FMA 2017-2018 Magazine

FROM THE
FMA DESK
MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR
FMA has made incredible strides over the last four years with the vested and engaged
help of its student members, young alumni and backers. The organization, as I see it, is
a dichotomy: a start-up that has accomplished significant feats with limited resources;
and a growth company that is now faced with a choice between good quality and
excellence. I believe that there are boundless opportunities for FMA to establish itself
as a nationally respected elite finance program. We can do this by building on a strong
foundation and thoughtfully establishing a competitive strategy that identifies critical
areas of focus, creates a curriculum to support each of these areas, and masterfully
integrates the focus areas as a streamlined and integrative program of excellence.
Mission Statement: Provide a fully integrated program at Auburn University that combines
education, career preparation, industry intellectual capital, alumni engagement and
information resources to produce the best trained and prepared students for finance careers.
The critical success areas for an elite finance program include: Industry Exposure,
Technical/Academic, Alumni Engagement, Professional Preparation, and Branding. It
is truly remarkable how far and definite our progress has been in these areas, driven by
student members and alumni with a sense of ownership and abounding drive.
However, when I compare our young organization to elite programs in the nation, I
question, not the worth of what we have accomplished to date, but whether there are
other domains…with which we do not as yet deal effectively. Rapid as our advance has
been, the failure to capitalize on further areas of growth and advancement for our
students would be neglectful. I propose that we use the mission statement to guide
this program toward an integrated and purposeful curriculum that seeks improvement
in areas of weakness and coordinates efforts between students, alumni and faculty.
Target improvement areas are: practical industry and academic integration including
structured supporting coursework and credit, additional focused alumni engagement
and communication, and the addition of a thoughtfully planned elite student
investment lab. These targets only seem wildly aspirational when one forgets the path
that we have forged in the short time since inception.
Finance Rocks!
FMA 2018 MAGAZINE 5