Student-managed investment fund opens new doors for B&E, economics students

Eight Lawrence University students gathered in the Business and Entrepreneurship Center in Fox Commons recently to pitch investment recommendations to a panel of alumni who joined the session remotely. It was the next step in a newly launched student-managed investment fund that will be an ongoing part of the business and entrepreneurship and economics programs at Lawrence.

“What makes the student-managed fund truly special—beyond the fact that we’re managing real capital—is that it reflects the liberal arts spirit of Lawrence,” said Joseph “Jeb” Dee, a rising senior from Carlisle, Massachusetts, studying economics. “Business and investment do not happen in a vacuum. To understand markets and make smart investment decisions, you also need to understand psychology, politics, data, ethics, science, philosophy, history, and culture. That’s where the liberal arts model gives us an edge.”

In 2022, Lawrence introduced its new business and entrepreneurship major, created to prepare future innovators with the skills to bring social, global, and environmental context to business leadership. The program, building on Lawrence’s well-established Innovation and Entrepreneurship interdisciplinary area, has quickly become one of the university’s most popular majors. Lawrence then unveiled its B&E Center in October 2024 on the second floor of Fox Commons in downtown Appleton, providing an interactive space for students and mentors to gather on topics related to finance, economics, investment, and entrepreneurial exploration.

Now comes the introduction of the Lawrence University Student-Managed Fund (LUSMF). The Fund launched this month, incorporating the student-led investment ideas presented in the final project of the Investments II course. It launched with $100,000 funded by the university and will be supported by alumni contributions in the future. Students finishing the Investments II course become portfolio managers for the LUSMF.  With light supervision from an advisory group that includes faculty and alumni, the portfolio managers will monitor the performance of the fund and their investments. On a monthly basis, they will meet to follow up their investments with performance reports, and they will consider new suggestions for investments in the LUSMF.  Approval of new investment positions will be voted on by the portfolio managers. On a quarterly basis, the students will produce a statement of performance and write a summary.  

The students involved in LUSMF just finished Investments II, a three-unit course taught by Tim Thompson ’78. They also have been mentored by Dean DuMonthier ’88, who organized the stock pitch event and has been heading the effort to create the student-managed fund. The students, along with five others, previously took the Investments I course, also taught by Thompson.

Thompson is an independent consultant at Thompson Corporate Finance Consulting. He taught applied corporate finance—mergers and acquisitions, capital structure, and corporate restructuring—at top business schools for 27 years. DuMonthier is a trustee for Lawrence and currently serves as chair of the Investment Committee with responsibility for Lawrence University’s endowment.

Investments I covers general principles in making investment decisions for any economic entity: corporations, non-profit organizations, private equity investors, or investors in public stocks and bonds. Investments II expands on the students’ learning, with the goal of developing candidate stocks for inclusion in the student-managed fund. Students study portfolio management, efficient diversification, efficient markets, and portfolio performance measurements, then focus on stock selection. 

“The new curricular offering in investments and the LUSMF give the students exposure to practical application of financial principles and is of value to any Lawrence students in three concrete ways,” Thompson said. “First, almost all graduates will go on to work at organizations that will make long-term investments, which will necessitate sacrificing current resources for future long-term potential benefits, and understanding the trade-offs involved in that is crucial to understanding how businesses survive and thrive. Secondly, Lawrence students going on job or internship interviews will have exposure to applying financial tools in real-world situations, bringing perspective, familiarity with relevant terms, and some awareness of current news and events. Thirdly, all graduates hopefully will one day manage their own investments in their 401(k)’s, etc., and should understand alternative investment vehicles, the value of diversification, and how to be good stewards of their own retirement funds.”

Working in teams, the students selected stocks, developed investment theses, and backed them with quantitative analysis and macroeconomic context before making their pitches to the alumni panel.

“We integrated what we’d learned not just in these two classes but across our entire Lawrence education, bringing in economic theory, strategic thinking, and communication skills to build comprehensive pitches,” Dee said.

He called the experience in synthesizing complex data, evaluating risk, and articulating a recommendation “extremely gratifying” as it builds skills that will be useful across industries.

“These courses did not merely teach us how to invest capital—they taught us how to think critically and make informed decisions, regardless of the field,” Dee said.

The student-managed fund, Dee said, is helping him ponder career options beyond working for an investment firm.

“One of the most important lessons I’ve taken from this experience—emphasized often by Dean DuMonthier—is that career paths are rarely linear, but you need to have intent in your decisions and a natural curiosity,” he said. “The fund has opened doors by connecting us directly with Lawrence alumni, many of whom are now in roles we aspire to.”

Dee said having a shared experience—like managing real capital or working in the B&E Center’s Finance Lab—gives students something concrete to talk about when reaching out to those alumni.

“It removes a lot of the awkwardness and hesitation that students often feel when networking,” he said. “Rather than asking vague questions, we’re engaging in meaningful conversations about shared challenges, strategies, and lessons learned. Ultimately, this experience hasn’t just prepared me for a specific career—it’s made me a more thoughtful, versatile, and engaging professional.”