Exchange (2019) - Tippie College of Business

2019
THE HART FUND
Introducing Tippie’s student-managed
fixed-income investment fund
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA • TIPPIE COLLEGE OF BUSINESS • DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE

Exchange is an annual publication for
alumni and friends of the Department
of Finance, Tippie College of Business,
University of Iowa.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1
FROM THE CHAIR
2
DEPARTMENT NEWS
6
ALUMNI NEWS
10
SPOTLIGHT
THE HADLEY FINANCE LAB
COMING FALL 2019
12
FEATURE STORY
SEVEN SUNDAYS
This former consumer-investment banker
is flipping the breakfast aisle on its head.
14
FEATURE STORY
SERIES A.I.
With $33 million in series A funding, Tippie alumni
and student consultants are moving the world’s first
A.I. medical diagnostic system to the marketplace.
EDITOR/WRITER
Rebekah Tilley
DEPARTMENT EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Thomas A. Rietz
Soumyo Sarkar Professor of Finance
DESIGN
The Williams McBride Group
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Marc Bryan-Brown Photography
Fresh Coast Collective
Betsy Hafke
Ellie Klein Photography
Miranda Meyer
Bella Volfson Photography
PHOTOGRAPHY
D.J. Freesmeier | Frees Frame
Dan Kempf | IMPACT Photo
Jonathan Chapman Photography
Justin A. Torner | University of Iowa
Tim Schoon | University of Iowa
DIRECT CORRESPONDENCE TO
Rebekah Tilley
Tippie College of Business
S210 PBB
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242-1994
319-335-1554
rebekah-tilley@uiowa.edu
ADDRESS CHANGES
Email your changes to:
alumni-records@uiowa.edu
or mail to:
Alumni Records
Office of the Registrar
University of Iowa
2 Jessup Hall
Iowa City, IA 52242-1797
RECEIVE TIPPIE NEWS EMAIL
Email us at tippie-news@uiowa.edu to
subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter.
Copyright @ 2019 Tippie College of
Business, University of Iowa
All rights reserved.
16
COVER STORY
THE HART FUND
Introducing Tippie’s student-managed fixed-income investment fund.
CONNECT WITH US
@TippieIowa
TippieIowa
Tippie College of Business
@TippieCollege
20
3 PEOPLE / 3 QUESTIONS

FINANCE IS A
YES PROFESSION.
I was talking to a CFO the other day who told
me, “My job is to say yes, not no.” It’s about
managing resources and capital in a way that
allows you to promote your mission.
GO OUT AND SAY YES.
Tom Rietz
Department of Finance
Executive Officer and
Soumyo Sarkar Professor
of Finance
1 EXCHANGE 2019 UNIVERSITY OF IOWA TIPPIE COLLEGE OF BUSINESS 1

DEPARTMENT NEWS
COME TO IOWA
see the world.
QUOTED
NOTED
During my study abroad experience,
“
I was surrounded by a community of
people who were really challenging
themselves to be open-minded about new
experiences in a new place. Everyone
wanted everyone to succeed in this new
environment, and we built a really cool
community among ourselves.
”
2 EXCHANGE 2019
Trevor Jansma (BBA19), pictured here at Roys Peak,
reflecting on his semester at the
University of Otago in New Zealand.

RESEARCH CHALLENGE
finance undergrads win
CFA INVESTMENT
RESEARCH CHALLENGE
INVEST/HER
Undergraduate finance
students John Duzansky,
Michael Gerot, and Brian
Kearney won the local
round of the CFA Investment
Research Challenge, an
annual global competition
that provides university
students with hands-on
mentoring and intensive
training in financial analysis.
The team advanced to the
Americas Regional Challenge
in New York where they
competed against the best
teams from North and
South America.
HAWKINSON INSTITUTE
HAWKINSON INSTITUTE
celebrates
YEARS
1999-2019
QUOTED
NOTED
John Hawkinson’s
“
legacy has been
putting Iowa students
on super-steep
career trajectories in
banking and investing
for 20 years now.
”
A new Tippie student organization, InvestHer, was
launched fall 2018 led by finance undergraduate student
Maeve McGonigal (BBA20). Advised by Cathy Zaharis,
director of professional/employer development in
the college’s Undergraduate Program, InvestHer is a
community of students committed to building knowledge
and networks in finance, exploring careers, developing
leadership, and investing in women.
Brian Richman, director of
the Hawkinson Institute of
Business Finance
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA TIPPIE COLLEGE OF BUSINESS 3

DEPARTMENT NEWS
ONE OF THE
FIRST
student-managed
INVESTMENT
FUNDS AT A
U.S. UNIVERSITY
70+
SCHOLARSHIPS
AWARDED
with earnings from
the Henry Fund
HENRY FUND
25
YEARS
1994-2019
QUOTED
NOTED
“
In my experience,
there’s a big difference
between paper [money]
and the real McCoy.
”
293
HENRY FUND
alumni
fund named for
HENRY B. TIPPIE &
HENRY ROYER
Henry B. Tippie
$11.5 million
Current value of the graduate
student-managed equity portfolio
(March 21, 2019)
$842,755
Henry Fund distributions to support student
scholarships and athletic administration
over the last six years alone.
LEARN MORE
biz.uiowa.edu/henry/

$1,500
HENRY FUND RELATIVE PERFORMANCE
(Apr. 30, 1994 - Jan. 31, 2019)
Henry Fund
$1,000
S&P 500
$500
$0
APR-94
OCT-94
APR-95
OCT-95
APR-96
OCT-96
APR-97
OCT-97
APR-98
OCT-98
APR-99
OCT-99
APR-00
OCT-00
APR-01
OCT-01
APR-02
OCT-02
APR-03
OCT-03
APR-04
OCT-04
APR-05
OCT-05
APR-06
OCT-06
APR-07
OCT-07
APR-08
OCT-08
APR-09
OCT-09
APR-10
OCT-10
APR-11
OCT-11
APR-12
OCT-12
APR-13
OCT-13
APR-14
OCT-14
APR-15
OCT-15
APR-16
OCT-16
APR-17
OCT-17
APR-18
OCT-18
$50,000
Initial Investment
(Spring 1994)
11.01%
Henry Fund Average Return
(4/30/94-1/31/2019)
9.89%
S&P 500 Average Return
(4/30/94-1/31/2019)
36.58%
Largest one-year increase in value
(2003)
20/25
Years of Positive Return
ACADEMIC ADVISORS over the years
1994-1997
F. DOUGLAS FOSTER
Now a Professor of
Finance at the University
of Sydney
1997-1999
TIM LOUGHRAN
Now the C.R. Professor of
Finance at the University of
Notre Dame
1999 to present
TODD HOUGE
Professor of Instruction and
Director, Undergraduate Studies
in Finance
Curt and Carol Lane Research
Fellow
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA TIPPIE COLLEGE OF BUSINESS 5

ALUMNI NEWS
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT
Dean Sarah Fisher Gardial
Mark Buthman (BBA82)
Jon Raftis (BBA10/MBA15)
Kevin Velovitch (BBA12)
FINANCE GRADS
NAMED TIPPIE ALUM
& YOUNG ALUMS OF
THE YEAR
TIPPIE ALUM OF THE YEAR
Mark Buthman (BBA82)
Retired CFO, Kimberly-Clark
For several years, Buthman was an active and engaged
member of the Tippie Advisory Board. In partnership with
human resources leadership at Kimberly-Clark, he shared
the company’s efforts and his personal experience with the
benefits of building more diverse and inclusive leadership
teams. In recent years, Buthman has been instrumental in
helping the college establish recruiting relationships with
outside companies. Since his retirement as CFO of Kimberly-
Clark, he has devoted time to mentoring finance professionals,
especially those working in CFO roles.
6 EXCHANGE 2019

TIPPIE YOUNG ALUMS OF THE YEAR
Jon Raftis (BBA10/MBA15)
Account Executive, The Dana Company
Raftis served on the college’s Young Alumni Board for five
years and assumed an unofficial chair role on the board.
This leadership position was critical to formalizing the
board’s organizational structure and laid the foundation
for the board and its programs, which include a mentoring
program and its annual fundraising efforts. Raftis also cofounded
and served six years on the Vaughan Institute’s
Young Alumni Board.
Kevin Velovitch (BBA12)
Manager of International Network Planning,
United Airlines
ALUM CO-PRODUCES EMMY-WINNING
NETFLIX NATURE DOCUMENTARY
The Netflix documentary Chasing Coral won an Emmy for
Outstanding Nature Documentary in October 2018, and
associate producers Kevin Gruneich (BBA80) and his wife,
Donna (pictured at far left), were among the cast and crew
who took the stage at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York to
accept the honor. The Gruneichs first became interested
in producing films about 10 years ago when they moved to
Park City, Utah—home of the Sundance Film Festival. Since
then, they’ve helped fund close to 50 films about issues
they’re passionate about, ranging from education and the
environment to women’s rights, health care, and the arts.
Velovitch was elected to the college’s Young Alumni Board
shortly after his graduation in 2012 and stepped into the
board’s leadership role. During his tenure, fundraising
efforts increased, the number of applications for the board
grew significantly, and the mentor program expanded.
Service
“
on boards, reviewing
resumes, talking to students
interested in your company,
helping create a pipeline for
internship opportunities and
full-time interviews are all
simple ways to pay back
Tippie for the success
you’ve achieved since
walking across the stage to
receive your diploma.”
—Kevin Velovitch (BBA12)
IN BUSINESS FOR GOOD
Kyle Bogler (MBA13) is the senior general compliance
manager-Asia with the VF Corporation in Hong Kong.
His team verifies that VF contract factories abide by the
company’s Code of Conduct, which covers a range of issues
related to child labor, wages, and health and safety. Bogler
was part of a team that recently built four water towers in
village schools near one of VF’s large factories outside of
Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA TIPPIE COLLEGE OF BUSINESS 7

ALUMNI NEWS
CURT HEIDEMAN (BBA95) was
named regional president for US
Bank. He has worked with US Bank
for 15 years, most recently as
president of the Iowa City market.
ERIN L. DERBY HUNT (BBA03)
is vice president of employee
benefits and a voting shareholder
of the Holmes Murphy insurance
brokerage in Dallas.
GOLD MEDALIST
PETER HLAVIN (BBA80) received a gold medal representing the U.S. in the high jump
(men’s 60-64) at the World Masters Athletics Championships this past fall in Malaga, Spain.
BRIAN BAY (BBA10) is a digital
business integration manager
with Accenture. He lives in
Houston, Texas.
REGINA CARLS (BBA92) was
named to the 2018 list of Chicago’s
Notable Women in Commercial
Banking by Crain’s Chicago
Business. She is the managing
director, employee stock ownership
plan advisory group head at
JPMorgan Chase. She lives in St.
Charles, Illinois.
SAM CHOZEN (BBA11) is an
associate analyst, internal audit,
with FirstBank in Lakewood,
Colorado. He lives in Denver.
8 EXCHANGE 2019
MICHAEL CROWLEY (BBA09) is
the digital content manager at the
Augusta National Golf Club. He
lives in Augusta, Georgia.
VIGNESH DAS (BBA18) is a
financial analyst at BMO Harris
Bank. He lives in Chicago.
NATHAN ERWIN (MBA12) was
named vice president of supply
chain and operations with
Consumer Safety Technology
(Intoxalock) in January 2018.
LEANDRA FELDMANN (BBA18)
is an account executive with
Holmes Murphy and Associates in
Waukee, Iowa.
SCOTT GUNTHER (BBA18) is an
associate in fund accounting with
Northern Trust in Chicago.
JENNIFER GUIDI (BBA00) was
named to the 2018 list of Chicago’s
Notable Women in Commercial
Banking by Crain’s Chicago
Business. She is a managing
director at BMO Harris Bank. She
lives in Chicago.
ANDREW JAMES (BBA14) is
co-founder and partner of ABDB
Designs LLC, a multidisciplinary lab
founded in December 2016, to
design and handcraft innovative
contemporary furniture and
interior décor. ABDB’s patentpending
process creates table tops
and decorative surfaces by
embedding cross-cuts of wooden
end grain into high-colored resin,
as well as modern bases
manufactured in-house.
NORMAN E. JOHNSON (BBA71)
and his wife Barbara J. Bartlett
Johnson, have established the
Juanita J. Bartlett Professorship,
which is the first endowed position
at the UI to support a researchbased
neuroscience clinician.

Ashley Durham, Alumni Director
tippie.uiowa.edu/alumni/update
tippie-alumni@uiowa.edu
Do you want to be in the next issue?
SEND US YOUR UPDATE
Tippie College of Business
108 John Pappajohn Business Bldg.
Iowa City, IA 52242-1994
MICHAEL MAHONEY (BBA87)
was named as Glassdoor.com’s
Employee’s Choice number two top
CEO of 2018. Mahoney joined
Boston Scientific in 2012 and took
over as CEO in 2013.
ANDREW NAMANNY (BBA17) is
an associate sales representative
with Medtronic. He lives in Chicago.
IAIN O’CONNOR (BBA17) recently
accepted a position with Goldman
Sachs Private Wealth Management
after reaching out to a fellow Tippie
alum at the firm via LinkedIn.
ALI ROSENBERG (BBA15)
received the Alumnus of the Year
Award from the national Gamma
Iota Sigma business fraternity. She
is a senior associate broker with
AmWINS Group in Dallas, Texas.
HEIDI (JACOBSON) SMITHSON
(BBA90) was named to the 2018
list of Chicago’s Notable Women in
Commercial Banking by Crain’s
Chicago Business. She is the
executive vice president and
director of commercial real estate
with First Midwest Bank. She lives
in Northbrook, Illinois.
NAVYA MANNENGI (BBA17) is an
admission counselor with Drake
University in Des Moines.
ELIZABETH PHILIPP (BBA90)
joined Capital Dynamics in New
York City as a managing director
and head of North American
business development. She
previously worked at Angelo,
Gordon & Co. where she was a
managing director on the
marketing team.
JAY REAVIS (BBA05/MBA11),
vice president and shareholder of
Holmes Murphy, was named 2018
Vaughan Institute Young Alum of
the Year.
AARON SECREST (BBA12) is an
account manager of U.S. Channel
Sale with Apple in San Francisco.
JORDYN STEINKRITZ (BBA18) is
an investment banking analyst with
Goldman Sachs in New York City.
MATTHEW STEJSKAL (BBA07)
is vice president of corporate
development at Mutual of Omaha.
KATELYN WHEELDON (BBA16)
was recently promoted to senior
associate at Riveron.
DEREK MAUNUS (BBA98) is the
CEO of Gillig Corporation, which is
headquartered in the San
Francisco Bay area. Gillig is the
leading manufacturer of transit
buses in the U.S. including Cambus
for the UI as well as buses for Iowa
City and Coralville transit agencies.
PRESTON SCHNOOR (BBA10) is
vice president and actuary with AIG
in Woodland Hills, California.
EDITOR’S NOTE
Alumni Updates are submitted by
alumni and are not verified by the
editor. While we welcome alumni
news, Exchange Magazine is not
responsible for the information
contained in these submissions.
EDEN SIMMER (BBA05) is head
of global equity trading at PIMCO.
She lives in New York City.
HEATHER (HAY) MOORE
(BBA94) is vice president-Dwight
division at Aldi Inc. She lives in
Morris, Illinois.
DANA RAMUNDT (BBA74),
founder of The Dana Company, an
independent insurance agency in
Des Moines, has transitioned from
CEO to chairman.
9

The Hadley Finance Lab
COMING FALL 2019
10 EXCHANGE 2019

“
Creating a sophisticated space
where the next generation of Iowa
finance students can access the
tools and technology they need for
success felt like the perfect synergy
of honoring my time at Iowa and
where Iowa took me in my career.”
Philip Hadley
(BBA84)
Executive Chairman,
FactSet Research Systems Inc.
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA TIPPIE COLLEGE OF BUSINESS 11

SEVEN
Sundays
This former consumerinvestment
banker is flipping the
breakfast aisle on its head.
It started with an extended honeymoon in New
Zealand. Leaving behind her investment banking
job in New York, Hannah Barnstable (BBA04)
and her husband, Brady, took to the mountains
for unplugged days filled with hiking where
they were inspired by the landscape and fueled
with a new-to-them meal served at their bed and
breakfast: muesli.
After returning to New York City and their
“crazy jobs,” Barnstable found herself scouring
grocery store shelves looking to reclaim both the
wholesome new food that fueled her New Zealand
adventures, and the feelings and memories that
went with it. But she came up empty every time.
“It was that entrepreneurial moment where you
realize there’s kind of a gap here,” says Barnstable.
“We all know the value of eating real foods, and
breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
Yet when you really look at the breakfast aisle, it’s
pretty astonishing what qualifies as breakfast in
our country.”
12 EXCHANGE 2018

“ I decided at that point, I’m
either going to be a banker
forever, or I’m going to do
something different.”
This lightning bolt moment came as
Barnstable was in the sweet spot of
her career. The small investment bank
she joined after graduation had grown
rapidly in the six years Barnstable was
with the company. And she was growing
with it. She was one of the few internal
candidates promoted to vice president
where she was on the consumer group
and worked on a number of food deals,
which were her specialty.
“I decided at that point, I’m either going
to be a banker forever, or I’m going to do
something different,” says Barnstable.
“And I had always intended to put my
stamp on something in life instead of
always working for someone else.”
Barnstable uprooted her New York City
life and moved back home to Minnesota
to launch Seven Sundays in 2011.
Barnstable sourced and developed the
original recipes herself working with
small, organic farmers for the eclectic
collection of grains like sorghum, rye,
oatmeal and barley, seeds, nuts, and
fruits that make up Seven Sundays
“modern muesli.”
“Cereal sales have been declining for
well over a decade now, and that’s
a problem for retailers because
the breakfast aisle takes up a lot of
space and it’s not growing,” explains
Barnstable. “When I first started the
company, it was good timing because
retailers were trying to figure out what
to put on store shelves for consumers
who were sick of the artificial colors
and the sugary processed cereals.”
Then Target Corporation approached
Barnstable about moving Seven
Sundays into their stores within a few
months. She needed working capital to
close the deal on a tight timeframe so
she turned to a small network of people
for seed funding. A third of Seven
Sundays initial investors were fellow
Tippie alumni.
“When Hannah told me she was
moving back to Minnesota to build
Seven Sundays, I remember telling
her, if you ever raise money, call me,”
recalls Nicole Cook (BBA04), who
invested in Seven Sundays along with
fellow Hawkeyes Kate Brennan
(BBA02), Sandy Pfeiler Davis
(BBA04), and Emily Becker Zanios
(BBA05). “When Hannah made that
call a few years later, I was ready to
invest after having made one other
seed stage investment along with Kate
Brennan through our partnership, Five
Island Ventures. Hannah is one of
the smartest and most driven people
I’d ever met, and I knew she was on a
thoughtful path to building a successful
company. Plus, I love Seven Sundays
muesli and was a consumer too.”
Seven Sundays is now available in
a number of national retail stores
including Costco, HyVee, Kroger,
Lucky’s Market, and Jewel-Osco. The
company has grown to seven employees,
including her husband Brady and three
unofficial employees: Louis (6), Emry
(3), and baby June. And Barnstable
finally recaptured both the muesli and
New Zealand feeling she was hunting
for in New York grocery stores by
creating it for herself.
“When I come back to Iowa, what
I always tell students—especially
women—is don’t select your jobs now
based on some sort of lifestyle vision
you might have for yourselves 20 years
from now,” says Barnstable. “You’re all
going to kick ass and then you’ll create
some flexibility for yourselves down
the road.” •
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA TIPPIE COLLEGE OF BUSINESS 13

SERIES
A.I.
With $33 million in series A funding,
Tippie alumni and student consultants
are moving the world’s first A.I. medical
diagnostic system to the marketplace.
Gary Seamans has had two moments of profound
intuition in his professional life. The first was in the
early 1990s and involved the introduction of DSL. The
second was when he sat across from Michael Abramoff,
MD, PhD, and listened to him describe how autonomous
artificial intelligence (A.I.) could diagnose the leading
cause of blindness without a physician’s input.
Seamans immediately saw the
commercial potential.
14 EXCHANGE 2019

“I remember telling him, ‘Michael,
you should take this thing public,”
Seamans recalls.
Over a decade of efforts to get the
technology into the marketplace
would go by before Abramoff circled
back to Seamans and asked him to
come out of retirement to work “a few
hours a week” as CEO of the company
Abramoff decided to launch in 2010: IDx
Technologies Inc.
“There is no company that can succeed
without bringing together the right
products, the right people, the right
customers, the right financial drivers of
the company,” says Seamans.
To find the right people, Seamans
reached out to the Tippie College
Department of Finance. Semester
after semester, IDx gave teams of MBA
and later Master of Finance students
consultation projects as the company
worked through each stage of the
formidable process it takes to bring new
medical devices to market. Along the
way, it hired on those who demonstrated
skillsets and passions that matched the
needs of the growing company.
This included Benjamin Clark
(MBA13), now president and COO,
whom Seamans convinced to drop out
of the Full-time Iowa MBA Program and
complete his degree in the part-time
program instead. As of this printing,
four members of the IDx executive
leadership team are Tippie alumni.
“There is something special about Tippie
students,” says Seamans. “They are
very smart people. They have a moral
compass that points to true north. They
have a work ethic that drives what they
do, how they do it, why it’s important
to do it. When you bring people like
that into a company, you do your best to
support them and let them go run with
their native set of skills and talent.
That’s when magic happens.”
After the Food and Drug Administration
granted formal approval to market
the IDx-DR diagnostic system in April
2018, IDx raised $33 million in series
A funding to support its ability to
scale and commercialize. After the
series A funding round was completed
in September 2018, IDx tapped Nick
Viner (BBA07/MBA15) to join them as
director of finance and controller.
“I knew I liked the people, the mission,
and what they’re trying to accomplish,”
says Viner, who was part of an MBA
consultant team during the company’s
angel funding round. “Being able to be
a part of something like that is hugely
attractive. We’re working with the most
forward-thinking institutions to bring a
better treatment at a better cost base.”
The tradition of working with Tippie
finance students continues on at
IDx. In the fall 2018 semester, Levi
Howze (MBA19) and Elisa Suarez
Gil (MFIN20) were part of a student
consultation team that worked to
develop a financial model so IDx
salespeople can quickly compute a
potential client’s return on investment.
“It’s been a great opportunity to not only
analyze numbers, but tell the story
behind the numbers,” says Suarez Gil.
“The key was ensuring the tools were
flexible enough to provide real insight
and actionable recommendations about
an industry as complex as the US health
care system,” Howze adds.
“The consultation projects continue to
expose us to some of that very special
talent that exists in the business
school,” says Seamans, who recently
transitioned to the role of executive
chairman. A small step closer to
working the couple hours a week
Abramoff originally promised him, made
possible by a team of Tippie talent. •
FINANCE ALUMNI AT IDX
TOP LEFT
Benjamin Clark (MBA13)
President and COO
TOP RIGHT
Nick Viner (BBA07/MBA15)
Director of Finance and Controller
BOTTOM LEFT
John Casko (MBA13)
Senior Vice President of US Sales
and Business Development
BOT TOM RIGHT
Eric Talmage (MBA13)
Senior Vice President of Marketing
and Customer Success
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA TIPPIE COLLEGE OF BUSINESS 15

the
HART FUND
INTRODUCING TIPPIE’S STUDENT-MANAGED
FIXED-INCOME INVESTMENT FUND
BY REBEKAH TILLEY
“Offering a fixed-income fund is a brilliant mix of
opportunity for finance students to gain hands-on
experience in the whole portfolio management process
for fixed income, and to provide it while at Iowa so they
can leverage that experience as they begin their careers.”
—LORRAINE HART (MBA75)
16 EXCHANGE 2019

Lorraine Hart (MBA75)
was part of the first wave of
women who began bringing
diversity to the financial
industry. Now she is
leveraging her career success
to diversify experientiallearning
programming
for a new generation of
Tippie finance students by
launching the college’s first
student-managed fixedincome
investment fund:
the Hart Fund.
The Hart Fund joins the college’s
portfolio of student-managed
funds: the Henry Fund, an equity
fund managed by a select group of
graduate students, and the Krause
Fund, an equity fund managed by
undergraduate students enrolled
in the upper-level Applied Equity
Valuation course. Similar to the
Henry Fund, the Hart Fund will
be managed by graduate students
enrolled in the college’s Master of
Finance program.
“Offering a fixed-income fund is a
brilliant mix of opportunity for
finance students to gain hands-on
experience in the whole portfolio
management process for fixed income,
and to provide it while at Iowa so
they can leverage that experience as
they begin their careers,” says Hart,
who leveraged her MBA from the
university to launch her own career in
investment management.
“I didn’t leave Iowa saying, ‘I want to
spend my career as a fixed-income
manager.’ But when I was offered a
position in investments, I said yes.
And it just happened to be an excellent
fit, and I stuck with it throughout my
career,” Hart explains.
Hart took early retirement from her
role as vice president of investment
with Ameriprise Financial in 2006
and since then has devoted her time
to nonprofits and foundation boards
as a volunteer. This included a sixyear
term as an advisor to Tippie’s
Krause Fund. When she began a
conversation with the college’s
Department of Finance about how
she could best support its goals, Hart
found the opportunity to launch
a fixed-income fund incredibly
compelling.
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA TIPPIE COLLEGE OF BUSINESS 17

Madison Hauge (MFIN19), above, is
part of the inaugural Hart Fund class
along with Bailey Westfall (MFIN/
MSBA20) and Ravi Bhatt (MFIN19),
seen on the following page.
“Just to put it all on the table, I’m tired
of hiring Badgers. I’m tired of hiring Illini.
This is a great opportunity for Hawkeyes
to get a leg up during recruiting and get
involved in the fixed-income markets.”
—DEREK FOSTER (BBA13)
18 EXCHANGE 2019

HART FUND BOARD
“The world of fixed-income investing
is an important part of any diversified
portfolio,” says Hart, who is on the
inaugural advisory board for the
Hart Fund. “I thought this is a terrific
opportunity to add fixed income to the
equity experience Iowa students are
already getting.”
While the stock market provides a
popular backdrop for Hollywood films
about finance, the bond market has
quietly been in a period of explosive
growth. According to the Motley Fool,
the bond market has more than tripled
over the last 15 years and now exceeds
$100 trillion globally. There is a crucial
industry need for analysts who have
already connected classroom theory to
a trade desk. The Hart Fund rounds out
an exceptional educational portfolio
equipping Master of Finance students
with the hard and soft skills needed
to succeed.
“Every time we’ve put out the call for
alumni support, whether financial,
experiential, or advisory, it’s been
answered,” says Tom Rietz, Department
of Finance Executive Officer and Soumyo
Sarkar Professor of Finance. “Lorraine
is an incredible role model on a number
of levels, and the department is stronger
because of it.”
The Hart Fund is just wrapping up its
first semester under the direction of Dirk
Laschanzky, CFA (BBA88/MBA97),
who has taught in the Professional MBA
Program since 2001 and retired from
portfolio management with Principal
Global Investors in 2016 to teach fulltime.
Laschanzky says that while there
are hundreds of business schools that
offer hands-on equity management
experiences, there are considerably
fewer opportunities in fixed income even
though bonds are a significant component
of the marketplace.
“In the bond world, buying a security
is not like buying IBM or Apple stocks,
because securities are not always
available,” explains Laschanzky. “So you
have to look at what’s available in the
marketplace, what’s tradable, and what
kind of market impact you have when
you trade those securities. The very act
of buying a bond is a critical part of the
students’ learning, and the Hart Fund
experience will differentiate our students
to employers.”
It’s a differential that Derek Foster
(BBA13) hopes Tippie students will
leverage when they are interviewing for
jobs. Foster is a member of the Hart Fund
advisory board and a research analyst
with Allstate Investments.
“In my job, I make investment decisions
regarding our fixed income investments
in the power, oil and gas, and chemical
space,” says Foster, who, after graduating
from Tippie, declined a full scholarship
to the Full-time MBA Program and opted
for a Master of Science in Finance degree
from the Eller College of Management for
its CFA and fixed income focus. “What
I’m hoping for the Hart Fund and the
opportunity I wish I had been given is
for students to employ option-adjusted
spread, duration, portfolio construction,
liability matching, and other themes that
are learned from a textbook, and apply
them with real money on the line.”
With the Hart Fund experience in their
back pocket, Foster anticipates Tippie
students will be able to walk into any
interview room and close the deal.
“Just to put it all on the table, I’m tired of
hiring Badgers. I’m tired of hiring Illini.
This is a great opportunity for Hawkeyes
to get a leg up during recruiting and get
involved in the fixed-income markets,”
says Foster. •
Amy C. Adams (BBA91)
Senior Vice President and
Treasurer
CNA Financial
Ryan Baue, CFA (BBA14)
Senior Investment Analyst
University of Iowa Center for
Advancement
Bradley E. Dyslin (MBA90)
Senior Managing Director,
Global Investments;
Global Head of Credit
and Strategic Investment
Opportunities;
Global Co-Head of External
Manager Platform
Aflac Global Investments
Derek Foster, CFA (BBA13)
Research Analyst
Allstate Investments
Lorraine Hart (MBA75)
Community Volunteer and
Retired Investment Professional
Former VP Investment,
Ameriprise Financial
Robert E. (Bob) Larson
Assistant Treasurer
Deere & Company
Christine McElvania,
CFA, CFP (MBA14)
Partner, Investment Advisor
Quad Cities Investment Group
Dennis J. Menken (MAc86)
SVP & Chief Investment Officer
Principal Financial Group
Todd Nelson (MBA07)
Director, Head of Insurance
Debt Capital Markets
Wells Fargo Securities
Sarvjeev Sidhu
Global Head, Emerging Markets
Aegon Asset Management

3 PEOPLE / 3 QUESTIONS
JOSE MANUEL DIAZ
BBA17
Analyst, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
AMRITA NAIN
Associate Professor and Director, Finance Academy
Henry B. Tippie Research Fellow
1 What are you reading? The Rise and Fall of American Growth:
Q
The US Standard of Living Since the Civil War by Robert Gordon and
The Flame: Poems, Notebooks, Lyrics, Drawings by Leonard Cohen
2 Who is inspiring you? I am always inspired by the stouthearted
who soldier on to defy the Q odds.
3 What is the best part of your day?
Q Bedtime reading with my kids.
NICHOLAS J. HENTGES
BBA81
Co-CEO, Captive Resources
1 What are you reading? The Defining Decade
Q by Meg Jay, which I think every twenty-somethingyear-old
should read at some point for light inspiration.
2 Who is inspiring you? I’m based in Chicago
Q now and there is a large Hawkeye network here.
Getting updates from my friends and colleagues advancing
their impact throughout the city is inspiring. Knowing we are
the future of the city keeps me motivated to do good at work
and within my community.
3 What is the best part of your day?
Q Best part of my day has to be my daily walk to the
Belmont Stop before getting on the “L.” The early sunrise and
crisp air of the morning is my favorite time to focus on the day
ahead as well as using the brisk walk to get a kick start on my
walk activity.
1 What are you reading? The Billionaire Who Wasn’t by Connor O’Clery. It is the story
Q of Chuck Feeney, the founder of Duty Free Shops, who made billions but has vowed to give it
all to charitable organizations in his lifetime. He is a great example of how successful business people
can and do positively impact our society.
2 Who is inspiring you? My brother-in-law, Scott Langel. He fought cancer for 10
Q years while raising a beautiful family, doing great things for the city of LeMars, Iowa, as its
city administrator, and living life to the fullest up until the day he passed away. I never once heard him
complain or feel sorry for himself despite many very difficult days.
Q
3 What is the best part of your day? Spending time with my wife of 38 years,
Mary. I am also thankful for the opportunity to interact with our employees, clients, and
vendor partners in building a business I am very passionate about.
20 EXCHANGE 2019

The University of Iowa prohibits discrimination in employment, educational programs, and activities on the basis of race, creed, color,
religion, national origin, age, sex, pregnancy, disability, genetic information, status as a U.S. veteran, service in the U.S. military, sexual
orientation, gender identity, associational preferences, or any other classification that deprives the person of consideration as an
individual. The university also affirms its commitment to providing equal opportunities and equal access to university facilities. For
additional information on nondiscrimination policies, contact the Director, Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, the University of
Iowa, 202 Jessup Hall, Iowa City, IA 52242-1316, 319-335-0705 (voice), 319-335-0697 (TDD), diversity@uiowa.edu. W37459

Department of Finance
108 John Pappajohn Business Bldg
Iowa City IA 52242-1994
MASTER OF
FINANCE
A three-semester program that
offers real-world fund management
and consulting experience.
tippie.uiowa.edu/mfin
ELISA SUAREZ GIL (MFIN20)