Economics majors Yee Chang ’15 and Anh Tran ’16 are the inaugural recipients of the Mairs and Power Award for Investment Study. The award, established this fall by Mark Henneman ’83 and Terri Henneman ’83, will provide scholarships to one junior and one senior student pursuing an education in finance and investment at Gustavus. The award will also give support to the senior recipient to take the Charter Financial Analyst Level 1 Exam in June following graduation from Gustavus.
Associate Professor in Economics and Management Sheng Yang believes the award is important because, in addition to helping and inspiring students, it will raise awareness among students of the CFA certification and the financial industry in general.
“The CFA certification is one of the most difficult and prestigious credentials in the financial industry,” Yang said. “Those financial professionals with the certification will become the most sought after. Students who are interested in pursuing a career in the financial industry should definitely consider getting the CFA certification.”
The founders of the award want to encourage and inspire Gustavus students to pursue careers in financial and investment industries. Recognizing the lack of gender diversity in financial investment, the founders want to place a special emphasis on women students to help them succeed as finance professionals.
In addition to the scholarship award, recipients will be partnered with Mark Henneman for the academic year, who will serve as an alumni mentor by answering questions for students and assisting them in their pursuit of a career in investment, as well as helping the senior award recipient in their preparation for the CFA exam. Henneman, a CFA holder himself, is currently Executive Vice President at Mairs & Power, an investment firm based in St. Paul.
Yee Chang ‘15
Senior award recipient Yee Chang ‘15, a member of the Finance Club, enjoys learning about numbers and how money works, and hopes to pursue a career as a financial analyst. She isn’t sure if she would like to work in corporate finance or an investment firm, but one thing she does know is that she wants to give back to her Hmong community one day.
“Hmong people have just been coming to the United States for the past 40 years and haven’t really been exposed to the financial markets and instruments. They are becoming more successful and their businesses are flourishing, and I wish to use the knowledge I have cultivated now and in the future to assist Hmong people and businesses on how to invest,” Chang said.
Along with the scholarship, as the senior recipient, Chang’s award comes with the resources to take the CFA exam in June. She is thinking about opening her own financial services and investment company one day, and knows that the CFA certification will help her credibility greatly when that day comes.
“Even if I don’t open a business, receiving the CFA certification would open the doors to other opportunities and help me move up in my career, whether it is in corporate finance or in an investment firm,” Chang said.
Chang is excited to be one of the inaugural recipients of the award knows that it will help her achieve her goals to work in the financial industry.
“I feel honored to receive this award knowing how competitive and rare this opportunity is. I will most definitely take the chance to provide knowledge to fellow peers that such opportunities like the Mairs and Power Award are available,” Chang said.
Anh Tran ‘16
After completing an internship with Standard Chartered Bank in her hometown of Hanoi, Vietnam, junior award recipient Anh Tran ‘16 knew she wanted to pursue a career in finance and investment.
Tran, an international student, is an active member of the Investment Club at Gustavus and enjoys hearing professors’ stories about gaining or losing money in investment. Tran is one of few female members in the club and felt overwhelmed at first, but she hopes to change this dynamic and help empower other women students interested in investment.
“I was amazed to find that the female members rarely asked questions or spoke about the stocks, whereas male members were more vocal about the stocks in which they were interested. This observation made me want to be more active so that our voices, as women, could be heard. I am researching a few stocks that I find interesting so that I can present them in the next meeting. I believe this is a necessary step to be a more involved member of the club,” Tran said.
This award will help Tran pay for her tuition and work toward a career in finance and investment. She also plans to take the CFA certification after her senior year and then get a job as a financial professional.
“I am very grateful and happy to receive this award. When I got the announcement letter, I couldn’t believe the news and had to ask my friend to read it again for me,” Tran said.
For more information about the Mairs and Power Award for Investment Study, contact Sheng Yang, Associate Professor in Economics and Management at syang10@gustavus.edu or Barb Larson Taylor, Director of the Center for Servant Leadership, at btaylor@gustavus.edu, or visit the Center for Servant Leadership website at www.gustavus.edu/servantleadership.
Leave a Reply