The Quinnipiac Global Asset Management Education Forum is the largest student-led financial conference in the world, and this year, Merrimack College’s student-managed Fixed Income Fund took first place in the Forum’s annual competition.
Held in New York City on March 19 and 20, the event drew more than 135 colleges and universities from around the world. The Merrimack Investment Fund sent 14 students to represent the College across four days of immersive experiences, including touring financial firms, attending investment panels with industry experts and competing on the global stage.
The hard work that brought the Fixed Income Fund to the Quinnipiac GAME Forum began long before the students set foot in New York City. It started in the classroom and long nights in the Mucci Capital Markets Lab, where access to Bloomberg Terminals gave our team an industry-leading window into real markets.
It was there the students had detailed conversations about the direction of interest rates, dissected Federal Reserve commentary and tracked the macroeconomic trends shaping fixed income markets in real time. Those were not required sessions. Every student who pulled up a Bloomberg screen and joined those conversations chose to be there, and that matters. That level of genuine investment and shared curiosity is how a fund from Merrimack College can not only compete, but win.
The GAME Forum experience extended well beyond the competition itself. Through the generosity of alumni and friends of the Merrimack community, students were granted a behind-the-scenes look at the investment industry. Joseph Wisniewski graciously welcomed the students to Bloomberg headquarters, offering insight into his role as an account manager and the firm’s broader operations. Donovan Wildgoose ’95, managing director at Bank of America Private Bank, invited us to the Bank of America Tower for the fourth Annual Investment Breakfast, where he engaged our team and offered his perspective on the industry.
We also had the privilege of joining alumni Jim Connell ’91, chief procurement officer at JPMorgan Chase & Co., for lunch at J.P. Morgan, who shared invaluable guidance and market insights, as well as Jordan Agudosi ’22, former analyst in the Merrimack College Equity Fund and current client associate at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
None of this would be possible without the dedicated students and faculty who make the Merrimack College Fixed Income Fund what it is. Managing director of the Mucci Capital Markets Lab and faculty advisor Mary Papazian, faculty members Fan Chen, Kevin Wagner, Omer Unsal and former Portfolio Manager Kaylie Sheffield ’25, were instrumental in building the students’ market knowledge, deepening their understanding of investments and shaping them into professionals.
