Three UT Students Make Top Finishes at Hedge Fund Competition

A University of Tampa MBA student received top place, and another UT team scored in the top five, at the second annual Southeastern Hedge Fund Competition in Atlanta last week.

Nick Koen won first place and a $10,000 prize. The team of UT seniors Edward Morris and Victor Philaire also finished as a top five finalist.

The objective of the competition is for university students to propose an investment strategy that is attractive to a hedge fund.

Don Flagg and Jeff Donaldson, both UT associate professors of finance, served as UT’s faculty coordinators.

A total of 21 universities participated in the competition. The other finalists included teams from University of York (UK), University of Delaware and University of South Carolina. Other university teams represented Duke University, MIT, Georgia Tech, University of Central Florida and University of Chicago.

Last year, a UT team that included Koen received second place.

This year’s competition was held at Georgia State University’s Buckhead Center and hosted by The Southeastern Hedge Fund Association and Georgia State University's J. Mack Robinson College of Business.

Last year, UT students from the Sykes College of Business won first place in the inaugural CFA Tampa Bay Society Ethics Competition. In the past UT students won first place at a Global Student Investment Forum, and the Tampa Bay ACG (Association for Corporate Growth) Cup competition.