Students have first-hand experience
Risk, Reward, Fiduciary Responsibility as Teachers
The legacy of Jacob Kamm is multi-faceted. It may touch students today in less overt ways, yet it can be
aid Kamm's presence is understood even more powerfully now than when he enlightened students as a
teacher and first-ever Chair of B-W's Business Division.
Kamm was an advocate of self-investment in experiences that complement classwork, as evidenced by his
frequent quotes of Benjamin Franklin, who wrote in 1733 in Poor Richard's Almanack, “An investment of
knowledge always pays the best interest.” Kamm's advocacy lives on in the B-W Business Division's
curriculum focus on entrepreneurism and the genesis of its Center for Innovation and Growth.
In his day, Kamm's perspective was catalyst to a student-led investment fund. He even went as far as providing the initial capital to get it started. Representing the era of the '50s when finance was largely a male dominated field, the students who helped launch this fund came to be known as “Jake's Boys,” giving a number of them a foundation for investment that led to careers with Goldman Sachs and McDonald & Co., to name a few.
The student experience of investing money had a lasting impact on 1952 B-W graduate Willard Carmel. He arrived at the Berea campus with no knowledge of capital markets, investments or finances, yet his Kamm- influenced practical education launched him on an accomplished career.
“None of us had reason to be interested in stock markets until we met Jacob Kamm, and he infected us with his passion and zeal for investing,” said Carmel. “Many of his students went on to highly successful careers as a result of Kamm's passion for ideas, innovation and commitment.”
Carmel walked out of B-W and into a job selling tax-free municipal bonds. The firm he joined later merged with McDonald & Company. His career continued to quickly advance at the Cleveland firm of investment bankers, as he ascended to partner, managing partner and eventually leading the firm's initial public offering or IPO as its Chief Executive Officer.
His greatest accomplishment, Carmel will certainly say, was hiring B-W graduate William B. Summers, Jr., who succeeded him as CEO and eventually merged the publicly held investment banking firm with KeyCorp. Today, both Carmel and Summers continue to have an influence on students as members of the College's Board of Trustees.
The practical experience that was so rewarding for Carmel, however,did languish on campus. Over time the student-led fund became dormant and was held as part of the Baldwin-Wallace College endowment fund. This changed with the August 2005 arrival of Kevin Jacques, who previously spent 14 years as an economist with the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, D.C. He was responsible for advising Treasury and BushAdministration officials on economic and financial policy issues. Jacques is now the Boynton D.Murch Chair in Finance at B-W and shares Kamm's perspective of integrating market experiences into coursework, as he relaunched the student-led investment fund at the startof 2006. “The processes involved with investments can be taught in the classroom,” said Jacques. “However,the fundamental principles of risk, reward and fiduciary responsibility can only be understood by doing it.”
B-W students are getting it done. A group (see below), mostly junior and senior business majors but notexclusively, meets every three weeks to evaluate their portfolio of stocks and weigh decisions of investment and divestiture. “We're getting first-hand opportunities to understand wealth generation,” said Elva Coadari, a student stock analyst and an accounting and finance major. “We're going through the process of creating investment strategies in order to achieve our client's goals. My only disappointment is that we don't meet more frequently, as I learn more and more each time we get together.”
The management of the student-led portfolio is consistent with B-W investment policies and risk tolerances. The fund contains 11 common stocks, such as Walt Disney, GE and IBM, and has a value of nearly $175,000. “Kevin is great at giving us guidance and then stepping back and letting experience be the teacher,” said Dave Hellisz, a student officer of the fund and finance and marketing major. “The experience has been infectious, as many of us meet each week on our own.” Jacques' goal for the students: “At the end of the day, I want the students to gain experience, confidence and a sense of ownership. When this happens, I've done my job.”
The group's progress is reported regularly at: http://www.bw.edu/academics/bus/career/invest/.
Student Investment Fund Officers and Analysts
Anubhav Gera, president Dave Hellisz, vice president Jackie Koch, secretary
Chris Anglin Dan Barylak Anda Basho
Kim Burant Elva Coadari Allyson Dingman
Dan Eberhardt Rick Fike David Graham
Adam Heim Dave Hellisz John Herwig
Caleb Jones Paul Jones Dan Keating
Doug Kirk Jonathan Kosmata Rob Kozlowski
Jason O’Rourke Artion Pipa Alex Restaino
Will Skrab Kevin Soflkiancs Mike Sollenberger
Jeff Stevenson Arber Sulovari Bryce Sylvester
James Synk Rachel Tallentire Snezanna Tomic
elina Veloso Audrey Wayton
275 Eastland Rd.