Media Release

For Immediate Release

March 16, 2009

Sobey students represent Atlantic Canada in global investment challenge

Students from the Sobey School of Business team visited the auction site of Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers, the subject company of their business research analysis. Pictured, from left to right: Nikolay Shimukovich, Joel Muise, Victor Gendy and Michael Jack.

Business students from Saint Mary’s University are ready to take on the best and brightest investment minds in Canada, the United States and Latin America.

Students from the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary’s will test their investment skills this Thursday (March 19) at the “Americas” regional final for the Global Investment Research Challenge.

The annual global challenge, sponsored by the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute, gathers students, investment industry professionals, publicly traded companies and corporate sponsors for a real-world competition. Students research, analyze,and report on a company as if they are practicing analysts. The competition gives business and finance students the chance to interact with investment professionals and top firms while getting real-world experience and mentoring.

The students from the Sobey School of Business team include Bachelor of Commerce students Joel Muise and Michael Jack and Masters of Business Administration students Nikolay Shimukovich and Victor Gendy.

They won the right to compete in New York by winning the Atlantic Canada Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Society Investment Research Challenge held last November at Saint Mary’s. The Atlantic competition included teams from the Sobey School of Business, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Dalhousie University, University of New Brunswick and St. Francis Xavier University.

The Saint Mary’s team will now represent Atlantic Canada against teams from Yale University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Fundacao Getulio Vargas − Sao Paulo, George Fox University, Indiana University Southeast, Henderson State University, McGill University, Boston University, Appalachian State University, St. Joseph's University, Texas A&M University, Bowling Green State University, University of Richmond, University of Alberta, and Marquette University.

Each competing team in New York won the local investment challenge sponsored by the CFA society in their area, prevailing over some of the top business schools in the world.

The winner of the Americas regional challenge will compete against the regional winners from Asia and Europe in the global final in London, England on April 2. Last year’s Atlantic Canada winner (UNB) finished second in the world.

More information about the Global Investment Research Challenge is available online at: http://www.cfainstitute.org/society/challenge/index.html

The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute is a global organization dedicated to the highest standards of analytics, knowledge and ethics in the investments professions. The CFA charter is considered the gold standard globally for investment designations.

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For More Information:

Blake Patterson
Public Affairs Officer
Saint Mary's University, Public Affairs
(902) 420.5514
E-mail: blake.patterson@smu.ca
www.smu.ca