Student-Athletes Lead Canisius GGF Team to Victory at WNY CFA Challenge

A five-person team from the Canisius College Golden Griffin Fund (GGF) secured first place in the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Research Challenge of Western New York, held on Feb. 18. Canisius College has dominated the CFA Research Challenge in Western New York since its inception in 2010 with this year's victory marking the 13th consecutive first-place finish for Canisius.

The Canisius team overcame competitors including SUNY Geneseo, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Oswego, Cornell University (Runner up), University at Buffalo, University of Rochester and Ithaca College to take home the first-place prize. The team now advances to the sub-regional challenge for the Eastern portion of the U.S. Winners of that challenge will be announced in March.

The Golden Griffin Fund team is comprised of five student-athletes: Federico Mereto '23 (men's soccer), team captain Simon Gravel '23 (hockey), Emme Foote '23 (women's lacrosse), Julius Schoner '23 (men's soccer), and Nathan Conry '23 ( men's lacrosse). Steven A. Gattuso, assistant professor of economics and finance and director of the GGF, is the team's faculty advisor and Richard A. Wall '78, PhD, professor emeritus of economics and finance, serves as their industry mentor.

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition that provides university-sponsored teams with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis. The competition tests the analytic, valuation, reporting, writing and presentation skills of students studying business, finance and economics. Teams are challenged to research a publicly traded company and write a written report with a buy, sell or hold recommendation. Teams must then present and defend their analysis to a panel of industry professionals who serve as judges in the competition. This year's company was Evans Bank.

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