Financial Markets Program - University of Minnesota

Phil Rolle
Dave Gaddie
Joe Artim
“ A lot of young people think it is
commonplace to walk into a
finance career and make a lot of
money. This program pushes the
experiential component, so
they are truly prepared to go out
and know what area
they want to work in.”
– JOE ARTIM –
Director, Financial Markets Program
A major reason for the program’s ability
to launch so quickly was the help it received
from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson
School of Management in Minneapolis
which runs the Golden Gopher Growth
Fund, a $4 million portfolio, as part of its
MBA program.
“We made numerous visits to
Carlson,” says Dean Knudsen. “Their
Dean, Dr. David Kidwell, was extremely
helpful as a resource in helping to
organize our program. We eventually
hired the same law firm that helped
structure their program and live fund.”
Mr. Matt Thompson of Faegre and
Benson was instrumental in designing the
legal architecture of our fund.
One of the bank presidents
approached by the Dean explains why he
was so quick to support this groundbreaking
initiative:
“I was intrigued by the idea of a
program entirely focused on investment
strategies and portfolio management on
the undergraduate level, since it had
never been before,” said Mr. Phil Rolle of
Wells Fargo. “We wanted in on this,
because Wells Fargo has a long-held belief
to give back to the community. Those are
not just words, they’re our history. For us
this is the perfect marriage of private
industry and a nonprofit.”
Rolle attributes the program’s success
to Dean Knudsen’s leadership and the fact
Mr. Joe Artim was available to assume the
role of Program Director.
“We had an idea, but Joe, with his
talents and experience, took it to the next
level,” said Rolle. “The execution of this
program has been extraordinary.”
A Program is Ready
The story behind the LSBE Financial
Markets Program’s beginnings and how
its founders planned, partnered for, and
executed it in such a short time, created,
in part, its first “experiential” lesson: to be
successful in investment fields, it’s okay to
take a chance, but only if you are well
prepared with the proper resources
supporting you – and you’re able to think
and act quickly
2 UMD LABOVITZ SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS – FINANCIAL MARKETS PROGRAM
At his cabin on Lake Vermilion in
northern Minnesota, Mr. Joe Artim was
on sabbatical from his job in London
when he saw an ad in the Minneapolis
Star Tribune for a director of a new
program at UMD. After a career
spanning 13 years in investment
management and taking him from
Chicago to New York and finally,
London, Artim saw that ad as a higher
calling.
A 1986 University of Evansville
(Evansville, IN) graduate, Artim was poised
to inherit his father’s trucking company,
but both knew this was Joe’s time to “see
what’s out there.”
The Monday after the Crash of ’87
marked his first day on the job at the
Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Working 70
to 80 hours a week on the floor for Refco,
Artim quickly advanced from runner,
phone clerk to eventually arb clerk within
six months of being on the floor. Shortly
thereafter he moved on to an execution
desk at Heinold Asset Management, which
was becoming one of the first groups to
structure commodity funds.
Heinold Asset Management offered a
generous tuition reimbursement program,
so Artim quickly decided to pursue his
MBA at Loyola University, completing
the 2-year program in roughly 14
months. In 1991, Artim was offered the
opportunity to join the Millburn
Corporation in New York City where he
served as a hedge fund trader. He moved
to London in 1995 when offered a
position with Pareto Partners as a senior
portfolio manager and was involved in
products that ranged from their global
equity strategy, currency overlay program,
global fixed income strategy as well as
heading up their alternative investment
strategy area until his sabbatical.
During his years in New York with
Millburn, Artim also taught finance parttime
at NYU for three years.
“This experience planted the seed that
I may want to teach someday,” said Artim.
By the time of his first interview at UMD
in the summer of 2001, he was already
laying out plans how different facets of the
program needed to be constructed.