Oakland U Business Students Manage $2M Kresge Investment Fund

At Oakland University’s data lab, investment portfolio management students will learn to use the Bloomberg online trading system and make recommendations on Kresge investments. (Oakland University photo)

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Students at Rochester-based Oakland University will get real-world experience managing a $2 million investment fund as part of a new course in investment portfolio management, the university and the Kresge Foundation announced Wednesday.

The fund, one of the largest of its kind in Michigan, “has been carved out of the foundation’s $3.5 billion investment portfolio and is intended to provide real-world investment experience to OU undergraduates while exposing them to local career opportunities in investment management,” the university said in a news release.

Rob Manilla, Kresge’s vice president and chief investment officer, said the fund was created to bolster a talent pipeline to fill local investment jobs.

“By exposing students to a broader range of investment roles, we are optimistic that we will be able to retain our locally-trained talent — who typically head to New York City for their first professional experience — to explore and fill the many rewarding job opportunities that exist within metro Detroit’s public, private and philanthropic sectors.”

The new investment portfolio management course takes place in the university’s data analysis lab, which has 10 dual-screen Bloomberg terminals and a real-time stock ticker. There, the students will learn to use the Bloomberg online trading system to study individual equities, stock market indices, fixed-income securities, currencies, commodities, futures, and foreign exchange rates.

They’ll also research and analyze publicly traded securities listed in the S&P 500 index, and recommend which stocks Kresge should buy, sell or hold to an advisory board made up of investment professionals from Kresge and other Detroit-area companies.

A member of Kresge’s investment team will officially conduct the stock transactions.