Three years have passed since James Riley, retired managing
director and partner at Goldman Sachs & Co., visited Father
Donald J. Harrington, C.M., President of St. John’s University,
with a novel idea for training future investment managers.
Riley, ‘75MBA, believed experience was the best way to teach
undergraduate and graduate students in The Peter J. Tobin
College of Business about managing an investment fund.
Proposing the creation of an actual fund for that purpose, Riley
suggested using the fund for student scholarships. Then Riley
generously donated the endowment to create the fund.
On Tuesday, March 15, nearly 80 St. John’s alumni met in the
World Financial Center to celebrate Riley’s vision. They are
graduates of the Student Management Investment Fund program, a
course to which students must apply. Students serve as an
investment team responsible for the fund’s growth. The alumni who
joined Father Harrington and Riley at The Grill House,
near St. John’s Manhattan campus, now enjoy careers in
investment.
The alumni also launched an alumni charter club for the
program’s graduates. Testifying to the program’s benefits was
Michael Menkin ‘02BS, ‘03MBA, who works in Merrill Lynch’s
Mortgage Repo Division. Menken said he never would have gotten his
position if not for the program. A current student in the program,
Marcin Weryk, said its intensity and workload prepare students
well for an investment career.
View more about the Student Managed
Investment Fund, and The
Peter J. Tobin College of Business.