Home ListingOctober 1, 2015

Kresge Foundation Funds Talent Pipeline

The nonprofit is putting its trust—and a slice of its $3.5 billion portfolio—in the hands of local students to foster future investors.<br />

Reported by Featured Author

The Kresge Foundation is taking talent development to the collegiate level.

The Detroit-based nonprofit has partnered with Oakland University (OU) to give business students the opportunity to manage a portion of its $3.5 billion portfolio, Kresge announced Wednesday.

Students at the Detroit area school will oversee a $2 million fund as part of a new business course offered at the university. The class, which launched this fall, is designed to “provide real-world investment experience to OU undergraduates while exposing them to local career opportunities in investment management,” a university release said.

Kresge CIO Rob Manilla said the foundation created the student-management investment fund to develop young talent for local investment jobs.

“The curriculum and hands-on experience offered in this class will better prepare OU graduates for the job market,” said Manilla. “By exposing students to a broader range of investment roles, we are optimistic that we will be able to retain our locally-trained talent.”

Students enrolled in the course will research and analyze securities listed on the S&P 500 Index to develop investment recommendations, which they will then formally present to an advisory board made up of professionals from Kresge and Detroit-based investment companies.

After the recommended portfolio has been fine-tuned, a member of Kresge’s investment team will then officially conduct the stock transactions.

Kresge President and CEO Rip Rapson said the partnership would not only prepare students for real-life opportunities, but also make them aware of local career options in asset management.

“Today’s announcement illustrates Kresge’s commitment to use a variety of financial tools to address upstream constraints—in this this case, the small population of investment graduates available to fill local job opportunities,” Rapson said.