Shippensburg IMP - Investment Management Program

Overview of Investment Management Program

This highly selective, pro-active class selects senior finance majors within the John L. Grove College of Business to be the sole portfolio managers, with oversight by the finance professors, of a real dollar endowment fund. The first few classes of the fall semester begin with discussion of investment goals, investment strategies, and investment criteria that will be used as guidelines to selecting securities. After publishing the final decisions, the class moves onto looking at re-evaluating their current holdings from prior classes. This process entails selling and buying securities utilizing the guidelines set up from the beginning of the semester. While continuously monitoring the portfolio, the spring semester focuses heavily on the RISE symposium and the annual dinner and report.

The IMP experience prepares students in the areas of teamwork, presentation skills, and analytical skills. Students in the class make all the decisions as a team involving the management of the investment portfolio. Also through analyzing holdings in the portfolio, based on objectives set by the class, the analyst is able to provide recommendations regarding each security in the portfolio. From these recommendations there is a discussion within the class based on the presentation and current news. The class then submits a motion on whether to buy, sell, or hold the security.

The IMP class manages two funds. The goal of the “Wisman Fund” is to build a financial base in order to award scholarships to future business students at the John L. Grove College of Business.

The goal of the Global Business Exploration Program (GBEP) fund is to build a financial base in order to award scholarships to students within the John L. Grove College of Business that have selected to study abroad.

Investment Objective

To achieve a risk adjusted return higher than the benchmark, the S&P 500.

Educational Objective

For students to apply what they have learned in previous classes to the IMP program.

Students gain practical experience investing in securities.
Build team-working skills.
Students apply coursework to further develop their own knowledge and gain a further understanding of skills.
The abilities honed in this program are transferable to business settings.

4/24-4/26/2012

The tentative Fall 2012 IMP class made a visit to the current IMP class and recieved their specific sectors that they will be in charge of next semester and the specific stocks that they will need to watch.

4/14/12

The IMP Annual Dinner took place at the Carlisle Country Club. A presentation of our 2011 returns was given to the FAC members in attendance. Also discussed were the future plans for our portfolio along with our outlook for next years class.

3/28-3/31/2012

The IMP students attended R.I.S.E XII at the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio.

3/1/2012

A FAC Meeting was held where we discussed what changes we had made to the portfolio since the last FAC Meeting and our future plans for the portfolio.

11/17/2011

The tentative Spring 2012 IMP class made a visit to the current IMP class and recieved their specific sectors that they will be in charge of next semester and the specific stocks that they will need to watch.

10/4/2011

Dr. Finucane and Dr. Freddy Siahaan both from the economics department at Shippensburg University came and gave a presentation on "U.S. Economy & Investment Portfolios".

9/27/2011

The Finance Advisory Council (FAC) met today and also came to the IMP class for evaluation of our Investment philosophy and strategy.

9/15/2011

A very special guest, Dean Kooti - Dean of the John L. Grove College of Business, visited the IMP class and gave some words of encouragement to the students.

9/1/2011

The Fall 2011 IMP class meet for the first time this semester. The class of 15 students were assigned their specific roles, they elected the new IMP president - Troy Oberholtzer, and discussed different investment philosophies.

6/1/2011 - 9/1/2011

A very generous donation was given to the IMP class by Robert Jones

1/24/2011

During 2010, IMP outperformed the S&P 500 by 4.13% return! The total return on the portfolio was 18.75% consisting of 28 different stocks. During the next couple weeks we will be working on consolidating our portfolio, the IMP podcast, and preparing for the R.I.S.E. XI conference.

3/31/2011

The IMP portfolio placed 3rd in the large growth category during the R.I.S.E XI conference. Approximately 50 schools attended the event and recieved the opportunity to listen to professionals discuss the current econmic and market situation. The keynote speakers were Mark S. Sniderman, Executive Vice President & Chief Policy Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Bill Walton, and Kathleen Hays.