Saunders Students Take Second Place in CFA Research Challenge

A team of Saunders students took second place in the 2026 CFA Institute Research Challenge, on February 7, at RIT. This competition, which “provides university students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis,” included ten teams from nine western New York universities:  Canisius University, Niagara University, Rochester Institute of Technology, St. Bonaventure University, St. John Fisher University, SUNY Geneseo, SUNY Oswego, University at Buffalo, and University of Rochester.  

Faculty advisor Hao Zhang, a finance professor and the director of the BS Finance program and MS Finance program, says, “I am very proud of our students' performance and second-place finish.” He emphasizes the result—which he calls a “nice surprise” and an “amazing outcome”—is especially noteworthy as Canisius University has dominated the competition for 16 years. 

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The team consisted of five standout scholars—note the several double majors—from the Financial Management Association, a Saunders College of Business club open to all students at the university:

• Shane Girolamo ’28 (finance and computer science)—team caption
• Lanyin “L" Zheng ’28 (finance and MIS)
• Evan Ren ’28 (finance and accounting)
• Koa Butler ’28 (finance and MIS), 
• Michael Paoletti ’28 (finance) 

Says Professor Zhang, “The students in the team were exceptionally hard-working and brought complementary skill sets to the project. Each member contributed something unique (from financial modeling to qualitative research to presentation strategy) and the combination made the team stronger than the sum of its parts.”

“Our success came down to how we divided the work,” says team captain Shane Girolamo. “Each team member took ownership of a specific area of the company and became a subject matter expert in it. That depth of knowledge gave us an edge – not just in our presentation, but especially during the judges' Q&A, where we were able to provide detailed, confident answers that other teams couldn't match. The judges actually pointed to that as one of the main reasons we stood out.”

Christopher Petrosino, Head of Investments, Wealth Management for Manning & Napier, served as industry mentor for the team.

“I am extremely proud of the team's accomplishments,” says Petrosino. “I have been fortunate to serve as the team's industry mentor for several years and each year, the teams get stronger and stronger. Professor Hao Zhang has done a fantastic job as the team's faculty advisor and in recruiting great students for the team.”

The students, faculty advisor, and industry mentor look forward to an even better showing in 2027.