A team of Millsaps College students placed first in the 2022 Mid-South CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Research Challenge held Saturday, February 19 in Memphis, Tenn. The four students were one of seven teams from five different institutions, beating out competitors from the University of Memphis, Harding University, Ouachita Baptist University and Rhodes College.
Millsaps College was the only participating institution from Mississippi.
Held annually, the CFA Institute Research Challenge is a global competition that offers students training in financial analysis and professional ethics. Students work in teams to research and analyze a publicly traded company and then write a research report on their assigned company with a buy, sell or hold recommendation.
“I am pleased that our team secured this win,” said Dr. Ken Qiu, DBA, CPA, CFA and assistant professor of finance in the Else School of Management at Millsaps. “Our success this year came mainly from the hard work of our students, so they really deserve the credit. More importantly, they enjoyed the competition and learned a lot about investment analysis throughout their preparation for the competition.”
The Millsaps team included Paul Thomas, Carson Dole, John Netzinger and Essence Davis. Thomas, Dole and Netzinger are all seniors pursuing bachelor’s degrees in business administration with a concentration in financial service. Davis is a graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in business administration at the Else School of Management.
The team was led by Qiu, faculty advisor Julius Ridgway, Jr., CFA, and industry mentor Davis Bourne, CFA. Ridgway is the principal and senior advisor at Medley Brown Investment Advisors, LLC, an alumnus of and an adjunct professor at Millsaps College. Bourne is an investment portfolio associate at Finkelberg Investments of Raymond James and an alumnus of Millsaps College.
With their win in the Mid-South CFA Research Challenge, the Millsaps team now advances to the sub-regional competition in March.