Students Benefit From Record Level Amount of Investment for Red Hawk Fund

Feliciano School of Business students are gaining real-world experience through the Red Hawk Fund, a student-managed investment fund launched in fall 2018 through a collaboration of alumnus Jim Merli ’83, the Feliciano School of Business Advisory Board, Professor Michael Radin, Feliciano School of Business faculty, and industry experts.

Merli ’83, a member of the Montclair State University Foundation Board as well as the Feliciano School of Business Advisory Board, has been instrumental in steering the Fund and its reality-based model. Merli engages members of the School’s Advisory Board to mentor students and act as a professional sounding board for students giving presentations at semester’s end. Donations to support the Fund add to the investment and have a direct impact in launching students on their investment journey and building their career know-how.

The Montclair State University foundation, a non-profit charged with soliciting and managing funds and property for the university, initially provided $250,000 and today the fund is over $500,000 and growing. The Fund has a multi-asset mandate where students invest within and across broad asset classes such as global equities, equity sectors, fixed income and alternative assets. Students learn about various types of alternative strategies in the classroom and then research which funds they believe will be additive for inclusion in the Red Hawk portfolio. These are the same types of investment decisions made by large, sophisticated university endowments and pension funds. Engagement in the program with alumni and friends results in high returns in more than just the investment portfolio. As graduates find professional success, they are paving a path for each other into the competitive world of finance.

The Red Hawk Fund provides students with a real-world experience a finance student could achieve at Montclair State. Students gain a solid foundation in institutional investing and portfolio management that leads to jobs in top companies. Some recent graduates include:

• Victoria Cseuscsik ‘23 – Senior Derivatives Analyst, Northern Trust
• Madison Surgent ‘22 – Senior Associate, Business Support Rotational Program, Prudential
• Valeria Syanchuk ‘21 – Research Analyst, Cushman & Wakefield
• Andres Villanueva ‘19 – Senior Associate, Investments, CIM Group
• Nate Nahirny ‘20 – Investment Banking Analyst, Jefferies
• Kevin Sherman, ‘19 – Structured Credit Associate – Transportation Group, Credit Agricole CIB
• Kishan Rana ‘21 – Portfolio Monitoring Analyst, TC

To learn more about the Red Hawk Student Managed Investment Fund, please contact Karen Richards in the Department of Accounting and Finance at richardsk@montclair.edu or 973-655-4174 or reach out to Professor Mike Radin at radinmi@montclair.edu.