GT
Gerald Thielemann
  • Class of 2014
  • Staten Island, NY

Gerald Thielemann of Staten Island on College of Saint Rose Team in "Adirondack Cup" Student Investment Competition

2012 Nov 29

Gerald Thielemann of Staten Island is one of eight students at The College of Saint Rose in Albany competing for a prestigious trophy, but this competition is not taking place on a field, a court or in a gym. Teams of finance students from 18 colleges and universities across New York and New England are striving to succeed in winning the 2012-2013 Adirondack Cup, sponsored for the second year in a row by the Adirondack Small Cap Mutual Fund.

In the competition, the student teams have created hypothetical small cap stock portfolios valued at $1 million and will manage the portfolios through most of the school year. In late April 2013, the team with the best results will be awarded the Adirondack Cup. The rules are different from those in place for most stock selection competitions; teams may make only two changes to the portfolio during the course of the competition, one in December and one in February.

Thielemann is pursuing a combined Bachelor of Science/Master of Business Administration degree at Saint Rose.

The goals of the competition are to teach students the difference between trading stocks and thinking through their investment decisions for the long term and to help them make appropriate connections in the financial services sector as they enter the job market.

"In its first year, the Adirondack Cup helped us successfully meet our goals of providing an outstanding learning opportunity for students and connecting them to financial planners in a wide area, people who one day may have a job opening for them," said Adirondack Principal Steve Gonick. "As an added benefit, we got to meet some very talented students and it has been great helping them as they embark on their job searches."

"This is an exciting opportunity for our students. The College of Saint Rose encourages interaction with investment professionals and active-learning opportunities like the Adirondack Cup," said Dr. Severin Carlson, dean of the College's Huether School of Business.

Other schools participating in this year's competition are Binghamton University, Bryn Mawr College, Clarkson University, The College at Brockport, Hofstra University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Siena College, St. John Fisher College, St. Lawrence University, State University of New York at Geneseo, State University of New York at Plattsburgh, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook University Graduate School, Union College, the University at Albany and Wesleyan University.

As the competition started in October, students conducted research, created a thesis on their stock picks and determined their investments and allocation. Each portfolio must include a hypothetical $1 million invested in five small cap stocks (defined as companies with market caps between $50 million and $3 billion). Each of the five stock picks must be from a different industry (technology, health care, consumer discretionary, consumer staples, energy, materials and processing, producer durables, financial services or utilities) and each holding has to be at least five percent but no more than 50 percent of the portfolio. Teams will be allowed to make changes to their portfolios only twice during the contest period, on December 9, 2012, and February 10, 2013.

Follow the competition at www.adirondackfunds.com/adirondack-cup/.

Photo caption: Seated (l-r): Adirondack principal Steve Gonick, faculty adviser Dr. Dandan Wu; Standing (l-r): Nicholas J. Massa, Gerald Thielemann, Maria Sanchez, Angelo Cervone, Joseph E. Krok, Andrew J. Kochian (Not shown: Daniel Durant, Brandon M. Krupunich)

On the Web: www.strose.edu

The College of Saint Rose Experts Directory online: www.strose.edu/expertsdirectory.