Booth's Biggest “Hidden Gem”: The Student Managed Investment Fund
- By
- May 28, 2025
- Impact Investing
In the early 2000s, Tim Schlindwein, MBA ’72, then serving on the Council on Chicago Booth, was approached by a group of students interested in starting a student managed fund that could give them hands-on investing experience while they worked on their MBAs. Schlindwein listened to their ideas, and pitched the concept to the school.
A few years later, in 2006, Chicago Booth allocated $1 million from the endowment to establish the Chicago Booth Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF). The fund offers students an opportunity to apply the equity and credit research skills they learn in the classroom to a real-world portfolio management setting.
“In business, you create something because your clients have a need for it. In this case, the students are the clients,” says Schlindwein, who is now an alumni advisor with SMIF.
Since its inception, the program has not only enhanced the educational experience of students who participate, but it has also helped generate scholarship funding that supports students across the Booth community.
About the SMIF Program
Housed in the Investment Management Group (IMG) at Booth, SMIF serves as an experiential learning opportunity for seven student portfolio managers (PMs)—all in the second year of their MBA programs. PMs hear investment pitches from other members of IMG, offer feedback, vote on new investments and trades, and create monthly portfolio reports. PMs gain experience managing a fund with real investments while IMG members get to practice their investment pitches in preparation for internships, competitions, and recruiting.
“SMIF provides students with hands-on investing experience that complements Booth’s coursework in financial statement analysis, advanced financial analysis of global firms, and portfolio management,” explains Thomas Rauter, associate professor of accounting and one of the faculty advisors for SMIF.“The students involved are highly motivated, detail-oriented, and committed to making thoughtful, prudent investment decisions.”
Though they are given autonomy to manage the fund as they see fit, PMs benefit from the guidance of Professor Rauter and the other faculty advisor, Christian Leuz, the Charles F. Pohl Distinguished Service Professor of Accounting and Finance, who approve new investments and trades. A three-person alumni advisory board also assists the students, meeting once a year to offer feedback and recommendations.
Engagement from Alumni
Schlindwein, who has served on the SMIF alumni advisory board since the beginning of the program, says that, along with the original interest from Booth students, a discussion with an impressive new hire at his firm inspired him to push for SMIF.
“Years ago, one of the best hires I ever made had gone through an MBA program with a student managed investment fund. Talking with him, I saw the benefits,” says Schlindwein.
Schlindwein has seen similar upsides for Booth students.
“All of the students I’ve talked to over the years have said that the hands-on experience was a big deal—it helped them from a career point of view,” he says.
Schlindwein praises the ownership the students take in managing the fund, and values how SMIF helps him stay connected to Booth.
“You get a little bit of a window into what’s going on with the school,” says Schlindwein. “It gives me an opportunity to talk to the faculty who are involved—understanding some of the challenges that the school faces, the opportunities, and their progress.”
Gaining Experience and Giving Back
For the students who manage SMIF, the experience has served as a supplement to their coursework and an opportunity to hone job-related skills.
“SMIF is a great bridge between the academic experience at Booth … and turning those lessons into practice,” says Chris Sardi, a current PM in the SMIF program. “The success of SMIF is evident in Booth’s track record in investment research recruiting. We have consistent above-par success in investment competitions, and the number of students from Booth who are able to land research roles at great companies is very high.”
Beyond enhancing their education in the field of investing, SMIF also allows students in the program to pay their success forward. Each year, 25 percent of the fund’s returns are swept and allocated to provide scholarships at Booth (with a minimum sweep of $10,000), ensuring the school can continue to attract the highest quality students while minimizing financial barriers. To date, the fund has generated more than $1.3 million for student scholarships.
The program’s impact on others also motivates the portfolio managers.
“We are incentivized in a lot of different ways to have the best performance we can,” says Sardi. “The fact that the better we do, the more we can fund scholarships is a nice bonus on top of that.”
The SMIF program’s focus on preparing students to be leaders while also offering a way for them to advance an altruistic mission exemplifies the kind of collaborative education that has defined Booth since its earliest days.
Looking to the Future
With interest in SMIF only growing, as evidenced by the high competition for the fund’s PM spots, the program is looking to broaden its scope.
“We had an initiative this year to expand SMIF to include fixed income investing—specifically corporate bond investing. I think in the future this is going to be a game changer for students interested in credit roles,” says Sardi.
When asked what he might say to a future student curious about SMIF, Sardi reiterates the value it holds for any student interested in investing and equity research.
“SMIF is the biggest hidden gem at Booth,” he says. “If you want to do investment research, if you want to do equity research or credit research, then SMIF is the most valuable tool for you.”
A modified version of this story appeared in the Fall 2025 print issue of Chicago Booth Magazine.