Assets Under Management
Responsible for managing over $500,000 on behalf of the University of Michigan’s endowment
Action-Based Learning
Our platform allows MBA and BBA students to apply the concepts of asset valuation, equity research and portfolio management in the real world
Pathway to Wall Street
Our alumni remain actively engaged with the Fund, connecting members with successful financial service professionals
Our Process
Fund membership is highly selective, enabling members to work with other talented and highly-motivated students in an environment similar to an investment firm.
Upon admission into the Fund, new members will partake in a series of training sessions on key concepts in equity research, financial modeling and valuation, and portfolio management. Fund members will become fluent in technical tools such as FactSet and Bloomberg.
The Fund is organized in to 3-4 person pitch teams led by a Senior Analyst. These teams will be responsible for sourcing and pitching equity investment opportunities and monitoring ongoing investments.
Investment Style
The Fund focuses its efforts on identifying undervalued US equity securities for long-term investment by leveraging industry research, financial statement analysis and valuation analyses, including discounted cash flow modeling, comparable companies and precedent transactions. The Fund uses the S&P MidCap 400 Index as a performance benchmark, giving the Fund an inherent bias towards investment in public companies with a market capitalization between $2 and $10 billion.
Faculty Advisors
Robert Dittmar
Associate Finance Professor
Robert Dittmar is a Finance Professor at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. His research centers on empirical and theoretical topics in the pricing of fixed income and equity securities. His research has been published in the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, and Journal of Econometrics. His past experience includes a position as Assistant Professor at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University and work as a financial analyst at First Chicago (now JP Morgan Chase) and First Union (since acquired by Wachovia and Wells Fargo).
Tyler Shumway
Chair of Finance, Director Tozzi Finance Center
Tyler’s research examines the structure and function of financial markets and the pricing of financial securities. Some of his recent work concerns bankruptcy prediction and the pricing of corporate bonds, the efficient market hypothesis and the intersection of psychology and finance. Tyler’s research is published in the Journal of Finance, the Review of Financial Studies and the Journal of Business. His research also has been featured in numerous business and popular publications, including the Economist, The New York Times, Time Magazine and The Wall Street Journal.
Kai Petainen
Adjunct Finance Lecturer, Trading Floor Manager
Kai Petainen is the Tozzi Trading Floor manager and an adjunct finance lecturer at the Ross School of Business. He teaches Finance 334, “Applied Quant/Value Portfolio Management”, a class that uses ‘action-based learning’, to evaluate stocks and funds from a quant/value perspective. Petainen is featured in Matthew Schifrin’s book, “The Warren Buffetts Next Door: The World’s Greatest Investors You’ve Never Heard Of and What You Can Learn From Them“. He’s also a contributing blogger at Forbes. Petainen had articles in Forbes, MoneyShow.com, Welt Am Sonntag, the San Francisco Chronicle, Santa Cruz Sentinel, MSN Money, Financial Post, the Globe and Mail, and many others.
Executive Board
Paul Mancheski
Co-President
Paul is a second-year MBA at the Ross School of Business. Prior to his MBA, Paul worked in various industries over 5 years within finance at IBM and Capital One. During that time he continued to invest through his personal portfolio along with volunteering as a financial literacy coach and traveling. During the summer Paul worked for Wells Fargo in their small and mid-cap growth funds targeting healthcare companies. Please reach out to Paul at pmanche@umich.edu with any questions you may have about Maize & Blue Endowment Fund.
Nicholas Kuchar
Co-President
Nicholas is a senior studying finance and accounting at the Ross School of Business. This past summer, Nicholas was an Investment Banking Summer Analyst with PJT Partners in their Restructuring & Special Situations group in New York, where he will be returning full time after graduation. After his sophomore year, Nicholas interned as a Summer Analyst with Apollo Global Management in New York City in their distressed debt division. When outside of the classroom or office, Nicholas enjoys debating college football, keeping up with current events, skiing, and watching The Office. Please reach out to Nicholas at nakuchar@umich.edu with any questions you may have about the Maize & Blue Endowment Fund.
JD Nassab
Co-President
JD is a senior studying finance at the Ross School of Business. He spent last summer in New York as an Academy Summer Analyst for Point72 Asset Management, where he will be returning after graduation. Over the previous summer, he served as a Fixed Income intern for Janus Henderson Investors. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family and dogs, sampling BBQ as a Certified BBQ Judge, and practicing Kung Fu. Please reach out to JD at jdnassab@umich.edu with any questions you may have about the Maize & Blue Endowment Fund.