SEAFA Spotlight

Georgia State University 2025 Hedge Fund Competition Winners Lorenzo Weber and Alexander Francis of the University of West Florida and Scott Murray, Associate Professor, Department of Finance, J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University

Lorenzo Weber and Alexander Francis from the University of West Florida [https://www.linkedin.com/company/uwf/] placed 1st in the 2025 Southeastern Hedge Fund Competition organized by Georgia State University J. Mack Robinson College of Business in partnership with The Southeastern Hedge Fund Association [https://theseafa.com/] (www.theseafa.com). Lorenzo and Alexander competed against 44 other teams from over 30 different universities. Lorenzo and Alexander developed the Central Supply Chain Momentum Strategy, a long-short equity strategy that ranked firms based on their importance in supply chains. By going long on the top 10% and shorting the bottom 10%, their strategy achieved an average 29% annual return with low risk and 14 consecutive years of positive back-tested performance. The competition is a yearly event open to students globally at the undergraduate, master's, and PhD levels and tests everything from strategy development to presentation skills. Lorenzo and Alexander are grateful to Dr. K.C. Ma, their faculty advisor/sponsor, for his guidance and are proud to represent UWF’s College of Business on a global stage. Georgia State University Hedge Fund Competition Website [https://robinson.gsu.edu/academic-departments/finance/southeastern-hedge-fund-competition/] Follow the Southeastern Hedge Fund Competition on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/southeastern-hedge-fund-competition-862a2318a/] Guests: Lorenzo Weber [https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorenzo-weber-103302119/] Alexander Francis [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-francis-367739350/] Scott Murray [https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-murray-2a08b0a1/] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Georgia State University 2024 Hedge Fund Competition Winners Ada Turemis and Aaron Korel and Competition Organizer, Scott Murray, Associate Professor, Department of Finance, J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University

On this episode of the SEAFA Spotlight, President of SEAFA Andres Sandate interviewed the winners of the 2024 Southeastern Hedge Fund Competition Ada Turemis and Aaron Korel from The University of West Florida about their winning strategy as well as competition organizer, Associate Professor Scott Murray of the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. The winning team from The University of West Florida (Pensacola, FL) included MBA student Ada Turemis and Aaron Korel, an undergraduate accounting and finance major. Korel and Turemis were invited to Atlanta, as one of the top five finalists, to present their paper on April 25, 2024, to a panel of six judges at the Georgia State University Buckhead Center in Atlanta, GA. Korel and Turemis submitted their paper, “A Bullwhip Strategy,” in early March 2024 but began working on their investment idea in Spring 2023. All submissions were reviewed by 42 investment professionals throughout the SEAFA membership before the final five teams were selected to present in Atlanta. The 2024 judging panel included Greg Jacobs, Founding Partner, COO, Bay Point Advisors, Stephanie Lang, CFA, Principal and CIO, Homrich Berg, Clay McDaniel, Partner, CIO of Private Markets, Waverly Advisors, Brandon Robinson, Quantitative Developer, Masters Capital Management, LLC, John Champagne, CFA, CAIA, Managing Director, Infinity Funds, and J.P. Vincent, Executive Director, Marex Prime Services. Sponsors of the 2024 Southeastern Hedge Fund Competition included: Platinum - Warren Averett CPAs and Advisors, Masters Capital Management, LLC, Georgia State University Center for the Economic Analysis of RISK (CEAR) Gold - Infinity Funds, Trident Trust, Bay Point Advisors Sponsors - Homrich Berg, Harneys, Waverly Advisors, Marex Prime Services A full list of 2024 winners, universities, strategy names, and team members can be found by clicking here [https://robinson.gsu.edu/academic-departments/finance/southeastern-hedge-fund-competition/#judges-and-sponsors]. Southeastern Hedge Fund Competition Website [https://robinson.gsu.edu/academic-departments/finance/southeastern-hedge-fund-competition/] University of West Florida News Release [https://news.uwf.edu/uwf-students-win-first-place-in-the-2024-southeastern-hedge-fund-strategy-competition/] Organizer of the Southeastern Hedge Fund Competition Associate Professor Scott Murray's Website [https://scotttmurray16.wixsite.com/mysite] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

2024 SEAFA Digital Assets Update

SEAFA's second Market Insights webinar on May 8, 2024 featured a crypto and digital assets market update with a panel featuring three institutional crypto fund managers. Joining SEAFA President and Endurance Strategies, LLC Founder and CEO Andres Sandate in this timely discussion were: - Robert Swarthout, Founder, CEO & Portfolio Manager, Teton Crypto Capital, a long-only token fund focused on acquiring cryptocurrencies with commercial utility. - Phillip Moran, CFA, Co-Founder & CEO, Digital Opportunities Group (DigOpp), a multi-manager/multi-strategy fund focused on capturing inefficiencies in crypto. Jed Breed, Founder & General Partner, Breed, a venture capital fund founded by crypto native operators and backed by some of the worlds top digital asset industry contributors. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Interval Fund Success Strategies for Alternative Investment Managers with Kim Flynn, CFA, President, XA Investments

Southeastern Alternative Funds Association (SEAFA) President Andres Sandate, Founder/CEO of Endurance Strategies, LLC and Registered Advisors with Gramercy Park Wealth Advisors, LLC as well as host of the ATLalts and Asset Backed podcasts interviewed Kimberly Flynn, CFA, President of XA Investments, LLC. Kim is an expert in helping traditional and alternative asset managers establish registered closed-end funds, including interval funds and tender offer funds. Kim and her seven person team at XA Investments help fund managers seeking to build registered funds. Kim discussed how alternative asset managers can utilize this vehicle to access retail investor capital, pitfalls to avoid, common mistakes she sees managers make, break-even figures cost-wise, and much more. Kim gave an industry overview of the market size for these types of funds and shared why capital flows at wirehouse firms like Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch are increasingly going to managers of interval funds. As the private wealth channel (RIAs, Broker-Dealers, MFOs, etc.) continues to grow as a source of capital for alternative asset managers, understanding the factors that go into establishing, launching, and growing an interval fund or other registered fund offering have become important to alternative asset managers. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.