Schedule
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. – Check in
Hyatt Regency McCormick, 1st floor, Grant Park Room
12:30 p.m. - 12:50 p.m. – Opening Remarks
Hyatt Regency McCormick, 1st floor, Grant Park Room
Dr. Tarek Zaher, Professor of Finance/Co-Founder and Managing Director of SMIFC, Scott College of Business, Indiana State University
Dr. Terry Daugherty, Dean, Scott College of Business, Indiana State University
Session 1: 12:50 p.m. - 1:50 p.m. – Panel Discussion
Hyatt Regency McCormick, 1st floor, Grant Park Room
Session 2: 1:50 p.m. - 2:40 p.m.
Hyatt Regency McCormick, 1st floor, Grant Park Room
2:40 p.m. - 2:50 p.m. – Break
Session 3: 2:50 p.m. - 3:40 p.m. –
Hyatt Regency McCormick, 1st floor, Grant Park Room
Session 4: 3:40 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. – Corporate Connection & SMIFC Teams Poster Session Competition
Hyatt Regency McCormick, 1st floor, Lincoln Park Room
3:40 p.m. – 4:10 p.m. – Poster Session Judges Evaluation Visit
4:10 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. – Poster Session Students Visit
4:20 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. – Poster Session Judges Meeting
Session 5: 3:40 p.m. – 4:10 p.m. – Paper Presentation 1
Hyatt Regency McCormick, 1st floor, Grant Park Room
Session 6: 4:20 p.m. – 4:50 p.m. – Paper Presentation 2
Hyatt Regency McCormick, 1st floor, Grant Park Room
Session 7: 5:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. – Paper Presentation 3
Hyatt Regency McCormick, 1st floor, Grant Park Room
Session 8: 5:40 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. – SMIFC Partners Meeting
Hyatt Regency McCormick, first floor, Hyatt Conference Center, Grand-Park Room
Agenda
- SMIFC Journal
- SMIFC Regional Meetings
- Additional Sponsorships
- Recommendations for program changes
- SMIFC Database
Session 9: 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. – Dinner
Hyatt Regency McCormick, 1st floor, Grant Park Room
Session 5: 9:00 a.m. - 9:50 a.m. –
Hyatt Regency McCormick, first floor, Hyatt Conference Center, Ballroom
9:50 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. – Break
Session 6: 10:00 a.m. - 10:50 a.m. —
Hyatt Regency McCormick, first floor, Hyatt Conference Center, Ballroom
10:50 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. – Break
Session 7: 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. –
Hyatt Regency McCormick, first floor, Hyatt Conference Center, Ballroom
Session 8: 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. – Lunch, and Announcement of Competition’s Awards
Hyatt Regency McCormick, first floor, Hyatt Conference Center, Ballroom
Poster Session Competition Awards: Sponsored by CMT Association.
Financial Analysis Competition Awards: Sponsored by Indiana State University
Competition winners will be announced, and awards distributed followed by a short presentation by the winning teams
Session 9: 1:30 p.m. - 2:20 p.m. –
Hyatt Regency McCormick, first floor, Hyatt Conference Center, Ballroom
2:20 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. – Break
Session 10: 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. –
Hyatt Regency McCormick, first floor, Hyatt Conference Center, Ballroom
Session 11: 3:30 p.m. - 4:20 p.m. —
Hyatt Regency McCormick, first floor, Hyatt Conference Center, Ballroom
4:20 p.m. — Closing Remarks
Hyatt Regency McCormick, first floor, Hyatt Conference Center, Ballroom
Competition Projects
The poster session provides the SMIFC teams with a way to display information about their SMIF including performance during 2024. As an incentive to participate in the poster session competition, SMIFC – We will recognize and present awards for the top three teams that demonstrate excellence for outstanding performance and outstanding visual presentation. Presenters will participate in engaging their colleagues at other SMIFC schools. All presenters are responsible for bringing or delivering the posters to the conference and removing them after the conference. Posters presenters must arrive at least 15 minutes before the start of the poster session. To participate in the poster competition, please do the following.
- Send an email to tarek.zaher@indstate.edu by 5:00 p.m. September 10, 2025. Indicating your intention to participate in the competition.
- Report your fund(s) time-weighed rate of return (TWRR) on the attached template and send it to us along with the twelve-monthly statements from the brokerage house that host your SMIF for the period: January 1, 2024, to December 31, 2024. If your school hosts more than one fund, two different teams from your school can participate in the competition.
Evaluation Rubric
- SMIF performance measured by Sharpe ratio (00%)
- Visual presentation (35%)
- Presentation to judges (35%)
Poster Session Cash Prize Pool
Courtesy of Scott College of Business at Indiana State University
- First Place — $1000
- Second Place — $800
- Third Place — $700
This project is an exercise in creating a long-term investment strategy and building an investment portfolio using fundamental analysis. The Investment horizon is five years. Teams of 1 to 3 students will create a paper trading portfolio of $100,000 that can be invested in stocks. Each team is also required to write a 6–10-page (including exhibits) paper describing their investment plan and demonstrating their knowledge of analysis of economic, industrial, political, global and financial conditions, and their understanding and application of fundamental analysis concepts and the criteria they used in stock selection, allocation, and risk management of their portfolio. Up to two teams from each school can participate in the competition.
Evaluation Rubric
- Analysis of economic, industrial, political, global, and financial conditions (25%)
- Asset allocation and diversification (25%)
- Financial Analysis and selection of stocks (25%)
- Write up of the paper and exhibits (25%)
Portfolio Building Cash Prize Pool
Courtesy of Scott College of Business at Indiana State University
- First Place — $1000
- Second Place — $800
- Third Place — $700
Timeline
September 19, 2025 - Deadline for Paper submissions
October 10, 2025 - Conference prizes awarded to Portfolio Building Competition
Submissions and Representation
Please submit two copies of the portfolio building paper to tarek.zaher@indstate.edu . no later than 5:00 p.m. Eastern time, on September 19, 2025. One copy of the paper would have school affiliation and team member’s names. A second copy of the paper will be evaluated by the judges and therefore should not contain any identifying information. We encourage all SMIFC Schools to participate in the competition. Schools that will participate in Project 2 competition should have at least one member of their team(s) present at the conference. The winning teams will make a 5-10 minutes’ presentation of their paper at the conference.