Centre team takes top spot in annual business competition

When Centre College’s team of student business analysts took their turn at the podium during the annual CFA Challenge, they heard a mysterious comment from the judges.

“We’re getting ready to present, and one of the judges said, ‘Oh, this is the interesting one,” said senior Carlie Mitchell.

Judges found the team’s work not only interesting, but also impressive as the quartet of Mitchell, Ty Bush, Jonah Jackson and Omkar Zarikar became the first Centre Team to win the Louisville Regional CFA Challenge in the 10 years the College has competed.

What made the Centre team so interesting to judges? Of the five competing teams, Centre was the only squad to issue a “sell” recommendation for the company all the teams analyzed, Louisville-based distiller Brown-Forman. The other teams wrote either hold or buy recommendations.

“When we were writing the report, we assumed everyone would have a sell rating,” said Jackson. They didn’t find out until after the competition that their bold position carried the day.

“When you write a sell, you have to make sure your report is packed, and you hit all the important points,” said Mitchell.

The competition, organized by the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Institute, tests students studying Business or Economics & Finance on their expertise in financial analysis, valuation, and professional presentation. Along the way, they gain hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis and professional ethics.

Centre’s team finished second in the regional event last year and third the previous year, ascending to the top spot this year, knocking off the perennial powerhouse team of graduate students from Indiana University Southeast’s MBA program.

“It was my privilege and pleasure to mentor such a talented, balanced, and dedicated student team this year,” said Brad Dewey, instructor of economics and business, who brings more than 30 years of equities research and investment experience to his work. Before becoming a private investor, Dewey spent 15 years on Wall Street in both investment research and investment management.

“Every student contributed significantly and valuably to the team's success,” Dewey said. “I thank each of the four of them for their hard work, especially team captain Carlie Mitchell, whose extraordinary leadership, organization and determination were crucial to the team's well-earned win.”

The competition is divided into two parts. Teams first submit a 10-page written report, packed with research and findings. They then present and defend those findings before a panel of five judges. Each section accounts for 50 percent of the competition. Centre’s competitors know their report had been well-received as they were presenting last, the spot reserved for the team that compiled the best-written report.

That made the “interesting” comment from the judges a little less ominous, but still mysterious to the team, which followed Dewey’s recommendation to not watch other teams’ presentations.

“That was probably a good idea,” Bush said. “But I would've been interested to see some of them, because we all had sell, and were pretty confident in it. So it would've been interesting to see how other teams went about making it a buy or a hold.”

The team members learned the principles of company valuation during Dewey’s Equity Research and Financial Modeling class in the fall term and prepared for the competition during CentreTerm through an independent study.

The skills they honed during the class and the competition are integral in the investing world.

“This was like a real industry experience,” said Zarikar. “Mr. Dewey kept it as if we were working for an actual investment fund. This reinforced my goal to become a financial analyst in the equities market. I learned a lot in the preparation for the competition.”

The process of researching and writing the report was a grind, but the students’ competitive nature kicked in as the finish line drew closer.

“Halfway through, we were just thinking we want to get this done,” Jackson laughed. “But a week before the presentation, it was like, ‘We did all this work, we might as well go ahead and win this thing.’”

In addition to the satisfaction of besting the competition, the Centre competitors also received an affirmation that their chosen career paths — whether it is CPA, financial advisor or portfolio analyst — would be enjoyable and rewarding.

“Having this experience as an undergrad as I weigh my options in post-grad will definitely help,” said Mitchell. “It reaffirmed that I like the world of finance.”