Lead Fund Manager Practicum

Catalog description

FIN 495A Nittany Lion Fund -- Lead Fund Manager Practicum (3 per semester/maximum of 6) A Lead Fund Manager is accountable for sector performance as well as sector output. This means that while the Lead Fund Manager has to be an effective delegator of work to his or her Associate(s), the manager must also have great attention to detail when reviewing all aspects of pitches, weekly reports, and earnings reports. A Lead Fund Manager focuses more on knowing the big trends in his or her overall sector and in each subsector. The Lead is the strategist for the sector. He or she has the responsibility of choosing what stocks to pitch in class and at PSIA meetings. This means that the Leads must constantly reevaluate not only their current portfolio, but the sector as a whole, in order to find where to best allocate their respective funds. Another major responsibility that a Lead Fund Manager has is to lead a group of anywhere from 10-50 PSIA members. While there are weekly educations for the PSIA analysts, it is one of the most important responsibilities of a Lead Fund Manager to provide support for the PSIA analysts to help them with their PSIA certification assignments. In addition to helping the analysts understand their weekly assignments, the Lead Fund Managers are also responsible for holding weekly sector meetings to give sector-specific educations to a smaller group of PSIA analysts. The goal for any Lead should be to get as many PSIA analysts as involved and interested as possible in PSIA. The interest generated should draw PSIA analysts to apply for entrance into the Nittany Lion Fund. PSIA is the feeder system for the NLF and making sure there are intelligent and motivated applicants each semester ensures that the investment group will continue to have a strong class going forward. Consequently, once the Lead Manager has developed analysts' interest in applying for the NLF, it is an unwritten responsibility of the Lead to help the applicants to become as best prepared as possible for the interviews (Associates are encouraged to help new applicants as well). In total, the role that the Lead plays is not just that of a figurehead, the Lead must be well informed of current events and trends within their sector, and they must be able to speak eloquently of their investment strategy when speaking in class, at PSIA meetings, or to investors at the yearly investment meeting.