BOONE — Five Appalachian State University business majors, including Sam Crouse of Spruce Pine, made history this year with a trifecta win in the 2021 Chartered Financial Analysts Institute Research Challenge.
The Walker College of Business Broyhill Fellows team took home state, regional and continental titles — the latter a first for App State. The team also advanced to compete as one of the top five teams in the challenge’s Global Final.
During the challenge, students work in teams to research, analyze and report on a publicly-traded company as if they are practicing analysts. Each student is individually tested on their analytical, valuation, report writing and presentation skills.
During the challenge events, held virtually in March and April due to the pandemic, the fellows competed against nearly 1,000 participating universities, many of which included Master of Business Administration students.
App State’s Dr. Brandy Hadley, the group’s faculty advisor and an assistant professor of finance in WCOB, said she is proud of the students’ hard work.
“This is a tremendous accomplishment and I am incredibly proud of these students,” she said. “The team has worked hard and are excellent representatives of Appalachian.”
Hadley also said the continued support of CFA mentor Chris Pavese and Dr. Delbert Goff was instrumental in the team’s success. Pavese serves as president and chief investment officer of Broyhill Asset Management and Goff, a retired professor in the Department of Finance, Banking and Insurance, is one of the founders of the Broyhill Fellows and a longtime faculty advisor for the group.
App State’s Broyhill Fellows program has a long history of success in the CFA challenge, having won the state competition 10 of the past 13 years to advance to the Americas Regional round — in which they compete against the top teams from North and South America.
This year the fellows also competed in and won a new level of the CFA competition — the Southeastern Subregional.
Broyhill Fellows are members of App State’s Elbert V. Bowden Investment Group (BIG), which was established in 2000 to provide students with hands-on, real-world experience in managing investments — namely those in the Elbert V. Bowden Student Managed Investment Fund.
Each year, five BIG members are selected to compete in the CFA Institute Research Challenge as Broyhill Fellows and are mentored by employees of investment firm Broyhill Asset Management throughout the competition.