Bissett Insider

Bissett Finance students compete in the CIFP Case Challenge

Mount Royal - CIFP Case Challenge 2016The Bissett School of Business wishes to congratulate our students, coached by financial services contract faculty member, Sean Bjorkland, who competed in the annual CIFP Case competition, western edition, hosted by SAIT on March 12th.
“After a sequestration period where the students analyzed a personal financial planning case, the students presented and answered questions from industry leaders.  It is a challenging, if not daunting task.   I was extremely impressed with our team’s bold, yet reasoned and comprehensive recommendations.- Cathy Roy-Heaton
The CIFP Case Challenge was the largest Western edition to date with 8 teams, from 4 business schools, competing.  Representing Mount Royal University were:

Coach:

Sean Bjorkland, VP, Financial Planning, BMO Group & Contract Faculty, Bissett School of Business

 Student Team:

Uyen Nguyen
Jared Salekin
Carmela Salvador

Student Understudies:

Simar Bedi
Adam Szafraniec
Congratulations to the students and their coach, Sean Bjorkland,  for their dedication and professional representation of  the Bissett School of Business.

Bissett School of Business, Associate Professor, Allan Dwyer comments on the future of Alberta’s Oilsands.

A recent article by Kyle Bakx,  CBC News Reporter,   discussed the future of the Oilsands beyond the year 2020, with Bissett School of Business, Associate Professor, Allan Dywer providing comment. Allan’s concern is that there has not been enough research and development to keep pace with the increasingly competitive oil market and that the opportunity to decrease production costs through technological advancements has been lost.

‘The report confirmed my main concern, which is long term, the oilsands are not viable’– Allan Dwyer, Mount Royal University

To read the article in its entirety, please follow this link:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/oilsands-investment-economy-gdp-alberta-fed-report-1.3500768

Carlton Osakwe, Associate Professor at Bissett School of Business, is published in October issue of Journal of Futures Markets

Carlton Osakwe published a paper in the October issue of the Journal of Futures Markets  entitled: “Heston-Type Stochastic Volatility with a Markov Switching Regime”
His coauthors on this paper are Robert J. Elliott (University of Calgary) and Katsumasa Nishide (Yokohama National University)
“The Journal of Futures Markets chronicles the latest developments in financial futures and derivatives. Coverage ranges from the highly practical to theoretical topics that include futures, derivatives, risk management and control, financial engineering, new financial instruments, hedging strategies, analysis of trading systems, legal, accounting, and regulatory issues, and portfolio optimization written by leading finance academics and professionals.”

Former Bissett Student, Tasha Taylor appointed Assistant Chief of Staff to the Deputy Minister’s Office, Finance Canada

Bissett School of Business wishes to congratulate alumna, Tasha Taylor on her appointment to Assistant Chief of Staff for the Deputy Minister of  Finance Canada, in Ottawa.

Tasha graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration – Finance/Financial Services from Mount Royal University in 2012. While in her final year at the Bissett School of Business, Tasha captained the Bissett CFA Institute Investment Research Challenge team, where she demonstrated excellence in research, writing, presentation skills and analytical work. Upon graduation Ms. Taylor continued her education at the University of Calgary, obtaining a Master’s of Public Policy, International Trade and Investment in 2014. Prior to this appointment, Tasha served as an Economist with Finance Canada in the Capitals Markets Division, Market Policy Section.

Congratulations Tasha!

2015 ATB Investor Services Investment Challenge Winners

Stock Market Competition Winners 2015

Winners of the 2015 ATB Investor Services Investment Challenge, otherwise known as the Bissett Stockmarket Competition, were treated to a lunch with representatives of ATB on September 30. Pictured here are ATB Senior Manager Dan Smith with first place team winners Ken Ambrose and Aaron Harrington. Ken and Aaron and their partner Jordan Lazic managed to post a 34% annualized return in the six month competition which ran from September to March in the last academic year. It was the 10th edition of the annual competition, which has cash prizes for the members of the top three teams. The 11th edition of the competition got underway last week.

Congratulations to Catherine Roy Heaton on her reappointment to the CFA Institute DRC Committee

On September 1, Catherine Roy-Heaton was reappointed to to the Disciplinary Review Committee (“DRC”) of the CFA Institute for a fourth year.  This global committee of 30 CFA charterholders, hears and decides disciplinary matters related to the CFA Institute Code of Ethics, Standards of Professional Conduct and rules and regulations of the CFA Program.  In addition Cathy sits on the DRC Executive Team, with specific responsibility for the training function of the committee.
Further detail regarding the work and composition of the DRC may be found at the following link:

Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Research Challenge

The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Research Challenge took place on March 7, 2015. Cathy Roy-Heaton’s team of Alfred Chow, Davinder Jhutty, Riley Rodewold,and Ben Scott represented the Bissett School of Business this year in the CFA Institute Research Challenge (Canadian Prairies) competition. This is the fifth consecutive year that we have entered a team in the competition. In keeping with a growing history of strong performances from MRU teams, this year’s team made a strong presentation that had any Mount Royal observer beaming with pride. In a field of contestants that has been growing in size, and where only one winner can be chosen, the team once again demonstrated that not only do we have a right to be there, we can give everyone a run for their money.

Much appreciation goes out to the team for the hours they have spent over two semesters preparing their report and their presentation. Many thanks to Cathy, whose leadership in this makes it possible for us to compete, and to our industry mentor Stephen Paget, who gives many hours to our team in the months leading up to the competition.  This year’s competition was on Big Rock Brewery; students submit a written report in advance of the competition in addition to their presentation.  The group has once again set the bar high for the next team that follows in their footsteps.

Western Region Canadian Institute of Financial Planners Case Competition

On Saturday, March 14th MRU hosted the The Western Region Canadian Institute of Financial Planners Case Competition for the 2nd year in a row. We also had a team in the competition comprised of Hervin Pesa, Danni Richardson, and John Santiago who won the Silver Medal in what was an extremely close race. The team had spent much time in practice scenarios in the weeks leading up to the event, and their efforts paid off. Much thanks goes to Sean Bjorklund, who instructs two of our FNCE courses, and who volunteered much time to coach and mentor our team. Apart from their medals, our students receive significant cash prizes towards the completion of their CFP capstone courses and exams.
Throughout the event it was mentioned from executives of the CIFP from Toronto and Sunlife, who sponsored the competition in whole, how impressed they were for the second year in a row with the organization of the event, including the wonderful banquet at Heritage Village on Saturday night. They repeatedly made reference to the work done by Callista who made the whole thing happen without a hitch, and with class. If you see our contestants, Sean, or Callista, please be sure to pass on your congratulations on a job well done.