Who we are.
Fordham University's Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF) is a student-run, multi-strategy global investment fund. The SMIF program consists of two consecutive one-semester academic courses (FNBU 4462-Fall and FNBU 4463-Spring).
Each class is a three-credit Finance elective, and the second semester also satisfies the Global Investments requirement for finance majors. Over two consecutive semesters, students actively manage a $2.0 million global balanced portfolio consisting of securities representing the major asset classes of equities, bonds, FX, and hard assets, including commodities and real estate. This real-world investing experience is a demanding yet rewarding experience for many students, most of whom graduate and go on to successful careers across the financial services industry.
How it works.
SMIF members are required to enroll in a two-semester class. A new cohort of analysts is enrolled each semester. Analysts cover one of eleven equity sectors, fixed-income, foreign exchange, emerging markets, or real estate. In their second semester, analysts graduate to portfolio managers (PMs) of their respective sectors and are admitted into the Investment Committee (IC), which is responsible for all SMIF investment decisions. Members are eligible to take on additional responsibilities as PMs that range from chief economist to alternative/quantitative strategist.
During their time in the fund, each student will have the opportunity to pitch two securities within their sector and may have limited opportunities to pitch investment ideas outside of their sector. Members are provided with an array of opportunities and resources to further their personal and professional development. Students go through a rigorous orientation process that covers technical and fundamental analysis.
Rick Carew - Instructor for SMIF
Rick Carew is an adjunct professor of Finance & Economics at Fordham University's Gabelli School of Business. He teaches "Introduction to Value Investing" and oversees the "Student Managed Investment Fund" course. He has experience teaching on investing, global technology business models, and global marketing. Outside of the classroom, he advises investors and executives on Asia's financial markets and U.S-China economic relations. Based in Hong Kong and China for a dozen years, he has served as a Reporter and Senior Editor for The Wall Street Journal and advised companies including e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and private equity firm KKR & Co.
Mr. Carew holds an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School, where he was part of the Value Investing Program and won the Pershing Square Value Investing & Philanthropy Challenge. He earned a B.A. with High Honors in Economics and Chinese Language & Literature from the University of Virginia.
James Russell Kelly - Advisor
James Russell Kelly, the director of the Gabelli Center for Global Security Analysis, is a senior lecturer in finance at the Gabelli School of Business, and the instructor who started the Student Managed Investment Fund. In this program, Gabelli School of Business undergraduates invest $2.0 million of Fordham’s endowment in a global balanced fund consisting of all the major asset classes.
Professor Kelly has more than 30 years of experience in the international capital markets, including senior-level positions in international securities sales and trading at Merrill Lynch, where he was vice president of institutional sales; Deutsche Bank Securities, as senior vice president and manager of the international fixed-income sales and trading department; and Auerbach Grayson & Co., as executive vice president of equity emerging markets. While at Deutsche Bank, he also served as marketing director of Deutsche Bank Research, the bank’s macroeconomic research institute. He has been teaching finance at Fordham continuously since 2002.
Professor Kelly holds a BA in economics from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from Columbia Business School.