{"id":31630,"date":"2026-04-07T14:55:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T18:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/?p=31630"},"modified":"2026-04-09T14:45:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T18:45:40","slug":"university-of-maine-spiffy-earns-third-place-at-2026-quinnipiac-game-forum-in-new-york-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/blog\/2026\/04\/07\/university-of-maine-spiffy-earns-third-place-at-2026-quinnipiac-game-forum-in-new-york-city\/","title":{"rendered":"University of Maine SPIFFY Earns Third Place at 2026 Quinnipiac GAME Forum in New York City"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In March, 18 members of the University of Maine’s Maine Business School’s Student Portfolio Investment Fund (SPIFFY) and faculty advisor Dr. Sebastian Lobe traveled to New York City to compete in Quinnipiac University’s Global Asset Management Education (GAME) Forum XV<\/a>\u2014one of the largest student-run finance conferences in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This annual event is the largest student-run financial conference in the world, with over 135 universities and 1,200 students competing in the Global Portfolio Competition. This year, the UMaine SPIFFY team\u2014a student-managed investment fund that oversees $6.2 million in assets for the University of Maine Foundation\u2014placed third in the Undergraduate Core Portfolio. With over 135 universities and 1,200 students competing in the Global Portfolio Competition, this UMaine win was a significant accomplishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Given their dedication, I am incredibly proud\u2014but not entirely surprised\u2014that SPIFFY has secured this award,” said Dr. Lobe<\/a>, who has been advising the club since 2016. “These students do not get paid, nor do they earn educational credits for this. They are intrinsically motivated by a desire to master real-world finance, and these metrics prove that their hard work pays off. The credit for these achievements goes to the outstanding SPIFFY teams of the last two academic years. It is also a direct testament to the ongoing support of the University of Maine Foundation, SPIFFY\u2019s founder Dr. Bob Strong, the MBS staff, and Executive Dean Jason Harkins.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professional Development at a Leading Student Finance Conference<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This year, the Quinnipiac GAME Forum featured over 100 professionals from industry-leading financial services companies. These professionals spoke on panels, led breakout sessions, and served as judges for the student-managed portfolio competition, giving students direct exposure to careers in investment management, financial services, and asset management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The forum began with keynote speakers Lindsay Hans, president and co-head of Merrill Wealth Management, and Zach Buchwald, CEO of Russell Investments. They set the stage for additional speakers to continue the conversation on financial markets, asset allocation decision-making, portfolio investment, risk management strategy, and more. At the end of all sessions, students were given time to ask questions to the renowned panelists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I found it interesting to learn how the keynote speaker prompted AI to get exactly what he wants using the PICO (persona, input, context, output) method and what a difference good prompting makes,\u201d says Ronny Roberge, SPIFFY Sector Head for Information Technology. \u201cI think many people underestimate the versatility of AI tools.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Molly Graham, SPIFFY Director of Marketing, enjoyed the networking with peers from other schools as well as the professionals and recruiters. “A lot of the sessions offered were about what’s really happening in the global markets today,” she says. “Many of the professionals were honest about how their jobs are affected by uncertainty, and that was really interesting to hear about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student Investment Competition<\/h2>\n\n\n