program, the Beedie School is home to five other graduate business programs, offered at the downtown Segal Graduate School campus: MBA, EMBA, a Management of Technology MBA, PhD, and a Graduate Diploma in Business.

Tags: Andrey Pavlov, investment management, Master of Science in Finance, MSc Finance, risk management, Segal Graduate School, SIAS, Student Investment Advisory Service

The Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University is pleased to announce that its graduate finance degree has a new designation: MSc Finance.

The change reflects the evolution of Simon Fraser University’s popular graduate finance program, which attracts students from around the world.  Two years ago, faculty members and industry professionals redesigned what was then the Master of Financial Risk Management program – expanding the offering of core quantitative courses. In addition, the new MSc designation better reflects the two fields of specialization, risk management and investment management.

“The Master of Science in Finance designation properly reflects our vision and emphasis,” said Andrey Pavlov, Associate Professor of Finance and Academic Chair of the Master of Science in Finance program. “The 2008 financial crisis revealed the inadequacy of conventional wisdom pertaining to risk – and investment management.  It is clear that more sophisticated tools grounded in reality, rather than analytical convenience, are required. Mastering these tools requires strong quantitative skills and specific industry knowledge – two of the primary strengths of our program.”

Pavlov notes that the MSc designation will help graduates competing in the global arena for careers in finance, particularly in Asia, where an M.Sc. degree tends be better recognized. “In this sense, the change not only reflects the enhancements to the program, but also helps our graduates in the international job market,” he said.

The aforementioned growing focus on quantitative skills will also allow more students within the program to participate in SFU’s Student Investment Advisory Service. The $10 million portfolio is the largest student-managed investment fund in Canada.

In addition to the Master of Science in Finance program, the Beedie School is home to five other graduate business programs, offered at the downtown Segal Graduate School campus: MBA, EMBA, a Management of Technology MBA, PhD, and a Graduate Diploma in Business.

Tags: Andrey Pavlov, investment management, Master of Science in Finance, MSc Finance, risk management, Segal Graduate School, SIAS, Student Investment Advisory Service

Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business has launched the Beedie Endowment Asset Management (BEAM) fund. With a value of $5 million, it’s the largest undergraduate-student managed investment fund in Canada.

The BEAM fund is second in size overall after SFU’s $10.8 million Student Investment Advisory Service, which is managed by SFU graduate business students.

Students participating in BEAM will be allowed to manage $5 million of the Beedie School’s endowment fund, created in 2011 with philanthropists Ryan and Keith Beedie’s $22 million gift to the business school.

Ten-15 third-year undergraduate finance students in SFU’s Bachelor of Business Administration program will be admitted annually to the investment initiative for a two-year term. They’ll tackle investment research, analysis and the buying and selling of Canadian bonds and equities, and gain significant real-world investment management experience.

“The opportunity to manage the Beedie Endowment Asset Management fund rigorously tests and expands the students’ qualitative, quantitative and analytical skills, and truly launches their careers in the finance industry while they are still in school,” said Peter Klein, finance professor at the Beedie School and advisor to the BEAM undergraduate fund.

“One of the elements that distinguishes this initiative is that we have a clearly-defined client and mandate,” he said.

The fund follows a value-investing mandate set by the client – SFU – through a conservative investment policy statement. The fund is composed of three actively managed asset classes: cash, Canadian equity and fixed income.

The fund’s performance will be monitored closely against relevant benchmark indices, and the results will be presented quarterly to a performance review committee consisting of industry experts keen to lend their expertise to challenge and advise students.

Students will also complement their investment management work in the fund with coursework in portfolio management and strategic asset allocation.

The Beedie School of Business brings a long track record of success to student-managed investment funds. Its Student Investment Advisory Service (SIAS), which is managed by graduate business students from Beedie’s Master of Financial Risk program, is the largest graduate student-managed fund in the country, and helps attract graduate finance students to SFU from across the globe.

Impressively, the SIAS fund has weathered global economic volatility, and has enjoyed strong health in the past year. It currently has a valuation of nearly $11 million.

SIAS is funded by contributions from HSBC Bank Canada and Lohn Foundation. Like BEAM, the fund follows a value investing mandate set by SFU. SIAS is composed of four actively managed asset classes: Cash, Canadian Equity, Global Equity and Fixed Income. SIAS reports monthly compliance and performance to the client and faculty advisors, and performance review presentations are held on quarterly basis.

Tags: BEAM, Beedie, Beedie Endowment Asset Management, investment fund, School of Business, sfu, SIAS, Student Investment Advisory Service, undergraduate

Sara Moghaddamjoo hopes her biomedical engineering master’s degree research at Simon Fraser University will help to better predict heart attacks before they happen.

And to ensure the commercial success of a non-invasive wearable device that she has developed she concurrently pursued a master’s degree in financial risk management (MFRM) at SFU’s Beedie School of Business.

Moghaddamjoo, a North Shore resident, is the first student at SFU to earn two master’s degrees simultaneously. She completed both in just one year while also working as a financial risk-management intern  – and serving on the senate and student appeals board.

She also served as chief operations officer for the Beedie School’s student investment advisory service, Canada’s largest student-run investment fund, managing a $10.8-million SFU endowment.

But despite her unexpected financial prowess – she never took a finance course before her MFRM – Moghaddamjoo’s first love is biomedical research. Her undergraduate engineering honours thesis was so comprehensive she was able complete her MASc thesis in a year instead of the normal two years.

Her research is focused on a wearable device that uses lasers and lights to non-invasively monitor levels of a protein that increases in the blood about 30 minutes before a heart attack. That prompts the device to send a wireless signal to the wearer’s cellphone to alert emergency medical personnel.

The Iranian native says her business degree has given her the knowledge, contacts and network she needs to fund a possible spin-off company based on her research.

Moghaddamjoo received her MASc in June and will collect her MFRM on Oct. 7. She’s now completing a PhD in biomedical engineering at UBC and is negotiating for a job on Wall Street.

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Tags: biomedicine, financial risk, investment, Master of Financial Risk Management, Sara Moghaddamjoo, Student Investment Advisory Service