Student portfolio managers engage finance community at SIAS performance review

Panelists deliberate to generate feedback for the SFU Beedie SIAS Team

May 27, 2011 was a big day for SFU Beedie School of Business Masters of Financial Risk Management (MFRM) candidates, especially for active members of the Student Investment Advisory Service (SIAS) fund — as it was our Q1 performance review. As part of the review, we highlighted the fund’s current economic and market outlook in front of industry professionals, guests and alumni.  The day started at the Metropolitan Hotel in downtown Vancouver with our SIAS team in black suits, white shirts and red ties. SIAS had a great first quarter in 2011 as we beat the benchmark in all of our asset classes in the operating currency and everyone was excited and ready to share this achievement with the financial industry.

The event was attended by a large number of financial professionals from Metro Vancouver. Christine Jackshoj commenced the event by providing background information on the SIAS fund and introducing the presenters. On stage we had Sara Moghaddamjoo, Chief operating officer/Compliance Officer, Meadow Wu, Vice president of Marketing/Performance analyst, Fiona Wong, Fixed income analyst, XingXing Zhang, Risk metrics analyst, Derek Wong, Canadian Equity assistant portfolio manager, Alex Conconi, Chief Investment Officer, US Equity Analyst, and Amir Khakban, Economic Analyst.

Our presentation was a summary of the performance and attribution, fixed income and equity research and trades of the fund in the first quarter of 2011 followed by a question and answer period by the panel members. The presenters and portfolio managers tackled the questions in a comprehensive manner. Next, the panel members and SIAS client Mr. Murdock and his assistants moved to the boardroom to deliberate and generate feedback. Meanwhile, Simon Hutchison gave his presentation on the impressive achievements of the MFRM program in recent competitions. After the panel members returned from the boardroom, Dr. Theunissen shared their valuable comments and discussions about the presentation and SIAS performance in Q1.  One of the most exciting parts of the presentation was our special keynote speaker, Margaret Franklin, President and CEO of Kinsale Private Wealth and chair of CFA institute.

Finally, the reception started which offered MFRM students and SIAS candidates the chance to network with prominent finance professionals while enjoying wine and hors d’œuvres. During the reception, panel members, the client and the Dean of SFU Beedie School of Business, Professor Daniel Shapiro, were interviewed for a promotional SIAS video which will be launched within the next month.