Latest news with #McCombs
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Managing Millions: Inside Texas McCombs' Student Investment Powerhouse
During TMIA's semi-annual advisory meeting last fall, program fund managers helped celebrate the fund's 30th year. Texas McCombs photo What's it like to manage $25 million before even finishing your MBA? At the University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business, a select group of students does just that. Through the Texas McCombs Investment Advisers program, one of the largest and longest-running student-managed funds in the country, MBA candidates research, pitch, and invest real capital in public markets, under real scrutiny — and with real consequences. 'This isn't a simulation,' says Joshua Kocher, McCombs finance lecturer and CEO of TMIA. 'Our students are managing real money, and they're held to the same standard as any professional analyst.' UT Austin McCombs' Joshua Kocher: 'We want students to walk away knowing how to analyze companies, build a portfolio — and sell their ideas' It's a model that has helped power TMIA to a standout position in business education. With $25 million in assets under management and a legacy stretching back to 1994, the program is now celebrating 30 years of hands-on training and the launch of more than 500 careers in finance. The TMIA story began when finance professors Keith Brown and George Gau launched the MBA Investment Fund LLC. It was the first legally constituted private investment company managed by students, seeded with $1.6 million from 37 outside investors. Over time, McCombs added the Growth Fund (1994), the Value Fund (1999), and the Endowment Fund (2001), giving students deeper exposure to varied investment strategies. In 2020, outside investors were bought out, and the program was restructured as Texas McCombs Investment Advisers, LLC — an internal adviser backed by institutional partners. UTIMCO (the University of Texas Investment Management Company) committed $7.5 million, and the McCombs School Foundation provided additional capital. Today, TMIA oversees two main portfolios: the Longhorn Fund, a U.S. equity fund benchmarked to the S&P 500; and the Endowment Fund, a globally diversified, ETF-based portfolio tracking a 60/40 stock-bond mix. TMIA is structured as a yearlong course, with students responsible for both an individual pitch and a group pitch each semester. They present to investment counselors — seasoned alumni and industry professionals — and eventually to a formal advisory committee of finance practitioners. 'They get beat up,' Kocher says. 'But that's the point. It prepares them for the scrutiny they'll face on the job.' Students rotate across sectors like tech, energy, and consumer, and receive weekly instruction from Kocher plus guest lectures from professionals ranging from hedge fund managers to short sellers. For Srinath Narayanan, MBA Class of 2025, the process transformed his career trajectory. 'I was an engineer with no finance background. TMIA gave me the tools and the confidence to pivot. I'm joining Eli Lilly's finance leadership program because of this experience.' McCombs Class of 2025 MBA Srinath Narayanan: ''If you're serious about finance, this is the best place to learn before you have to do it for real' Narayanan recalls his first pitch as 'a disaster' — but also a learning milestone. Kocher recorded every student pitch, solicited peer feedback, and shared both. 'It was like watching game film,' Narayanan says. 'Harsh but incredibly effective.' By the end of the program, he and his team were presenting investment ideas to real stakeholders — and outperforming the S&P 500. 'That was our proudest moment,' he says. 'We stayed patient, trusted our analysis, and beat the benchmark — and our friendly rivals at Texas A&M.' Matt Jacobs, also Class of 2025, came to McCombs from the music industry with a sociology degree — and a personal interest in stocks. 'I had no quantitative background, but I wanted something that felt serious,' he says. 'TMIA gave me the outlet to explore that, and the structure to back it up.' Jacobs's pitches included Ross Stores, The Sphere in Las Vegas, and Nike. Some made it into the fund; others didn't. But what mattered, he says, was learning how to frame a compelling argument. 'You're pitching to hedge fund managers. The stakes are high,' he says. 'This wasn't a class project — it felt real.' TMIA, he adds, became his go-to credential in recruiting. 'Every outreach email started with: I managed $25 million in a student-led fund. That gets attention.' McCombs Class of 2025 MBA Matt Jacobs: 'You're pitching to hedge fund managers. The stakes are high. This wasn't a class project — it felt real' More than 540 McCombs students have completed the program since its founding. Many now work in investment management, banking, private equity, or corporate finance. Kocher says TMIA's mission has always had two tracks: serve the investors and educate the students. 'We want students to walk away knowing how to analyze companies, build a portfolio — and sell their ideas. Most MBA programs do the first two. We focus hard on the third.' Narayanan agrees. 'It completed my McCombs experience,' he says. 'I made lifelong friends, built real skills, and gained the confidence to speak finance fluently.' Jacobs's advice to future McCombs MBAs interested in finance, but unsure whether to apply to the TMIA? 'Join the fund. Show up. Drink an energy drink. Bring your A-game.' Narayanan adds: 'If you're serious about finance, this is the best place to learn before you have to do it for real. I'll never forget it.' And he offers one final note: 'As long as Josh is running the fund,' Narayanan adds, 'the program — and the students — are in very good hands.' DON'T MISS The post Managing Millions: Inside Texas McCombs' Student Investment Powerhouse appeared first on Poets&Quants. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Winnipeg Free Press
01-06-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
James Castagnola's 3-run homer sparks UC Irvine in 8-3 victory over Fresno State in elimination game
LOS ANGELES (AP) — James Castagnola hit a two-out three-run homer in the second inning and UC Irvine never looked back in an 8-3 victory over Fresno State on Saturday in an elimination game of the Los Angeles Regional. No. 2 seed UC Irvine (42-16) awaits the loser of the nightcap between top-seeded host UCLA and No. 3 seed Arizona State in a Sunday elimination game. Fresno State finishes 31-29. Castagnola's homer came after Fresno State starter Aidan Cremarosa (6-6) hit Jacob McCombs leading off before walking Blake Penso with one out. McCombs hit a two-out solo shot in the third and Alonso Reyes walked and scored on a double play in the fourth for a 5-0 advantage. Lee Trevino singled in an unearned run that Anteaters reliever David Utagawa (2-0) inherited from starter Riley Kelly in the fourth and Eddie Saldivar hit a two-out solo homer off Utagawa in the fifth to get the Bulldogs within 5-2. McCombs, who went 3 for 4, singled in a run in the seventh and Colin Yeaman and Anthony Martinez had RBIs in the ninth for UC Irvine. Justin Stransky had an RBI single in the eighth off Anteaters reliever Max Martin, who replaced Utagawa after he allowed a leadoff single to Saldivar. Kelly surrendered two runs — one earned — on four hits in 4 2/3 innings. Martin allowed a hit in two scoreless innings to close it out. Cremarosa yielded five runs in six innings. Drew Townson followed and gave up three runs while retiring four batters. ___ AP college sports:
Los Angeles Times
31-05-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
UC Irvine baseball fails to capitalize on chances in NCAA regional loss
Jacob McCombs had been arguably UC Irvine's best hitter all season. The sophomore transfer from San Diego State transformed into an all-Big West selection with his .350 batting average and team-high 1.070 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. So when he came up to the plate in the bottom of the fifth, down one run and against a taxed Arizona State southpaw in Ben Jacobs — McCombs provided a real chance to break open the game in favor of the second-seeded Anteaters with runners on first and second. Coach Ben Orloff called for McCombs to bunt. A picture-perfect tap toward third base sent both runners into scoring position with one out — and the Irvine dugout into raucous cheers. When his team needed it, one of its stars stepped up. It didn't matter to Jacobs. Facing the pressure, the former UCLA Bruin — pitching back at Jackie Robinson Stadium, where he played in 2023 — shut down Chase Call with a strikeout and forced Blake Penso — his former battery mate at Huntington high — to weakly fly out to right field on the 105th pitch of the lefty's night. McCombs' small-ball heroics were for naught. When Irvine's offense worked another opportunity to score in the bottom of the eighth after Penso placed down a sacrifice bunt, Alonso Reyes hit into a 4-6-3 double play with the bases loaded to end the rally. It was one of those nights for the Anteaters, at a time of year when it matters most, as UC Irvine fell 4-2 to third-seeded Arizona State in the Friday nightcap of the Los Angeles Regional. UC Irvine moves to the loser's bracket where it'll face fourth-seed Fresno State at noon Saturday. To win the Los Angeles Regional, the Anteaters will have to win out — four games across Saturday, Sunday and Monday — if they want to reach the NCAA super regionals. While UC Irvine's offense could only produce one run and mustered just five hits, Trevor Hansen — their ace — tried his best to put the Anteaters on his back. Despite giving up solo home runs in the second inning to Jacob Tobias and Isaiah Jackson, the right-hander settled down to toss 6⅓ innings, giving up six hits and three earned runs while striking out eight and walking two. Hansen turned the ball over to Big West Pitcher of the Year Ricky Ojeda with runners on first and second in the seventh. Ojeda made quick work — inducing a ground out and a strikeout — to escape the inning. The lefty pitched through the ninth, giving up one run on 40 pitches overall, which could impact his availability in Saturday's win-or-go-home contest against the Bulldogs. Ojeda threw on back-to-back days just once in 2025, tossing 32 and 35 pitches against UC San Diego on May 3-4.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Insects are devouring Colorado's trees, thanks to climate change: Report
Climate-induced warming is fueling the proliferation of insects keen on invading Colorado's forests and leaving the trees they devour for dead, a new report has found. After a wet and cool 2023, weather in the Centennial State shifted back to near-record heat and minimal precipitation last year — driving the spread of forest pests and weakening the defenses of trees, according to the report, released by the Colorado State Forest Service. 'Trees in Colorado can't catch a break as our climate becomes warmer and dryer,' Matt McCombs, state forester, said in a statement. 'This ongoing trend toward persistent drought and higher temperatures not only makes trees easier prey for insects but increases the risk of large and severe wildfires,' added McCombs, who directs the Forest Service, housed at Colorado State University. The 2024 Report on the Health of Colorado's Forests showed that bark beetles and other invasive insects expanded their forest footprint in a hot and dry 2024. The type of tree most affected was the Western spruce budworm, which incurred 217,000 acres of injury in 2024, as opposed to 202,000 acres in 2023, per the report. Another insect flagged in the report was the mountain pine beetle, which has been building populations along Colorado's Front Rage and in other parts of the state. In total, mountain pine beetles have damaged about 5,600 acres of forest. An additional culprit was the Douglas-fir beetle, which exceeded levels not seen in almost a decade, although the balsam bark beetle was 'the deadliest forest pest in Colorado for the third year in a row.' As the death toll of trees increase, so, too, does the likelihood of wildfires, the authors warned. Dense, homogenous forests can be slow to recover from disturbances, leaving material behind that has greater ignition risk, according to the report. 'Couple that with more people living in areas prone to burn, and the state faces enormous challenges,' McCombs said. The authors therefore recommended that wildfire risk mitigation remain a top priority in Colorado, by taking proactive steps to maintain forest health and establishing fuel breaks when appropriate. They praised the state for heading in the right direction in these activities, by establishing programs that fund workforce development, landscape resilience and wildfire mitigation, while also providing community-level grants to high-risk areas. 'The good news is we know Colorado is on the right path to address these challenges and foster forests and communities that are resilient to wildfire and forest pests,' McCombs added. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
08-04-2025
- Climate
- The Hill
Insects are devouring Colorado's trees, thanks to climate change: Report
Climate-induced warming is fueling the proliferation of insects keen on invading Colorado's forests and leaving the trees they devour for dead, a new report has found. After a wet and cool 2023, weather in the Centennial State shifted back to near-record heat and minimal precipitation last year — driving the spread of forest pests and weakening the defenses of trees, according to the report, released by the Colorado State Forest Service. 'Trees in Colorado can't catch a break as our climate becomes warmer and dryer,' Matt McCombs, state forester, said in a statement. 'This ongoing trend toward persistent drought and higher temperatures not only makes trees easier prey for insects but increases the risk of large and severe wildfires,' added McCombs, who directs the Forest Service, housed at Colorado State University. The 2024 Report on the Health of Colorado's Forests showed that bark beetles and other invasive insects expanded their forest footprint in a hot and dry 2024. The type of tree most affected was the Western spruce budworm, which incurred 217,000 acres of injury in 2024, as opposed to 202,000 acres in 2023, per the report. Another insect flagged in the report was the mountain pine beetle, which has been building populations along Colorado's Front Rage and in other parts of the state. In total, mountain pine beetles have damaged about 5,600 acres of forest. An additional culprit was the Douglas-fir beetle, which exceeded levels not seen in almost a decade, although the balsam bark beetle was 'the deadliest forest pest in Colorado for the third year in a row.' As the death toll of trees increase, so, too, does the likelihood of wildfires, the authors warned. Dense, homogenous forests can be slow to recover from disturbances, leaving material behind that has greater ignition risk, according to the report. 'Couple that with more people living in areas prone to burn, and the state faces enormous challenges,' McCombs said. The authors therefore recommended that wildfire risk mitigation remain a top priority in Colorado, by taking proactive steps to maintain forest health and establishing fuel breaks when appropriate. They praised the state for heading in the right direction in these activities, by establishing programs that fund workforce development, landscape resilience and wildfire mitigation, while also providing community-level grants to high-risk areas. 'The good news is we know Colorado is on the right path to address these challenges and foster forests and communities that are resilient to wildfire and forest pests,' McCombs added.
