The Heilbrunn Center's First Annual Letter
(2012 - 2013)
Greetings from the Heilbrunn Center! As we embark on another academic year, we are excited to announce the courses and events the Heilbrunn Center is supporting in conjunction with our two major themes for 2012 - 2013: highlighting women investors and celebrating 85 years of Benjamin Graham.
Faculty
We welcome back from sabbatical center co-director Professor Bruce Greenwald. Bruce taught Globalization with Joseph Stiglitz in July and will teach Economics of Strategic Behavior and Value Investing in Spring 2013.
We are very pleased to welcome new faculty members: Rishi Renjen (Maverick Capital), Lauren Krueger '02 (Esopus Creek Advisors), Yen Liow (Ziff Brothers), Patrick Sullivan '11 (Ziff Brothers), Ellen Carr (Capital Group), Eric ALmeraz '02 (Apis Capital), and David Horn '02 (Kiron Advisors) and Ciara Burnham '93 (Evercore Partners).
Rishi Renjen will be teaching a bidding section of Applied Value Investing with Kevin Oro-Hahn '10. Lauren Krueger '02 will be teaching a new course called "Misunderstood Securities: Investing in Uncertainity and Change," and Yen and Patrick Sullivan '11 will co-teach Mental Models.
In Spring 2013, Ellen Carr and Margaret Cannella '76 will co-teach a new course entitled "From Feast to Famine (And Back Again):the Credit Markets and LBOs from 2003 - 2013." Eric Almeraz '02 and David Horn '02 will teach a bidding section of Applied Value Investing. Ciara Burnham '93 will teach Applied Security Analysis for EMBA this spring.
Highlighting Women in Investing
In accordance with our highlighting Women Investors theme this year, we are thrilled that Meryl Witmer will be speaking at the 22nd Annual Graham and Dodd Breakfast on Friday, October 5, 2012 at the Pierre Hotel. The event will coincide with a video conference Value Investing Seminar held at Fidelity Investment Management's office in London, England.
Prior to beginning our search for a featured speaker for the 22nd Annual Graham and Dodd Breakfast, we happened upon a highly notable recommendation. For the past several years, the Heilbrunn Center has been supporting an annual trip for twenty students, who applied for the Value Investing program, to fly to Omaha, Nebraska and visit with Warren Buffett, MS '51. During the 2011 - 2012 visit, a student asked Mr. Buffett who in his estimation is the most talented female investor. His response was Meryl Witmer. Certainly with this kind of endorsement, as well as her impressive background, we were delighted when Meryl so graciously accepted our invitation to speak at this event.
Another event this year to promote women investors includes the Heilbrunn Center's organization of Columbia's participation in the Parker Center's Women in Investing (WIN) Conference on November 15th - 16th in Boston, MA. The Heilbrunn Center will work directly with the Capital Group Companies on this opportunity. Four students will be selected and coached by mentors at Capital Group in preparation for this conference. Furthermore, second-year students who attended the WIN conference last year will offer advice and share their experiences with this year's participants. They will also serve as student coaches to the first-year participants.
The Heilbrunn Center will also host a luncheon for women interested in value investing in the spring, as well as assist with organizing a women-only pitch day with the investment ideas club. Female practitioners will help judge the student pitches and provide feedback.
Celebrating 85 years of Benjamin Graham
Concurrently, we will be focusing on celebrating Benjamin Graham's 85th anniversary since beginning to teach at Columbia Business School through 2012 - 2013. Graham, the "Father of Value Investing," taught at Columbia University for almost thirty years from the 1920s through the 1950s. His contributions and influence on the field of value investing remain very much alive, particularly in two of his most successful students, Irving Kahn and Warren Buffett.
Celebrating Benjamin Graham will be a theme of the 16th Annual Columbia Investment Management Conference. The conference will take place on Friday, February 1, 2013 at Lerner Hall on Columbia University's main campus, and will feature Seth Klarman, Founder and President of The Baupost Group, and Bruce Berkowitz, Founder, CIO, Managing Partner of Fairholme Capital Management, LLC, as keynote speakers.
Service
This year all 40 value investing program students are being asked to give back. Many leading value investors are deeply involved in supporting charter schools. Adjunct Professor, Joel Greenblatt met with Louisa Schneider '06 and discussed having the program students work directly with some of these charter school students.
In September and October of this fall, Value Investing program students sat with 5th, 6th, and 7th graders at Success Charter Academy and taught them how to navigate the various business periodicals.
Recent Event Review: Socratic Dialogue
Recently, Bruce Greenwald participated in a Socratic Dialogue on ethics and leadership issues, challenges, and opportunities ensuing from the international financial crisis. The program was scripted and produced by the Fred Friendly Seminars and took palce on Friday, September 7, 2012 at Columbia University. Approximately 500 MBA students, alumni, faculty, and executives of the University attended.
In addition to Bruce Greenwald, the following individuals were panelists: David Abrams (Managing Member, Abrams Capital), Caroline Baum (Columnist, Bloomberg), Ed Conard (former Managing Director, Bain Capital), Wilson Ervin (Senior Advisor to the CEO, Credit Suisse), Representative Barney Frank (US Congress and former chariman of the House of Financial Services Committee), Gary Gensler (Chairman, Commodity Futures Trading Commission), Linda Gibbs (Deputy Mayor of New York City government), Alicia Glen (Managing Director, Goldman Sachs), Blythe Masters (Head of Global Commodities, JP Morgan), Robert Solow (Economist and Nobel Prize winner), Andrew Ross Sonkin (Co-anchor of CNBC's Squawk Box, and Financial Columnist for The New York Times), Peter Stringham (CEO, Young & Rubicam Brands), and, moderating, Professor Robert Jackson of Columbia Law School, the recipient of the 2012 Willis L.M. Reese Prize for Excellence in Teaching.
We would like to thank The Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Center for Leadership and Ethics for coordinating this successful event and invitating the Heilbrunn Center to participate.
Heilbrunn Center Events
Please review our events page to find out how you may be involved with the Heilbrunn Center this year.
We look forward to another exciting year, inspiring the future and honoring the past, while continuing to help grow the value investing community at Columbia Business School.
