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Pictured above is this year’s Golden Griffin Fund Team (l-r): Justin Begley ’20, Luca Zambito ’20, Cameron Rosenecker ’19, MBA ’20 (captain), Andrew Sagun ’20 and Nick Stinson ’20, This picture was taken following the team’s 1st place win at the CFA Challenge of 20,WNY.

The Golden Griffin Fund (GGF) team learned on Friday, April 17 that it advanced to the Americas Finals of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Research Challenge. This puts the Canisius team one bracket step away from the Global Final Five and positions them for a rematch with another global champ: the University of Waterloo. The Americas Regional Finals will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, April 21.

In February, the five-person GGF team secured first place in the CFA Challenge of Western New York at Syracuse University.

“What a tribute to this team after the live February 28 finals at Syracuse, to then regroup and take their work to such a higher level in the face of the contagion and having to get to the next level based on their initial written report and an outstanding and carefully choreographed Zoom video PowerPoint presentation,” said Richard A. Wall, faculty adviser to the Golden Griffin Fund, in announcing news of the team’s advancement.

This year’s team, comprised of Justin Begley ’20, Luca Zambito ’20, Cameron Rosenecker ’19, MBA ’20 (team captain), Andrew Sagun ’20 and Nick Stinson ’20, is now the 10th consecutive team to win in the WNY region. The win also makes Canisius one of only two universities in the world to reach its Regional Finals for their continents five out of the last six years.

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition that provides university-sponsored teams with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis.  The competition tests the analytic, valuation, reporting, writing and presentation skills of students studying business, finance and economics.  Teams are challenged to research a publicly traded company and write a written report with a buy, sell or hold recommendation.  Teams must then present and defend their analysis to a panel of industry professionals who serve as judges in the competition. 

The subject company for this year’s CFA Research Challenge was Graham Corp.  Headquartered in Batavia, NY, Graham Corp. is a global leader in the design and manufacture of engineered-to-order vacuum and heat transfer equipment for process industries and energy markets.

Submitted by: College Communications