Featured Alumni - 2010

  • On The Move
    Beth Upton - BA Finance
    The Augusta Chronicle, August 28, 2010 - continued...
    Alumnus Beth Upton has joined First Citizens Bank as a mortgage loan originator.
     
  • Atlantic Trust Adds Top Investment Talent to Master Limited Partnership, Multi-Manager Teams
    Clayton Santimore - MS Finance
    Business Waire, June 9, 2010 - continued...
    Alumnus Clayton Santimore has joined Atlantic Trust as a senior investment analyst. Most recently, he was a senior portfolio analyst at Fidelity Management and Research Company
     
  • Mergers & Acquisitions: GeoBio Energy Shakes Up Management Structure
    Douglas A. Daniel - BBA Accounting/Finance
    EIN Presswire, May 14, 2010 - continued...
    Alumnus Douglas A. Daniel (BBA/Accounting-Finance) is the new senior vice president of corporate development and finance at GeoBio Energy, Inc. (OTC: GBOE)The firm’s business model emphasizes the acquisition and operation of existing companies in the oil and gas services and energy sector.
     
  • Prommis Solutions Appoints New President
    Jennifer Dorris - MBA Finance, BBA Accounting
    Business Wire, March 22, 2010 - continued...
    Alumnus Jennifer Dorris has been promoted to president of Prommis Solutions, a provider of financial services industry processing solutions. She previously was CFO.

Student News Makers - 2010

  • From Peachtree Street to Wall Street
    October 18, 2010 - continued...
    Working on Wall Street seemed like a dream for a group of GSU business students, many whom had never been there before. For Finance majors Terrence Adams, Anwer Gheddai, and Fred Mbari, this dream recently became reality as they left Atlanta for summer internships on Wall Street.
     

  • Extending a Hand
    August 30, 2010 - continued...
    As president of GSU’s Indian Student Association, Finance major Juhi Nagpal takes the lead in helping students acclimate to life in the U.S. and on campus so that they can make a smooth transition.
     

  • Target-Date Funds Questioned

    Human Resource Executive – August 12, 2010 - continued...

    Vallapuzha Sandhya, a doctoral student in the Department of Finance, has found that managers of target-date funds (TDFs) tend to invest in their own "family" of funds, which typically perform more poorly, and at higher fees, than other portfolios

  • Target Date Funds Are No Bargains, Study Says

    The Sreet  – July 29, 2010 - continued...

    As a concept, target date funds are a good instrument for retirement plans. The problem lies in the way they are structured and whether they are doing the right thing for their investors," according to Vallapuzha Sandhya, a doctoral student in the Department of Finance who conducted research on the funds’ performance

  • Study questions target-date funds for retirement
    July 27, 2010 - continued...
    Investors who select mutual funds with target dates for retirement may want to think twice before pulling the trigger, according to research conducted at Georgia State University's J. Mack Robinson College of Business. Vallapuzha Sandhya, a doctoral student of finance at the Robinson College, has found that investors are losing about $500 million to $1.3 billion annually.
     

  • Preparing students for Wall Street, one Saturday at a time
    The Signal (GSU student newspaper), April 6, 2010 - continued...
    Finance majors Fred Difre and Terrance Rogers aid aspiring finance majors in reaching their own “Big Apple” dreams through their free weekly preparation meetings.
     

  • Robinson College Team Bests Wharton, MIT in Global Investment Research Challenge, Places Second in Americas Regional Competition
    March 25, 2010 (Atlanta)  - continued...
    A team of five students representing Georgia State University's J. Mack Robinson College of Business was first runner-up in the final round of the Americas Regional competition of the Global Investment Research Challenge held March 18 in New York. Along the way, Robinson defeated teams including MIT, Wharton's San Francisco Executive MBA program and local teams in preliminary rounds.
     

  • Graduating to New Heights
    January 10, 2010 - continued...
    Finance major Terrance Rogers will head to Wall Street to work for Deutsche Bank after he graduates this spring.

Faculty Kudos - 2010

  • Mark Chen, Conrad Ciccotello, Chip Ryan and former Finance Ph.D. student Zinat Alam (now at LSU) won the Financial Management Association’s Best Paper Award in Corporate Governance for “Does Distance from Headquarters Matter? Information Acquisition and Monitoring by the Board of Directors.”

     

  • Jayant Kale, with former Finance Ph.D. students Ebru Reis (now at Bentley) and Anand Venkateswaran (now at Northeastern) won the Southern Finance Association’s Outstanding Paper Award in Corporate Finance for “Incentives in Managerial Pay and Voluntary Turnover.”
     

  • Milind Shrikhande received the Outstanding Professor Award from the 2010 Global Partners MBA cohort.
     
  • Alfred Mettler and Galen Sevcik received the Outstanding Teaching Award from the 2010 PMBA/Alpharetta cohort. Alfred was asked to give their graduation speech.

Finance in the News - 2010

  • Banking job prospects on road to improvementPDF icon

    Atlanta Business Chronicle     – November 26 - continued...
    “We are never going to see a repeat of what happened in the real estate bubble,” according to Lixin Huang of the Department of Finance. “In addition, caps on executive pay and bonuses are going to drive certain changes that could have a significant impact on the type of people who will be attracted to banking.”

     

  • Hedge-Fund Firms Woo the Little Guy
    Wall Street Journal, December 6, 2010 - continued...
    Research conducted by Vikas Agarwal of the Department of Finance demonstrates that hedged mutual funds run by hedge-fund managers—who have experience with complicated trading strategies—tend to be more successful than hedged funds run by managers without that experience.

     

  • Airfares Rise Ahead of Holiday Travel Season
    Fox5 News, October 19, 2010 - continued...
    With demand for air travel returning and fewer flight offerings, airfare is up to 18 percent higher than it was at this time of year. Jonathan Godbey of the Department of Finance doesn’t foresee a drop in pricing any time soon.
     

  • Southwest makes big move to Atlanta
    The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 27, 2010 - continued...
    After decades of rumors that it might try to wedge itself into the Atlanta market with a few flights here or there, Southwest Airlines plans a much grander entrance.  Jonathan Godbey, an assistant professor of finance at Georgia State University, said the deal is a “big win for Atlanta” because it solidifies Hartsfield-Jackson as an epicenter of a consolidating airline industry.
     

  • Expert: Southwest Purchase of AirTran Good for Passengers
    GlobalAtlanta, September 27, 2010 - continued...
    The  Southwest Air Lines acquisition of AirTran Airways will be good news for Atlanta travelers and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The larger merged airline will create more competition for Delta Air Lines Inc. in its home city, likely lowering ticket prices for Atlanta travelers, said Jonathan Godbey, professor of finance at Georgia State's Robinson College of Business.
     

  • No Frills Flying Coming to Atlanta
    11Alive News, September 27, 2010 - continued...
    Southwest Airlines purchase of AirTran Airways means cheaper flights for Atlanta air travelers. The no-frills airline offers Atlanta consumers something they haven't seen since other airlines started charging fees for baggage and seating. Professor Jonathan Godbey of the Department of Finance, suggests that Southwest Airlines acquisition of AirTran is a win-win proposition for everyone except Delta Airlines.
     

  • Southwest-AirTran merger impact in Atlanta
    Atlanta Business Chronicle, September 27, 2010 - continued...
    The Southwest-AirTran merger opens the door wide for competition. Jonathan M. Godbey, assistant professor of finance at the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University, says the merger is great news and a “game changer” for Atlanta travelers. 
     

  • Southwest Gets Cozy with AirTran
    Forbes.Com, September 27, 2010 - continued...
    The latest airline consolidation comes in the form of a $1.4 billion deal. According to  Jonathan Godbey of the Department of Finance, while some airlines have reduced flights, the momentum in airline travel appears to be shifting. 
     

  • Conservative credit unions stay free of failurePDF icon
    Atlanta Business Chronicle, June 25, 2010 - continued...
    Conservative real estate lending has helped keep Georgia’s credit unions free of failure during the recession, as nearly two dozen credit unions, particularly in markets hit hardest by the housing bust, failed nationwide in 2009 and 2010. Credit unions in overdeveloped real estate markets that offered risky home equity loans took a hit, according to Pete Eisemann of the Department of Finance. “Our credit unions didn’t do as much of that,” he said.
     

  • Shadow Banking Success: Study finds hedge funds make pretty good lenders
    AllAboutAlpha, June 23, 2010 - continued...
    This online publication of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association summarizes recent research by Vikas Agarwal of the Department of Finance and coauthor Costanza Meneghetti of West Virginia University in which they examine what many policymakers call the “shadow banking system.”  Theirs is the first study to look at hedge funds’ activities in the primary loan market.

  • Analysis: Airline merger clouds prospects for Cleveland hub
    Reuters, June 22, 2010 - continued...
    Officials in Cleveland are pondering their airport's fate should the proposed merger of United Airlines and Continental Airlines be approved. Noting that Continental and United have said they will keep all eight domestic hubs, Jonathan Godbey of the Department of Finance said, "They may maintain these hubs but certainly some of them are going to have to shrink in size."
     

  • CFO of the Year - Knack for numbers set early course for BoykinPDF icon
    Atlanta Business Chronicle, June 4, 2010 - continued...
    Alumnus Frank Boykin (BBA/Accounting) of Mohawk Industries is CFO of the Year for a large public company. Boykin serves on the advisory board for the Executive Master of Science in Finance program and is co-chair of the newly formed CFO Council, an initiative of the Department of Finance
     

  • CFO of the Year Finalists - Public Company LargePDF icon
    Atlanta Business Chronicle, June 4, 2010 - continued...
    Andrew Evans of AGL Resources and W. Paul Bowers of Southern Company were finalists for CFO of the Year category in the large public company category. Both were nominated by Gerry Gay.
     

  • CFO of the Year - Woolson leads power team at Georgia-PacificPDF icon
    Atlanta Business Chronicle, June 4, 2010 - continued...
    Tyler Woolson, who serves on the advisory board for the Executive MS-Finance program and is CFO of Georgia-Pacific, was named CFO of the Year for a large private company.
     

  • CFO of the Year - Foundation in public service helps Harris steerPDF icon
    Atlanta Business Chronicle, June 4, 2010 - continued...
    Barbara Harris is CFO of the Year in the Community Service category. In his nomination of Harris, Gerry Gay of the Department of Finance wrote, “Barbara’s daily routine involves the financial management of a truly complex government structure that is responsible for addressing life-changing, life-altering humanitarian issues.

  • Panikmache um den Staatsvertrag
    Tages Anzeiger, April 27, 2010- continued...
    Alfred Metter of the Department of Finance told this Zurich-based national daily that it would be a mistake for the Swiss parliament to reject the bilateral agreement between the governments of Switzerland the United States regarding the UBS case
     

  • Ein Nein wäre verheerend
    Handelszeitung, April 21, 2010- continued...
    Rejecting the bilateral agreement with the U.S. would harm Switzerland as an international financial center, Alfred Mettler asserts. Mettler served on a task force that advised the Swiss government about the privacy matters raised in the UBS case    .
     

  • Follow That Billionaire
    Forbes, March 29, 2010     - continued...
    How hard is it to copy Warren Buffett's stock portfolio? Very. Picking the same stocks as the Oracle of Omaha won’t necessarily reap the same spectacular results because many of the ways in which big institutions extract profits are revealed not in public 13F filings but in confidential, delayed-disclosure filings. Vikas Agarwal of the Department of Finance and three co-authors recently published a paper in which they examined 55,185 standard 13F filings and 1,958 confidential ones On average, big institutions can't beat the market, but positions shown in confidential filings did deliver excess returns over four months.

     

  • Finanzprofessor Alfred Mettler
         Schweizer Radio DRS, March 19, 2010- continued...
    In an interview with Swiss Public Radio, Alfred Mettler discussed what is at stake in the Swiss parliament’s vote on the Swiss-US bilateral agreement.
     

  • Georgia banks lose $3.3 billion in 2009
    Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 28, 2010     - continued...
    Losses incurred by Georgia banks in 2009 effectively wiped out all profits earned the previous two years. Issues include "lowered willingness to lend on the part of banks because their capital ratios are down and they're getting a lot more regulatory scrutiny," said Pete Eisemann of the Department of Finance. According to Rajeev Dhawan more than two out of three Georgia banks face regulatory orders to improve their capital levels and operations.
     

  • Busting Up U.S. Banks Would Help China, Professor Says
    GlobalAtlanta, February 25, 2010 - continued...

    A breakup of the largest U.S. banks proposed by some members of Congress, would allow competitors in Europe and Asia - China in particular - to gain an even larger share of a market once dominated by American firms, according to Alfred Mettler of the Department of Finance. He discussed the global marketing environment as a speaker at the quarterly Economic Forecasting Conference.
     

  • Georgia State beats Emory and UGA in Research Challenge
    The Signal (GSU student newspaper), February 24, 2010 - continued...

    A five-student team of Robinson students won the Inaugural Southern Classic Investment Research Challenge, beating out competitors from nine other schools. The program is sponsored by the Chartered Financial Analyst Societies of Atlanta, South Carolina and Nashville. Jonathan Godbey of the Department of Finance advises the team, which has advanced to the national finals.
     

  • Bundesrat muss sich zum Finanzplatz bekennenPDF icon
    NZZ, February 14, 2010- continued...
    In an opinion editorial for this influential national daily, Alfred Mettler outlined possible strategies for Switzerland’s future as a global financial center.
     

  • Obama's big bank size limit proposal could help small rivals

    MarketWatch, February 1, 2010 - continued...

    Vikas Agarwal of the Department of Finance says that President Obama's proposal to limit the size and trading activity of the nation's biggest banks would give rival smaller banks an advantage of not being swallowed up by the giants.

     

    •

  • Suche nach Ausweg im Steuerstreit mit USA
    Schweizer Radio DRS, January 25, 2010- continued...
    Alfred Mettler discusses the bilateral agreement between Switzerland and the U.S. regarding the matter of UBS and client privacy.
     

  • How Plan to Curb Banks Could Help Consumers  
    SmartMoney, January 22, 2010 - continued...
    President Obama's proposed legislation to limit the size and risk-taking of large financial institutions could positively affect consumer banking down the road. For example, if the legislation is enacted and proprietary trading is prohibited, large banks could look to replace that revenue stream by lending more to consumers. "It's only a matter of time before banks will have to get back into lending," said Vikas Agarwal of the Department of Finance.
     

  • Das war keine leere Drohung der USAPDF icon

    Der Landbote (Switzerland)—January 12, 2010 - continued...
    Alfred Mettler of the Department of Finance discussed the January 8 ruling of the Federal Administrative Court of Switzerland that the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma) acted improperly when it handed over UBS client names to the United State in February 2009.
     


 

 

 

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