University of Arkansas at Little Rock

The first time a team of team of students from UALR’s College of Business entered the Mid-South Investment Challenge, it placed second in the Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA) Societies of Arkansas, Memphis, and Mississippi competition.

UALR tied for first in the presentation portion of the competition. MBA students Jonathan Lindsey and Charles Eubanks of Little Rock, Suzanne Williams of Benton, and Tom Tkaczuk of Omaha, Neb., made up the UALR team. There were coached by Department of Economics and Finance Professors Andy Terry and Larry Holland.

It was the first time UALR participated in the investment challenge, competing with the University of Memphis; Texas A&M, Corpus Christi; Freed-Hardeman University; Millsaps College; University of Arkansas, Fayetteville; and Arkansas State University.

Students presented an analysis and buy/sell/hold recommendations for Autozone. The Mid-South Investment Research Challenge finale culminated three months of research; interviews with company management, competitors, and clients; presentation training; and evaluation.

The analytical, presentation, and research skills competition was hosted by the CFA Institute, a global association for investment professionals. It was the first step to advance to the Global Investment Research Challenge – Global IRC. The first place team will compete in the Americas regional challenge in April in Omaha.

The Global IRC offers students the unique opportunity to learn from leading industry experts and their peers from the world’s top business schools. The annual educational initiative is designed to promote best practices in equity research among the next generation of analysts through hands-on mentoring and intensive training in company analysis and presentation skills.

The Global IRC consists of:
• Analysis of a public company – Teams research a publicly traded company, and company management presents to the team and participants in a question-and-answer session.
• Mentoring by a professional research analyst – Each team works with an investment professional who mentors the team on the research process and reviews their report.
• Writing a research report – Students produce an initiation of coverage report on the chosen company. The report is reviewed and scored by a group of judges.
• Presentation of research to a high-profile panel of industry professionals – The team with the highest presentation score is the winner.

Winners of four regional challenges – the Americas, New York, Europe, and Asia Pacific – will advance to compete in the global finale April 8, also in Omaha. This year, more than 100 CFA Institute societies will host local competitions with more than 2,500 students from more than 500 universities worldwide participating.

Bundled up in a severe weather parka at the bottom of the Earth, Ciara Spillane is scoffing at the notion that a College of Business education is all executive office suites and Brooks Brothers suits.

This market researcher who studied business marketing and graduated from UALR’s MBA program is now managing inventory at a National Science Foundation polar research station in Antarctica.

Spillane is working for five months as an inventory manager for Raytheon Polar Services under contract to support research being done by the National Science Foundation in Antarctica.

“I first heard about the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) from a friend and further inquired into the program before completing my graduate degree in August of 2010,” Spillane said.

Raytheon Polar Services Co. is contracted directly to the Antarctic Program, which exists specifically to meet the needs of the NSF, include sustaining the Antarctic environment as well as funding the scientists conducting research on the ice.

“Ultimately, I was entranced by the environmental poignancy of the vast white expanses at the bottom of the world, which led me to begin a job in inventory management,” Spillane said.

Why Antarctica? “Overall, I wanted the job experience, I wanted the life experience, and I wanted the program on my resume,” she said.

A 2004 graduate of Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School in Little Rock, Spillane studied both chemistry and ballet in high school.

An intrepid traveler, Spillane grew up in Little Rock, but counts as a second hometown the Irish city of Nenagh, County Tipperary, where her extended family lives. Her interest include dancing and reading, but most importantly, traveling.

“By April 2011, I hoped to have set foot on my seventh continent,” Spillane said.