Student Investment Fund

The UCLA Anderson Student Investment Fund was created in 1987 as a result of the generosity and initiative of Mr. Bernard Johnson, former President of Provident Investment Counsel. The Fund was designed to provide an arena in which UCLA Anderson students could apply academic investment theory in a practical forum. The SIF thus represents a bridge between the theory of academia and the practical workings of the capital markets, while giving students interested in investment management the opportunity to gain invaluable experience. In addition, the investment earnings generated by the portfolio fund numerous academic scholarships throughout the school.

Each January a group of ten UCLA Anderson MBA students is selected to manage a diversified portfolio of approximately $2 million, consisting of donated capital. The SIF fellowship is structured to expose students to situations that they would experience at a typical investment management firm. During their eighteen-month tenure, they engage in a demanding curriculum that includes designing an investment strategy, developing economic and industry outlooks, selecting an asset allocation, conducting in-depth security analysis and addressing organizational and group dynamics issues.For the first six months (May through October), the Fellows manage the Fund as a group. The equity portion is then divided equally among the Fellows and managed individually for the remaining months. Starting with the 1999-2000 academic year, the equity portion has been divided equally between growth and value management strategies, with half of the Fellows focusing on each strategy. The fixed income portion of the Fund is managed as a group for the entire period.The Fellows meet formally with Professor Bill Cockrum ( bio) on a weekly basis to discuss the capital markets, the state of the economy and the performance of the Fund. In addition, the students also visit a minimum of thirty investment managers, where they learn about different investment philosophies, styles and strategies. The firm visits represent one of the unique aspects of the UCLA Student Investment Fund experience, allowing the Fellows to gain exposure to a wide variety of investment styles, forge relationships with local investment professionals, and allow participating investment management firms to maintain ties with UCLA Anderson School of Management, its students and its faculty.

Applying to SIF

The main objective of the SIF is to provide UCLA Anderson students with a hands-on, experiential learning process where SIF fellows can learn about investment management by actively managing a diversified portfolio. The SIF is a class and is not a recruiting organization.

Who can apply:

First-year, full-time MBA students, FEMBAs, and EMBAs

Process:

Highly competitive, four-round process that consists of stock pitches, essays, and interviews with faculty and current SIF Fellows

Requirements:

(No Exceptions)

Availability Monday morning from 10:30am to 11:30am for a mandatory weekly class meeting (in-person)

Availability Fridays for investment management firm visits (minimum of 30 visits required for each SIF Fellow)

Must be present for all four quarters in the academic year and therefore cannot study abroad

Faculty Advisor

Professor Bill Cockrum - Professor Cockrum has won numerous teaching awards, including recognition as the top entrepreneurial professor in the nation in a survey conducted by Business Week in 1996. He has become a legend for a case-study entrepreneurial finance class he has taught for more than 20 years, teaching students the ins and outs of acquiring and sustaining the financing of a new venture. Prior to joining the UCLA faculty, Cockrum spent 25 years in investment banking, most recently serving in a corporate officer capacity at Becker Paribas, Inc. a 3,000-employee investment banking firm. When the company was sold to Merrill Lynch in 1984, Cockrum began his second career as a professor at UCLA Anderson teaching students the business and finance skills needed to succeed as entrepreneurs. Mr. Cockrum currently teaches entrepreneurial finance, business ethics, and investment management. He also serves as a consultant to chief executive officers in a variety of industries on issues such as organization structure, strategy, marketing, finance, and administration.

SIF Fellows, Class of 2019

Richard Chiang

Richard Chiang is pursuing his MBA with a specialization in finance – investment management at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Prior to Anderson, Chiang worked at PIMCO in the institutional client management group, where he focused on client service and business development with insurance clients. Last summer, he worked at Capital Group in investment product management. At Anderson, he is involved as a lead investment management student career coach for first-year students and is a recipient of the 2018 Kayne Investment Management Fellowship. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2011 with a B.A. in international relations and a minor in East Asian studies and Chinese.

Brian Crider

Brian Crider is pursuing his MBA with a dual specialization in finance – investment management and real estate at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Crider has spent the last three years as a director at Frazier Capital Valuation, where he specializes in valuing privately held businesses, commercial real estate and intellectual property. Previously, he held various internal roles at the firm, specializing in both commercial real estate and business valuation. Prior to Frazier Capital, he worked at a startup in the alternative energy space. He graduated with a B.A. in economics from Occidental College in 2008.

Addison DeVone

Addison DeVone is pursuing his MBA with a specialization in finance at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. This summer, DeVone will be working at Lazard in the investment banking group. Prior to arriving at Anderson, he worked at Aristotle Capital Management. He started his career at Morgan Stanley, where he was responsible for both equity and fixed-income research. He graduated from Chapman University in 2013 with a B.S. in business administration.

Michael Duffy

Michael Duffy is pursuing his MBA with a focus in finance – investment management at UCLA Anderson School of Management. Prior to arriving to Anderson, Duffy worked as a quantitative derivatives trader for TransMarket Group (TMG), a proprietary capital trading firm headquartered in Chicago. During his time at TMG, he traded interest rate options and co-managed a commodities futures portfolio, generating statistical arbitrage strategies through volatility and relative value analysis. This past summer, he worked as a credit analyst intern at TCW Group with the emerging markets corporate credit team. He is currently working as a part-time associate at Watertower Ventures, concentrating on venture capital funding and research. He graduated from Villanova University, where he was a member of the lacrosse team for all four years, in 2015 with a B.S. in mathematics and economics. He is also a CFA Level II candidate.

Hannah Greene

Hannah Greene is pursuing her MBA at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Last summer, Greene worked as a fixed-income investment analyst at Capital Group, where she will be returning after graduation. Prior to Anderson, she was an associate director on the EMEA distribution team at Artisan Partners in London. She began her career at Artisan in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as an associate on the marketing and communications team. She graduated from the University of Virginia in 2011 with a B.A. in history.

Raymond Mak

Raymond Mak is a fully employed student pursuing his MBA with a specialization in Entrepreneurship and Finance – Investment Management at UCLA Anderson School of Management. He is a member of the Investment Finance Association. Raymond, who led three other fully employed MBA students, took 3rd place in the 2018 UCLA Anderson Fink Center National Stock Pitch Competition. Raymond currently works at Payden & Rygel, where he spent ten years working in Fixed Income Credit Research, Credit Risk Analytics, and Corporate Finance. Prior to joining Payden & Rygel, Raymond was the semi-senior auditor at SingerLewak, a top 100 global accounting firm. Raymond graduated with a BA in business administration from the University of California, Riverside, is a licensed CPA, and a CFA charter holder.

Joshua Oynick

Joshua Oynick is pursuing his MBA with a specialization in investment management at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. During the spring and summer of 2018, Oynick interned for Breaker Capital Management, a hedge fund based in Los Angeles. Prior to Anderson, he was a senior financial analyst at SpaceX, focusing on cost reduction and the evaluation of capital expenditures. He began his career as an investment banker with UBS and Greentech Capital Advisors, advising clients on M&A and capital raises in the sustainable energy and infrastructure sectors. He earned his undergraduate degree from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with concentrations in finance and operations and information management.

Jay Sun

Jay Sun is pursuing his MBA with a concentration in finance – investment management at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. As a fully employed MBA student, Sun is dedicated to managing and growing Eystra Capital, a value-oriented hedge fund that he founded four years ago. He started his career as a data specialist at Ericsson. He graduated with a B.S. in information technology and web science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2014.

Yian Yu

Yian Yu is pursuing her MBA with a concentration in investment management at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Last summer, Yu interned at Artisan Partners Growth Team as an equity research MBA associate. She will be returning to Artisan Partners after graduation. Prior to attending Anderson, she spent three years in the biopharmaceutical industry. She graduated from Columbia University in 2014 with a M.A. in statistics and Zhejiang University in 2012 with a B.S. in mathematics.

Mark Zerlang

Mark Zerlang is pursuing an MBA at UCLA Anderson with an emphasis on finance. Prior to Anderson, Zerlang worked at ICONIQ Capital, where he sourced and underwrote third-party investment managers across all asset classes. Before ICONIQ, he worked at The Ayco Company, a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs, where he advised corporate executives and their families on their personal finances. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a B.S. in finance and is a CFA Level III candidate. After graduation, he will be joining Moelis & Company in New York City as an investment banking associate.

Firm Visits

As part of the SIF program, the Fellows complete 30 firm visits over a period of 18 months. These visits constitute a unique and important aspect of the education process. During the visits, the Fellows interact with seasoned professionals in the investment community who generously share their personal experiences and their firms’ investment strategies. In addition to supplementing the Fellows’ educational experience, these visits enhance ties between UCLA Anderson School of Management and the investment management community.

Companies are selected with the objective of maximizing exposure to different investment styles, asset classes, and organizational structures. This year, the Fellows visited firms employing a wide range of investment strategies including value, growth, international and convertible arbitrage, among others. We visited companies investing in the asset classes of equities and fixed income, convertibles, distressed debt, commodities, real estate, and the emerging markets.

The SIF Fellows are extremely grateful to the investment professionals at the following firms for their time, hospitality, candor and support over the past several years.

Company Visits

Allianz Global Capital
Barclays Global Investors
Berkshire Hathaway
Brandes Investment Partners
Canyon Capital Advisors
Capital Group
Causeway Capital Management
ClearBridge Advisors
Dalton Investments
Dimensional Fund Advisors
Dodge & Cox
Empyrean Capital Partners
First Western
Francis Capital Management
Hilton Foundation
Hotchkis and Wiley Capital Management
Ivory Capital Group
Kayne Anderson Rudnick
Neuberger Berman
NWQ Investment Management
Oaktree Capital Management
Payden and Rygel Investment Management
PRIMECAP Management Company
Provident Investment Counsel
Roxbury Capital Management
Tradewinds Global Investors
Transamerica Investment Management
Trust Company of the West
UBS
Wedbush
Wells Fargo
Weintraub Capital Management
Wesco Financial

Contact Us

Student Investment Fund at the Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies
UCLA Anderson School of Management
110 Westwood Plaza, Room C305
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1481

Phone: (310) 825-2985
Fax: (310) 206-9102
Email: price.center@anderson.ucla.edu

Hours: 8 am - 5 pm (PST)

Overview