Putting a massive amount of money on the line is a great way to make students serious about their studies. Overseeing a $1.4 million investment portfolio is as real as it gets. That’s what undergraduate finance majors do in Degas Wright’s Portfolio Management Practicum (FI 4210) class. They also serve as lead analysts for Georgia State’s Student-Managed Investment Fund (SMIF), a university-wide club that meets weekly to discuss what stocks within the portfolio to buy, sell, and trade. An ill-informed decision could be costly.
“Fund leaders are juniors and seniors who have completed a lot of finance courses, understand what it takes to manage an investment portfolio, and educate other members on that process. They put what they’ve learned into practice,” said Wright, the club’s new faculty advisor who serves as an executive in residence at Georgia State’s Robinson College of Business and is CEO and founding principal of Decatur Capital Management.
SMIF comprises around 30 members, with seven of them enrolled in Wright’s spring 2025 class. The club consists of teams including economic; cyclical, which covers industries more sensitive to recessions such as restaurants and airlines; defensive, which includes less volatile sectors such as healthcare and utilities; and technology and communication services. Individual members also follow the companies represented in the fund.
In April, a team of six Robinson students placed third in the undergraduate core category in Quinnipiac University's Global Portfolio Competition. Pictured left to right are Alex Amendola and Michael Caggiano, both Quinnipiac University students who served on the competition committee, and Robinson team members Adrien Nguyen, Isabel Prieto, Angel Padron Camacho, Julian Issac, and Breanna Jones.
“Managing the endowment allows us to debate future investment recommendations based on current market conditions,” said Adrian Nguyen, a junior who serves as SMIF’s lead technology analyst. “It is exciting because I get the opportunity to guide intellectual conversations that drive the portfolio.”
The Georgia State University Foundation established the portfolio in the early 1970s with approximately $20,000. Students have managed the fund for several decades and traveled to Quinnipiac University’s Global Asset Management Education Forum, where students compete in the Global Portfolio Competition and Poster Session. Until this past April, however, a team from Georgia State had not made the trip in several years. During his first semester as faculty advisor, Wright made sure to change that. Six SMIF members not only delivered a poster presentation but also faced off against approximately 1,200 students from more than 130 universities in the Global Portfolio Competition at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel. They placed third in the undergraduate core category, which measures overall performance throughout the past year.
from left to right: Degas Wright, Isabel Prieto, Adrien Nguyen, Arnaud Lenaerts, Breanna Jones, Angel Padron Camacho, and Julian Issac
“SMIF allows me to express creativity in what I think is a great investment or not. In the real world, there is no method carved into stone about what makes a good investment,” Nguyen said. “It requires deep conversations as well as the ability to coherently communicate ideas and take criticism.”
Wright is committed to preparing students for the workforce, and regularly invites industry professionals to speak to his class and the club. Recent guests include George Connaughton, an M.S. in Finance alumnus and co-founder of angel investment firm Triple S Capital; Michael Doss, president and CEO of Graphic Packaging International; and Kristen Pulley-White, director and senior portfolio manager at BlackRock.
“These experiences give students an advantage and expose them to what they’ll be doing after graduation,” Wright said. “They become more competitive.”
Interested in learning more about the Student-Managed Investment Fund?
Email faculty advisor Degas Wright.