Fisher Team Prepares for Financial Analysis Challenge

A team of five finance majors from the St. John Fisher University School of Business participated in a kick-off event for the Chartered Financial Analysts Institute Research Challenge in early November.

An annual global competition, the Research Challenge serves as a platform for aspiring financial analysts and students to hone their skills in real-world financial analysis. It provides students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis and ethics while testing their analytical; valuation; and reporting, writing, and presentation skills. The kick-off event, which was hosted by the CFA Society of Rochester and included institutions from across Western New York, offered teams insight into the competition and provided networking opportunities between students and professionals.

Fisher’s team, which includes Catherine Gluszko ’24, Milla Litzburg ’23, Ethan Lowell ’25, Elle McEneany ’24, and Timdanuth Tin ’24, will use University financial databases including the Bloomberg Terminals, Morning Star, and other resources to write an equity research report about Paychex. The winners of the first round of the competition will be announced in early 2024.

Dr. Mohamed Mekhaimer, associate professor of finance, will serve as their academic advisor. Outside of his time in the classroom, Mekhaimer has interests in liquidity, corporate governance, executives’ horizons, political risk, and financial market design. He is also an advisor for the Investment Club and traveled with students to New York City in spring 2023 for their annual visit to the financial capital of the world. 

Charlie Ruff, senior portfolio manager at Cobblestone Capital, will serve as an industry advisor. He is also an adjunct professor in Fisher’s Finance Department. 

“Hiring managers take note: this is a serious extracurricular that emphasizes critical thinking, analysis, and public speaking. These students work hard,” said Ruff.