Fall 1999

The Blue Hen Investment Club has been feathering its financial nest very well, while giving UD students hands-on experience with a real-dollar investment portfolio.

First suggested by President David P. Roselle, the club began in 1996 with $500,000 from the operating funds of the University. That initial amount has increased 70 percent to $850,000 in three years through reinvestment in large U.S. stocks, according to the club's president, Munish Pahwa. A doctoral student in economics from India, Pahwa also works for MBNA America Bank in strategies and forecasting.

"Since the club was founded, its target has been to have a better return than the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. The market is doing well, and last year, the Blue Hens had a return of 26 percent, which is impressive," Pahwa says.

Education, however, is the primary focus of the club, according to faculty adviser Donald Puglisi, MBNA America Business Professor. The approximately 30 members, who are upperclass and graduate students in the College of Business and Economics, must research common stocks in core industries, make presentations and proposals to their peers and then make investment decisions by a two-thirds vote.

"The club has a good batting average," Puglisi says. "In hindsight, there have been some problems with some stocks, but that comes with the territory, and at the time, the decisions to purchase seemed well-founded."

The Blue Hen Investment Club is a truly professional operation that prepares some students for careers in the investment field and provides others with experience in personal investing, Puglisi says.

Pahwa has been an active member of the group in different capacities, having served on the investment and accounting committees. The investment committee manages the portfolio, analyzes each stock considered for inclusion and keeps minutes of meetings. The accounting committee is involved with internal and external reporting requirements.

The club also has invited outside speakers, and members took a field trip to visit the managers of the DuPont pension fund.

Vice President and University Treasurer Stephen Grimble, who interfaces with the club as he does with other portfolio managers, says the club has done extremely well and has met its benchmark objectives.

Semiannually, members of the Blue Hen Investment Club, with other portfolio managers, report to the investment visiting committee of the Board of Trustees, which oversees the University's endowment.

"The committee, which is composed mainly of business persons, enjoys the presentation by the students and gives them useful suggestions and feedback," Grimble says. "So, it is a two-way street."