A BEAM of light for finance job seekers

Beedie student investment initiatives launch careers.

In an increasingly competitive job market, an undergraduate initiative at the Beedie School of Business is providing students with the knowledge, real-world experience and skillset required to obtain a foothold in the finance sector – and only two years into its existence is already successfully launching careers.

The Beedie Endowment Asset Management Fund (BEAM) was founded in 2011, thanks to the support of the Beedie family’s generous gift that established the Beedie School of Business. Using five million dollars of the gift, the school established the largest undergraduate student-run investment funds in Canada, allowing the students to manage investments in Canadian equities, fixed income, and cash.

BEAM emulates the model used in the Beedie School of Business’ Student Investment Advisory Service (SIAS) that has been so successful over the last decade. Funded by contributions from HSBC Bank Canada and Lohn Foundation, SIAS is the largest student-run investment fund, and sees students in the Beedie MSc in Finance program manage over $12 million of the university’s endowment portfolio.

Both BEAM and SIAS give the students the opportunity to hands-on experience in investment research, analysis, and trading in bonds and equities markets. The members are responsible for administering the group, preparing economic research and analysis, and making investment decisions, with only minimal guidance and feedback from their faculty supervisors.

Beedie School of Business Professor Peter Klein was instrumental in setting up both programs. Over the last decade he has held roles as faculty supervisor of the SIAS fund, and Academic Chair of both the MBA in Global Asset and Wealth Management and the Master of Financial Risk Management programs, which were merged in 2012 to create the current MSc in Finance program.

Klein’s previous roles, as well as his current position as faculty supervisor for BEAM, allow him to see first-hand how beneficial these hands-on programs are for the students.

“As faculty supervisor, I don’t make the investment decisions – the students are entirely responsible,” he says.“When I provide the students with letters of reference I want them to be able to say this is their endeavor and that they largely trained themselves. It is an opportunity for them to be able to show tremendous leadership.”

In addition to the funds’ portfolio managers delivering weekly updates to their faculty supervisors, both funds are subject to quarterly performance reviews, where they defend the fund’s performance in front of a panel of faculty and industry experts. According to Klein, the students are grilled about their presentations in the manner of a real-world board of trustees. “It’s part of the whole educational experience,” he says.

One student who has undoubtedly benefited from the BEAM program is Connor Buss, whose role as Portfolio Manager this year saw him responsible for the overall direction of the fund’s portfolio. His experience in BEAM helped him land a summer internship in 2013 with CIBC as an investment banking analyst, and after graduation this year he has taken up a full-time position with the company’s Global Mining Group in Toronto.

“BEAM was a tremendous help in securing my position – it was very attractive on my résumé,” says Buss. “BEAM was really useful during interviews, allowing me to demonstrate my knowledge of finance, and the various networking opportunities it provided allowed me to differentiate myself from the other candidates.”

Since 2012, BEAM has offered students an annual trip to Toronto to view the city’s finance sector first-hand and network with some of the city’s top financial experts. The networking opportunities have led to real positions for many of the students already, with third year student Tiffany Sun one of the students who has taken advantage of the opportunity. Sun’s networking resulted in Scotiabank’s Director of Institutional FX Sales at Global Banking and Markets Mari Jensen mentoring her –with Jensen’s advice ultimately leading to her obtaining a summer internship with the company.

Buss’ successor as Portfolio Manager will be Emily Davies, who for the past year has worked in BEAM’s diversified team. Davies is another who has directly benefited from the experiential learning the fund offers and from the networking opportunities the Toronto trip provides – she is currently in a summer internship position with RBC Capital Markets working in equity research.

“Through the Toronto trip I was able to visit a lot of financial institutions, and met someone in human resources at RBC who encouraged me to apply for the internship,” says Davies. “She gave me tips for the interview, and I was successful in landing the position which could lead to a permanent role after graduation. I definitely have BEAM to thank for this role.”

As BEAM is still in its relative infancy, the current cohort has been conscious of creating a legacy to make the transition for future cohorts easier. Klein is in no doubt about the benefits of this approach.

“This is clearly the type of intellectual heritage we want to be building in these endeavours,” he says. “It is very useful for students to be able to say in job interviews that they developed tools that have actually been used in the management of the fund.”