Thomson Financial gift helps the numbers add up in Kellogg Asset Management Program

Thomson Financial has made a generous in-kind donation to the Kellogg School that will benefit students and faculty who are involved with the Asset Management Program. Led by the Kellogg Finance Department, this innovative program provides students with a specialized educational experience in managing a portion of the school's portfolio.

The company has donated 30 licenses of Thomson ONE Investment Management software to the school. "At Thomson Financial we believe that investing in our future is paramount to achieving success," said Karyn Folland, vice president, client services and marketing. "Students at the Kellogg School of Management represent that future, as both potential clients and employees."

Folland said that the company chose Kellogg specifically due to the school's student-run fund, which dates back to 1964 and boasts assets of more than $300,000.

Professor Robert Korajczyk said the software provides access to a vast array of market data to help estimate the risk of assets or portfolios. The software is installed indefinitely at the Donald P. Jacobs Center in Evanston and at Wieboldt Hall on the Chicago campus. Thomson Financial has also trained faculty and students on how to use it.

"Thomson Financial has provided the school with a resource that we couldn't afford to buy otherwise," Korajczyk said. "Access to this data is critical for students in the class."

"Using the Thomson ONE solution, Kellogg students will better understand markets by analyzing economic indicators, tracking index trends and following foreign exchange rates," Folland added. "Students will be able to create portfolio watch-lists and monitor the performance of those portfolios they have selected, compare their performance to other students' portfolios, or market indexes, and perform industry and sector analyses across regions."

Korajczyk said that David Shaffer '83, a graduate of the Kellogg Executive MBA Program, discussed the possibility of the donation at a Kellogg Alumni Advisory Board meeting, and he was instrumental in the arrangement. Shaffer, who was formerly CEO of Thomson Financial and was recently named chairman of Thomson Learning, worked with the school to establish the donation.