Bowdoin has launched a money-raising drive to formally support a student-managed investment fund.
The Arctic Fund aims to replicate the real-life experience of working in finance and provide economics students with the business smarts to secure top jobs in the world of money management.
“When we started this venture, we faced a number of hurdles, but we found a way to make it happen,” said Ben Korengold ’27, an economics and government and legal studies double major.
In the fall of 2023, Korengold, along with classmates Khush Patel and Franco Ruocco—all of them newly arrived first-years at the time—hit upon the idea of launching a student-run investment fund.
They started small (with just a few thousand dollars)—but over the next eighteen months their investments grew by more than 40 percent, outpacing the S&P 500 and the Russell 3000 index.
“There was a lot of paperwork to complete, so the fund didn’t start actively investing until April 2024,” said Ruocco, who is also majoring in economics and government.
In the fall of 2025, the College officially endorsed the Arctic Fund, enabling it to manage gifts from donors under the guidance of Bowdoin’s Chief Investment Officer Niles Bryant and Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Matthew Orlando.
The Arctic Fund represents the first time that Bowdoin students interested in finance careers get the opportunity to build and manage an actual portfolio, explained Orlando.
“The organizers of the fund plan to build a long-only equity portfolio focused on undervalued companies in the Russell 3000 index with strong fundamentals,” he added. Orlando says the College’s involvement in the fund should also kickstart fundraising efforts. “We hope that the alumni community will recognize the value of this experience and make a donation to the Arctic Fund,” he added.
Patel, a math and economics double major, notes that the goal is to raise a six-figure sum by the end of the semester. All gifts to Bowdoin’s Arctic Fund will go directly to the fund as principal and will be invested for growth, with a percentage of earnings utilized for student learning opportunities. “This will mean more outside speakers, more events, and, crucially, more recruitment opportunities,” Patel added, “all of which will help future students wishing to pursue a career in finance.”
“The Arctic Fund enables Bowdoin students to compete with undergraduates from business schools like Penn's Wharton undergraduate program, Stern at NYU, or Dartmouth’s Tuck." Financial planner Mitch Glazier ’73 (one of the fund's external advisors).
The Arctic Fund is structured like this: The three founding students sit on the investment committee, which has the final say on all decisions, after consulting with the fund’s advisors. Below them are teams of portfolio managers, senior analysts, and analysts. In all, some twenty-three students work at the fund, and getting a position on it is not easy, said Korengold. “When we recruited first-years this semester, we had about a 15 percent acceptance rate, but many have come back multiple times before being accepted. This rigorous process is great preparation for real-world job interviews.”
As for the fund’s investment strategy, Ruocco said the aim is to find undervalued stocks and invest in them for one to three years. “It’s about focusing more on value investing than short-term ‘trading,’ and so for every pitch we do a discounted cash flow, comparable company analysis, and precedent transaction analysis, which is what you would be asked to know in the majority of finance interviews. It’s great to be able to get this type of hands-on experience.”
Mitch Glazier ’73, a Boston-based investment advisor and financial planner is one of the fund’s external advisors. After sitting through a stock presentation given by the students, he said he was “blown away” by their level of sophistication and professionalism.
“They’re already up to speed on many aspects of investing, but I’ve been able to offer advice on things like risk management: when to get into a stock and when to get out of it. Unless you’re holding something like Microsoft, you don’t want to just buy into a stock and hold it indefinitely—those days are gone.” Glazier said he has also advised the fund on the more technical aspects of investing in combination with fundamental analysis.
One factor that these students, indeed all young investors, have yet to deal with, however, remarked Glazier, is how to handle serious declines in the market. “This generation of investors doesn’t really know what it’s like. We’ve been in an unprecedented bull market for the best part of fifteen years—there have been a couple of downdrafts, but they were followed by quick V-shaped recoveries.”
The real value of the Arctic Fund, Glazier stressed, is that it gives Bowdoin students a better chance of securing top finance jobs and internships. “It enables them to compete with undergraduates from business schools like Penn's Wharton undergraduate program, Stern at NYU, or Dartmouth’s Tuck. Bowdoin graduates are probably going to be successful at whatever they do,” he added, “but if we can help some of them accelerate their careers in finance, then it’s exciting for everyone!”
Korengold, Patel, and Ruocco, meanwhile, are hopeful that their hard work in creating the Arctic Fund will set a good example. “We hope our story inspires others to leave places better than when they first arrived,” they said.
