Toronto – A student portfolio management initiative at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management has received seed funding from Mackenzie Investments. The Rotman Student Investment Fund (RSIF) is an independent student initiative set up as a non-share capital corporation, which also has charitable foundation status. It focuses on delivering real-world experiences in portfolio investment analysis to students in Rotman Masters programs including the MBA, Master of Finance and Master of Financial Risk Management before they graduate.
First initiated by a Rotman student club in 2012, students and volunteers from industry have worked to build its current structure as an independent fund with strong governance supported by both industry and the Rotman School.
“The RSIF is a great example of our community coming together to create a real-world learning experience for students across programs,” says Dean Susan Christoffersen. “This partnership helps our graduates become agile financial sector leaders, providing them with a solid understanding of good governance, risk management, ethical decision-making, and purposeful leadership.”
“Mackenzie wants to create a more invested world and is proud to support Rotman in the development of tomorrow’s investment management leaders,” said Lesley Marks, CIO of Equities, Mackenzie Investments. “The hands-on experience that students will get will be invaluable in setting them up for success as they pursue careers in asset management. The initiative will complement an already world-class financial education by allowing participants to hone their skills while contributing to important causes through the Fund’s charitable disbursements.”
“The mission statement of RSIF is to train the investors of tomorrow. RSIF complements the world class professors at Rotman by providing a practical outlet for the first principles of investing. This includes fundamental industry and business analysis, valuation and ESG integration. We expect the Mackenzie Investments donation to further incentivize students while providing the opportunity to give back to the community,” says founding board member and Rotman graduate Sean Swift, MBA’21, Investment Analyst with Invesco.
The founding board members include:
- Lesley Marks, CFA, Chief Investment Officer of Equities at Mackenzie Investments;
- Eric Kirzner, Professor Emeritus of Finance, Rotman School;
- Mikhail (Mike) Simutin, Associate Professor of Finance, Rotman School, and Associate Director, International Centre for Pension Management;
- Maureen Stapleton, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream in Finance, Rotman School;
- Yi Shi, MBA’20, Generalist, RBC Wealth Management;
- Alex Novikov, MBA’20, CFA, Associate at Timbercreek Capital; and
- Sean Swift, MBA’21, Investment Analyst at Invesco.
Each year RSIF will select an analyst team consisting of 21 MBA & Master student members who will cover seven sectors: cash yield, consumer discretionary, consumer staples, communications, healthcare, industrials, and information technology. Student analysts will also receive training in fundamental company analysis plus additional resources to learn modeling, valuation, and report-writing skills. Lastly, RSIF will provide student analysts with exclusive opportunities to learn from and network with industry professionals. The fund aims to provide long-term, sustainable capital growth without taking undue risk. As part of the fund structure, RSIF’s annual distribution of 3.5% of the total assets will be shared with designated charitable organizations.
The Rotman School of Management is part of the University of Toronto, a global centre of research and teaching excellence at the heart of Canada’s commercial capital. Rotman is a catalyst for transformative learning, insights and public engagement, bringing together diverse views and initiatives around a defining purpose: to create value for business and society. For more information, visit www.rotman.utoronto.ca
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For more information:
Ken McGuffin
Manager, Media Relations
Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
Voice: 416.946.3818
E-mail: mcguffin@rotman.utoronto.ca