George Washington University - Student Investment Fund

In recent weeks, we've had the fortune of participating in a series of events put on by the George Washington University School of Business.  They focused on the management of the school's Ramsey Student Investment Fund and the students that oversee this endeavor.

The Ramsey Fund is a $2.4 million portfolio within the University's larger endowment fund. Business school students enrolled in the University's Applied Portfolio Management course are charged with the day-to-day management of the fund and tasked with identifying the securities in which to invest.  The course is steeped in the Buffett-Munger-Graham investment philosophy and approach and its "textbooks" include The Intelligent Investor, The Essays of Warren Buffett and Security Analysis.  The course is entirely intended for students seeking careers in investing, portfolio management, financial analysis, etc.

We met the Applied Portfolio Management course lecturer, Rodney Lake, at a conference this summer and he was eager to pair the Ramsey Fund students up with industry folks in the D.C. area.  He realized that while our strategy and investing style is very different from the deep-value orientation of the Ramsey Fund, we did share the core beliefs of strict discipline, repeatable processes and risk management.

Ryan and I agreed that collaborating with the GW group would be a rewarding experience for all parties involved.  It wasn't all that long ago (ok, it's pretty far in the rearview at this point) that we were clueless college kids with zero hands-on money management experience.  And that is such a silly notion when looked back upon.  Why wouldn't all students training to become money-managers be given some real-life experience over the course of their education?  In our opinion, the burden of having "skin in the game" whether that be real dollars or a course grade could significantly alter their learning experience.

The headline event was the 8th Annual Ramsey Student Investment Fund Conference during GW's alumni weekend.  In addition to providing the GW community with investing insights, highlights of student achievements and student-led stock pitches, the event featured a keynote address by Julie Monaco, Managing Director, Global Head Public Sector, Corporate and Investment Banking Division at Citi.  Ms. Monaco spoke on the investment trends her group is seeing specifically within the construct of the world's largest pensions, central banks and sovereign wealth funds.

It has most definitely been an enriching endeavor thus far and we hope to continue assisting the GW School of Business in any way we can.

Cheers!