![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/news\/sites\/16\/2025\/05\/Michael-Ice-web.jpg.jpg\")
Officially listed as BUS 422\/423, the course is more widely known as the Ram Fund. For those lucky enough to be one of the 15 students chosen, the experience mirrors that of a professional investment analyst. The Ram Fund, started in 2001 with a $100,000 investment from the 溏心vlog免费B站 Foundation and Alumni Engagement, oversees a portfolio of more than $700,000. And it\u2019s normal for students to put in 30 hours a week on the Ram Fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey need to be competent because it’s a whole different ball game when you have a fiduciary responsibility and are dealing with someone else\u2019s money,\u201d said Michael Ice, an associate teaching professor who advises the class along with Deborah Imondi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are really two purposes, experiential learning and then getting a return because it’s real money,\u201d said Ice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Ice and Imondi have the real-world experience needed to advise their students on the risks associated with capital loss in equity investments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got 13 weeks and meet twice a week, so students have 26 classes to manage a portfolio of $700,000 or $800,000,\u201d says Ice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Imondi \u201982, MBA \u201986 spent years as an investment manager at Textron, and Ice spent more than 30 years on Wall Street, including a tenure as managing director at Merrill Lynch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The class\u2019s lab is the Sherman Trading Room in Ballentine Hall, which is outfitted with 15 workstations and nine Bloomberg terminals where students do deep analysis of prospective investment opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike popular retail trading platforms, Ram Fund demands a far more rigorous approach. For students like Declan Botwinick, trading entails considerably more than simply clicking a \u201cbuy\u201d or \u201csell\u201d button. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Students are divided into five groups. Each group is assigned a specific sector to research. Within each group, the three members collaborate to identify and evaluate a potential investment. Once a company is selected, the team must formally pitch it to the rest of the class. Shares aren\u2019t purchased unless most of the class is on board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Botwinick\u2019s case, the New Jersey native and his two teammates, last year, focused on the technology and telecommunications sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou need to be able to present an extensive presentation,\u201d says Botwinick. \u201cMost of the presentations average about 20 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The portfolio currently comprises about 30 distinct securities. This is in part to ensure the portfolio is diversified and to help mitigate risk. Having too much money in a single sector could have significant repercussions if that sector underperforms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This spring marks Botwinick\u2019s second and final semester in the Ram Fund. He will graduate this month with a degree in finance. Throughout his time at Ram Fund, he\u2019s been instrumental in building the portfolio and buying equity in companies including ACI Worldwide, a company the class ultimately chose to invest in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ACI Worldwide is a prominent entity in the electronic payments industry. During his research, Botwinick discovered that the company\u2019s infrastructure is integral to processing a vast number of card transactions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, it is that investment\u2019s performance that has left a lasting impression on the class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI believe it\u2019s in line with about a 60% return since we bought it last year,\u201d said Botwinick. \u201cI think we bought it for around $32 and it\u2019s trading at $52 right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the Ram Fund will inevitably experience fluctuations, real-world exposure is the most valuable takeaway that students gain. In addition to managing the fund, students also present the portfolio annually to professional fund managers at Fidelity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are usually two emcees that present the portfolio and the returns,\u201d explains Ice. \u201cThen each group will have seven minutes to present a stock they bought.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s the real-world experience that will serve as a foundation for Botwinick who has taken a job in wealth management at a company in western New Jersey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am starting about a week and a half after graduation, so I’m excited,\u201d said Botwinick. \u201cI got pretty fortunate with this one, my entire family is located about five minutes away from the office.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 May 14, 2025 \u2013 A share in Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, had been trading at around $190. As of May 2, shares were down to about $165, according to Yahoo Finance. Investing and buying stocks demands a high degree of expertise, typically cultivated over many years. Yet, even seasoned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":102193,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[88,1906,1915],"class_list":["post-102192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-business","tag-experiential-learning","tag-undergraduate"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102192"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102198,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102192\/revisions\/102198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}