COURSE NUMBER: MBA 237.3

This course is cross-listed with the EWMBA Program.

COURSE TITLE: Hedge Fund Strategies

UNITS OF CREDIT: 3 units

INSTRUCTORS: Bill Rindfuss and Sam Olesky

E-MAIL ADDRESSES:  rindfuss@haas.berkeley.edu; olesky@haas.berkeley.edu

CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION: http://bspace.berkeley.edu

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Tuesday, 6:00-9:30PM

PREREQUISITE(S): MBA203

CLASS FORMAT:  Individual and team exercises, lectures (including several guest speakers), outside training, team presentations and pitches, and some team meetings with instructors during class time.

REQUIRED READINGS:  Textbook

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: Contribution to course and to team performance, team project, and strategy presentations.

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:

The Hedge Fund Strategies Applied Innovation course in Spring 2014 combines broad exposure to the many types of hedge funds and their strategies, together with hands-on development of unique investment strategies within student teams.  Content will include several guest speakers representing different sectors of the hedge fund industry, training on research and portfolio analytics platforms, and readings and lectures.  Students will also learn about investing in hedge funds, including evaluation of fund performance.  Concurrently, student teams will develop their own investment strategies by exploring unique expertise and insights – whether related to particular products, industries or geographies – that are resident within the teams, forming theses on changes and catalysts within those spaces, incorporating lessons from hedge fund speakers, and crafting investment strategies designed to capitalize on the teams’ insights.  Students will test their strategies both through back-testing on analytics platforms and by pitching and receiving feedback on their strategies from investment practitioners as judges.  See a story on the culmination of the semester in a final pitch competition in May 2013 (in an earlier form of the course):  http://haasachieves.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/student-teams-compete-for-capital-in-pitching-to-the-stars/.

As an Applied Innovation course in the Spring, development of teamwork and leadership skills will be as much a targeted outcome of this course as development of a winning investment strategy.  Throughout the course, students will frame problems and opportunities, experiment to learn, navigate uncertainty, and influence beyond authority.  These experiences and skills will serve well the teams that are continuing to the Haas Investment Fund Management course in Fall semester.  That follow-on 1-unit course will involve implementation of strategies, investing capital from a dedicated fund.  For that Fall course there will be an application/selection process in February for those enrolled in this Spring course.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES:

Sam Olesky is the Managing Member of Olesky Capital Management, LLC an independent investment advisory firm that conducts principal investing and trading, and manages separate accounts for trusts, partnerships, individuals, retirement plans, endowments, and foundations. From 1998 through 2010, Mr. Olesky managed an Olesky Capital hedge fund. Prior to founding Olesky Capital in 1998, Mr. Olesky was employed with TD Waterhouse, Inc. where he was First Vice President over a large group of areas, including Client Services, Electronic Brokerage, Banking Services, Corporate Actions, Retirement Plans and Regulatory Response and Quality Assurance. Mr. Olesky joined TD Waterhouse in 1989.

Bill Rindfuss is a Professional Faculty member and also Executive Director for Strategic Programs in the Haas Finance Group. In addition to the Hedge Fund Strategies and Haas Investment Fund Management courses, he teaches, develops and brings outside speakers for a series of applied finance training classes in partnership with the Career Management Group and MBA Finance Club. He represents the Finance Group to the outside finance community. He had formerly worked at JPMorgan and predecessors in New York and San Francisco in several finance roles over twenty years, including as head of credit risk management on the West Coast. He has an MBA in finance and management from Columbia Business School, and a BA in mathematics and economics from Colgate.