The CFA Society of Orange County, in conjunction with The Paul Merage School of Business at University of California, Irvine, is hosting a team of five MBA students from UCI as they participate in the CFA Institute Global Investment Research Challenge.  The Challenge is an annual event that gathers students, investment industry professionals, publicly traded companies and corporate sponsors together locally, regionally, and globally for a real world competition.   These five students will research, analyze, and report on Corinthian College, Inc.  Their final research report will be reviewed and judged by a panel of industry professionals and they will also present their research and findings to the judges in a live competition to be held in January 2010.  The regional champions will continue on to participate in competitions with teams from across the Americas, Asia, and Europe and then to the global finale.

Short biographies of the five participants follow:

Daisy (Yuanyuan) Dai, is an MBA candidate at The Paul Merage School of Business at University of California, Irvine, focusing on Finance. She has internship experience in both corporate finance and investment banking. Daisy is also a CFA Level 2 candidate, committed to a career related to financial analysis. Prior to returning to school, she worked in the Central Government of China, primarily in the area of international business exchange.  She holds a Bachelor degree in English from Shanghai international Studies University and a minor in Finance from Fudan University, Shanghai, China. Daisy speaks fluent Mandarin and holds a national certificate of English-Chinese Interpretation and Translation in China.

Spencer Green is a second year full-time MBA student at The Paul Merage School of Business at University of California, Irvine, focused on strategy and finance.  Most recently, he worked in marketing analytics and forecasting for DirecTV.  Prior to business school, he worked in almost every facet of the hedge fund and investment management industry including research assistant, trader, and operations analyst.  Spencer also worked as a customer experience strategy consultant for Alibris.com, a competitor of Amazon.com.  He is interested in combining his investment experience with strategy curriculum taken in the MBA program to work in private equity/corporate valuation with a particular interest in distressed investments and restructuring opportunities.  Spencer graduated from Willamette University, double majoring in History and Political Science.

Devon Helms is currently a second year MBA candidate at The Paul Merage School of Business at University of California, Irvine, and is focusing his studies on corporate finance. Before returning to the academic world to pursue his MBA, Devon was a business operations and technology consultant. He has been involved in hundreds of engagements, analyzing and improving his customers business processes. After his studies are complete, Devon wants to continue to help clients improve the performance of their businesses through business process and financial analysis. In his free time, Devon is an avid marathon runner, rock climber, and SCUBA diver. He lives in Lakewood with his lovely wife, Shana, and his 8 year old Siberian Husky and faithful running partner, Frosty.

Kenny Lin is a second year Full Time MBA candidate at The Paul Merage School of Business at University of California, Irvine.  He decided to attend business school to transition into a new career and will concentrate his studies on Finance.  Kenny is actively involved on campus and serves as the President of the Financial Management Association and also as a Student Ambassador.  This summer, Kenny interned as a Summer Analyst with MAP Alternative Asset Management, a fund of hedge funds, in Newport Beach, CA.  In this role, Kenny supported the due diligence process in identifying and analyzing prospective hedge fund investments.  Kenny is a CFA Level 1 candidate.  Prior to attending Merage, Kenny earned a B.S in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, San Diego and a M.S in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles.  Kenny worked as a Lead Product Engineer for Northrop Grumman, Space Technology in Redondo Beach, CA.  His responsibilities included managing a cross-functional team to design and manufacture electronic packages for satellite applications.  

Alan Tang worked in Qualcomm, San Diego as a summer intern. Prior to joining The Paul Merage School of Business at University of California, Irvine, Alan worked at Philip in China and Europe for 3 years. He honed his quantitative and analytical skills by solving challenging problems and excelling at academic course work. Here at school, he is very interested in Finance and takes initiatives to learn more about the subject. Alan is VP Finance for the student association and he is a CFA Level 2 candidate. After business school, Alan would like to work in a Finance/Investment role.