Texas McCombs Investment Advisers |AIM | Centers

About Us

The Texas McCombs Investment Advisers is a groundbreaking program that allows a select group of McCombs MBA students to make real investments using real money and bring in real returns. Students who are selected as managers of the Fund get an intimate, firsthand lesson in how wealth is created through investing--all while under the guidance of McCombs faculty. The students manage around $15 million for the University of Texas/Texas A&M Investment Management Company (UTIMCO) and for the McCombs Business School Foundation. They work closely with the leadership team at UTIMCO to review portfolios, discuss performance, and opine on market conditions.

The management of the Fund is divided into four groups:

Group 1 : Information Technology, and Telecommunications
Group 2 : Industrials, Energy, Materials, and Utilities
Group 3 : Consumer Discretionary, and Consumer Staples
Group 4 : Healthcare and Finance

The student portfolio managers are divided between these four groups. The managers in each group are responsible for researching and evaluating acquisition and sell decisions for the stocks within their assigned industry segments.

View the Investment Portfolio Managers

Student Benefits

Students accepted as managers of the Texas McCombs Investment Advisers will receive a number of unique benefits including:

Real world experience investing large sums of money
Networking opportunities with leaders in the business community
Developing highly-marketable skills recruiters look for

Ready to get started?

For Recruiters

Recruiters looking to hire from a pool of students with the experience to hit the ground running on day one know that the Texas McCombs Investment Advisers is a good place to start.

Investment Portfolios

The business world is full of investment opportunities, but only the Texas McCombs Investment Advisers comes with the expertise of McCombs faculty and a chance to encourage current students while growing our school's legacy. The Texas McCombs Investment Advisers manages two portfolios.

Longhorn Portfolio
The Longhorn Portfolio invests in domestic equity securities and is separately managed for UTIMCO. Portfolio managers follow a top-down investment philosophy for selecting stocks. At the core of the top-down approach is an economic forecast that is generated by the fund manager in the role of the MBA Fund Economist. From this economic forecast, the internal economist and the five risk managers target each individual sector that is a part of the Stock Portfolio’s benchmark index (S&P 500) and form a recommendation, to be approved by all Portfolio Managers, on whether the specific sector is deserving of an overweight, underweight or market weight position within the Stock Portfolio. Portfolio Managers of all four sector groups are to make purchase and sale decisions with these target sector allocations in mind and with the goal of matching the target weights as determined by the MBA Fund Economist and the MBA Fund Risk Managers.

Endowment Portfolio
The Endowment Portfolio manages endowments for the AIM Investment Center, the Business School Foundation (BSF), and various scholarships and donations for the McCombs School of Business. It has the objective of long-term growth and preserving the long-term real purchasing power of assets while providing a relatively predictable and growing stream of annual distributions in support of the McCombs School of Business. The Endowment Portfolio is a well-diversified asset allocation portfolio including domestic and international equities and domestic fixed-income securities.

Advisory Committee

The Advisory Committee advises the students and faculty on their investment policies. The Advisory Committee holds two formal meetings each year, one in the spring and one in the fall.

The Fund's Directors, Advisors, and Student Portfolio Managers assist the fund on an uncompensated basis. No management fee is assessed to the investors by the Fund. However, operating and administrative costs associated with the Fund are charged to the Fund's investors.

Advisory Board

Clemens Sialm (Chair)
Professor
The University of Texas at Austin

Gregory Alves
President and CIO
The University of Texas at Austin

Robert Parrino
Professor
The University of Texas at Austin

Officers and Staff

Clemens Sialm
CEO
The University of Texas at Austin

Gregory Alves
President and CIO
The University of Texas at Austin

Diane Roberts
Accountant
The University of Texas at Austin

Juana Hardwick
Secretary
The University of Texas at Austin

Investment Counselors

Chad Baumler, CFA
Portfolio Manager
Nuance Investments

Stephen P. Moore
Moore Capital

Beth Robison, CFA
Partner
Wallace Capital Management

Brad Warden
Portfolio Manager
Ivy Investments

Advisors

Brent R. Adams	Managing Principal	Kyle Capital, LLC
Douglas K. Alder	Vice President	Fayez Sarofim & Co.
Matthew Altenau, CFA	Principal	Fayez Sarofim & Co.
James F. Arens, II, CFA	Chief Investment Officer	The Trust Company of Oklahoma
Brian T. Bares	President	Bares Capital Management, Inc.
Shannon Berry, CFA	Investment Analyst	American Century Investments
Tom Bastian	Managing Director, Senior Portfolio Manager	Invesco Investment Ltd.
Ashley Baum	Senior Investment Manager	Teacher Retirement System of Texas
Michael Brakebill, CFA	Chief Investment Officer	Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System
Kenneth M. Burke, Jr., CFA	Chief Investment Officer	Burke Wealth Management
Val Burlacu	Investment Analyst	Perot Investments
Prentiss Burt	Managing Director	J.P. Morgan
Richard Campbell	Senior Investment Manager	Teacher Retirement System of Texas
G. Staley Cates, CFA	Vice-Chairman	Southeastern Asset Management
William Charlton, PhD, CFA	Global Head of Private Markets Data Analytics & Research	Mercer
Susan A. Chen	Managing Director	UTIMCO
Mark Coffelt, CFA	President and CIO	Empiric Advisors, Inc.
Tim Collins	Partner	GoldenTree Asset Management, L.P.
David DeStefano	Senior Director	Teacher Retirement System of Texas
Pat Dorsey, CFA	Vice Chairman and Director of Research & Strategy	Dorsey Asset Management
Brad Eixmann, CFA	Chief Investment Officer & Senior Portfolio Manager	Chilton Capital Management LLC
Ben Fischer, CFA		NFJ Investment Group
J. Philip Ferguson, Esq.		Salient Partners, Ascendant Advisors, & Silver Ventures
C. T. Fitzpatrick, CFA	CEO, CIO	Vulcan Value Partners
Robert Gauntt	Founding Partner	Capital Creek Partners
Ben Giele, CFA	Managing Partner	Gearpower Capital
Stuart Gleichenhaus	Senior Managing Director	FTI Consulting
Brian Gourley	Partner, Chief of Strategy	Idealspot
Doug Grant, CFA	Executive Director & Equity Analyst	Sterling Capital Management LLC
Britt Harris	CEO/CIO	UTIMCO
Carolyn Hansard	Energy and Natural Resources	Teacher Retirement System of Texas
Craig Hester, CFA, CIC	Principal	Luther King Capital Management
James Hille, CFA, CAIA	Chief Investment Officer	Texas Christian University
Brandon Holcolmb	Vice President	Goldman, Sachs & Co. LLC
Robert Holt	Managing Partner	Holt Capital Partners, L.P.
Lauren Honza	Portfolio Manager	Employees Retirement System of Texas
J. Luther King, Jr.	President	Luther King Capital Management
Mason D. King	Principal and Vice President - Public Equity Research	Luther King Capital Management
Chris Krantz, CFA	Portfolio Manager	American Century Investments
Ed Levy	Executive Vice President	Churchill Management Group
William McAdams	President	WJM Capital Management, Inc.
Meredith McDaniel, CFA	Analyst/Portfolio Manager	Terry McDaniel & Co. Investment Counsel
Mark E. McMeans, CFA	CEO	Brasada Capital Management
John D. McStay	Managing Partner	John McStay and Associates
Anmol Mehra	Equity Analyst/Portfolio Manager	Fidelity Management and Research
Russell Mollen, CFA		Nine Ten Capital Management, LLC
Shea B. Morenz	Chief Executive Officer	Morenz Group
Robert C. Mueller, CFA
Ray Nixon, Jr.	Chairman	Nixon Capital
Laura Rose	Partner	D W Partners
Ryan Ruebsahm	Managing Director	UTIMCO
Gil Scott, CFA	Global Director of Research	Waddell & Reed
Shashin Shah	Founder and Portfolio Manager	Think Investments LP
Tushar Shah, CFA	Partner	Brown Advisory
Michael Shearn	President	Time Value of Money, L.P.
Alex C. Smith, CFA	Senior Advisor	Brown Advisory
Ken Spruell		Sky Pond Capital
Alan Tarver	SVP, Senior Portfolio Manager	Argent Financial Group
David Telling, CFA, CPA	Retired	Frost Investment Advisors
John M. Thornton, CFA	Senior Portfolio Manager	Stephens Investment Management Group, LLC
Lucas Tomicki	President	LRT Capital Management LLC
Tom Tull, CFA	CIO	Employees Retirement System of Texas
Michael Turner	President, Houston Market	Mutual of Omaha Bank
Kellie Zesch Weir, CFA	Portfolio Manager	Brown Advisory

Faculty Advisors

Michael Clement	Professor	The University of Texas at Austin
Keith C. Brown, CFA	Professor	The University of Texas at Austin
Jonathan Cohn	Assoc. Professor, Director - FAP	The University of Texas at Austin
John Griffin	Professor	The University of Texas at Austin
Greg Hallman	Sr. Lecturer	The University of Texas at Austin
Jay Hartzell	President	The University of Texas at Austin
Travis Johnson	Assoc. Professor	The University of Texas at Austin
Kelly Kamm	Senior Lecturer	The University of Texas at Austin
Sanford J. Leeds, Esq.	Distinguished Senior Lecturer	The University of Texas at Austin
Robert Parrino	Professor	The University of Texas at Austin
Ehud I. Ronn	Professor	The University of Texas at Austin
Jan Schneider	Clinical Asst. Professor	The University of Texas at Austin
Laura T. Starks	Professor	The University of Texas at Austin
Xavier Sztejnberg	Lecturer	The University of Texas at Austin
Sheridan Titman	Professor	The University of Texas at Austin

History

The MBA Investment Fund LLC was founded in 1994 by Keith Brown and George Gau with the support of many leaders in the asset management industry. It was the first legally constituted, private investment company to be managed by students. It was created to enable MBA students in the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin to obtain real-world experience managing investment portfolios and developing relationships with clients.

At the time of the closing of the Fund's initial offering on December 8, 1994, 37 investors had committed $1.6 million to the Fund. The Growth Fund was founded in December 1994 and the Value Fund in December 1999. Additional offerings took place in the 1990s and early 2000s. The Endowment Fund was created in May 2001 to manage the assets of the AIM Investment Center and other funds donated to the McCombs School of Business. The assets under management of the MBA Investment Fund grew to $33.1 million at the end of November 2019.

In 2020, the Fund moved to an in-house model in which students no longer manage money from investors outside the University of Texas. At the same time, UTIMCO agreed to invest $7.5 million in the the Texas McCombs Longhorn Portfolio. In addition to its investment, UTIMCO will also strengthen its active involvement with our student managers. For example, Fund students will meet regularly with UTIMCO's leadership team to review portfolios, discuss performance, and opine on market conditions. UTIMCO will also facilitate meetings with the top external investment managers in the country. UTIMCO is providing similar support for Texas A&M, which will enable the two schools to participate in a friendly performance competition. To reflect the change in the investor structure, we had to create a new legal entity, which is now named “Texas McCombs Investment Advisers, LLC.” The company will initially manage $7.5 million in the Longhorn Portfolio and $7.0 million in the Endowment Portfolio.