Columbia Business School Takes Top Prize in the Darden @ Virginia Investing Challenge

Columbia Business School won the second annual Darden @ Virginia Investing Challenge (DVIC), held during the sixth annual University of Virginia Investing Conference (UVIC). The challenge, hosted by the Darden Capital Management student club, included MBAs from 15 top business schools.

“Investment challenges, such as DVIC, are critical for MBA students focused on careers in investment management,” said Second Year MBA student Jack Bryant, co-president and COO of Darden Capital Management. “These challenges provide a platform for learning, idea sharing and networking.”

For this year’s challenge, participants were asked to consider the uncertain macroeconomic environment while picking an energy or tech stock that they believed would perform well for an investor.

The winners, Brian Waterhouse, Matthew Bracewell and Patrick Fischername, impressed the judges with their investment thesis, unique approach to research, and abilities to field difficult questions. They received a $3,000 cash prize.

Bryant also believes that challenges such as DVIC help MBAs in job searches.

“These challenges provide the opportunity to hone the analytical and presentation skills that are so critical during the interview process,” Bryant said. “Students understand that competing in a top-tier stock pitch competition is a necessary resume stamp that top investment management firms want to see, and respect.”

Competitors in this year’s challenge hailed from the following schools:

• Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper)
• Columbia Business School
• Cornell University (Johnson)
• Duke University (Fuqua)
• Emory University (Goizueta)
• New York University (Stern)
• Northwestern University (Kellogg)
• University of California, Los Angeles (Anderson)
• University of Chicago (Booth)
• University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)
• University of Notre Dame (Mendoza)
• University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
• University of Virginia (Darden)
• Vanderbilt University (Owen)
• Yale School of Management

In addition to participating in the challenge, the visiting students were able to take in the investment forecasts of top experts in the investment-banking field at the sold-out University of Virginia Investing Conference.

Bryant was thrilled that the Darden community could host such stellar groups of students.

“The quality of the teams and pitches were very impressive, and all participants were excited for the opportunity to engage in both DVIC and UVIC,” Bryant said. “We truly believe that the Darden competition offers MBA students interested in investment management a differentiated and compelling opportunity to compete against the best graduate teams, network with leading investment professionals, and benefit from the phenomenal speakers UVIC brings to Grounds.”