Report to Members 2012-2013
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REPORT TO MEMBERS 2012-2013 CFA SOCIETY OF SASKATCHEWAN Board of Directors 2012-2013 Officers and Directors Jardin Schnurr, CFA President Chris Chernecki, CFA Vice President Ryan Thompson, CFA Secretary/Treasurer Heather Greenman, CFA Past President Directors Rene Benoit, CFA Membership Zhou (Joe) Zhang, CFA Education Jardin Schnurr, CFA Public Awareness C.A. Hatlelid, CFA Technology Directors at Large Gavin Preston, CFA Robert Davis Administration Lydia Mohoric Society Administrator 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 President’s Report 3 2.0 Activity Report 4 2.1 Programs 4 2.2 Educational Programs 4 2.3 University Relations 6 2.4 Annual Forecast Dinner & Markets Outlook Dinner 6 2.5 Membership 7 2.6 Public Awareness 8 2.7 Treasurer’s Report 8 3.0 Officers and Directors for 2012 - 13 9 2 1.0 President’s Report Another successful year has come to an end for the CFA Society of Saskatchewan. The Board continued on its endeavour to hold high quality value add events and to bring in speakers that are relevant and timely. This was demonstrated by the record attendance that we had the Stephen Murchison, Deputy Chief, Bank of Canada luncheon in Saskatoon on September 12th, 2012. In an ongoing effort to bring in high profile speakers for both our Forecast Dinner in Regina and our Outlook Dinner in Saskatoon we have formalized a sponsorship package for both events which was well received from the corporate world. A record $12,500 was raised through corporate sponsorship and will be used to continue to make the event bigger and better next year. This past year marked the first time the Board pursued corporate sponsorship at our Saskatoon Outlook and was encouraged by the response of two corporate sponsors which raised $4,000 to allow us to bring in professional MCs which we received rave reviews from attendees. Some of our other key operational highlights for the fiscal year: The 2013 Forecast Dinner in Regina drew a crowd of 316 The 2012 Outlook Dinner in Saskatoon was a huge success with 117 attendees Financial Modeling course had 8 participants which took place over 2 days in April I look back at the year and it isn’t without the support of my fellow board members that are really the driving force behind the accomplishments and successes this year. I would like to take the opportunity to recognize and thank the 2012-2013 Board of Directors for their ongoing contributions: Chris Chernecki, CFA (Vice-President), Ryan Thompson, CFA (Secretary/Treasurer), Heather Greenman, CFA (Past President), Rene Benoit, CFA (Membership Chair), Zhou Zhang, CFA (Education Chair), C.A. Hatlelid, CFA (Technology Chair), Gavin Preston, CFA (Member at Large) and Robert Davis (Member at Large). In addition, a special thank you goes out to Lydia Mohoric (Society Administrator) and her contribution and assistance in the society’s daily operations. After two one-year terms as President of the CFA Society of Saskatchewan I will be stepping aside and Chris Chernecki will lead the Society in 2013-2014. I will continue to serve as Past-President to assist in our pursuit of our long-term goals of offering value added services to our membership. I look forward to seeing everyone out at one of our many events in the upcoming fiscal year. Jardin Schnurr, CFA President, CFA Society of Saskatchewan 3 2.0 Activity Report 2.1 Programs Luncheons/Breakfasts The CFA Society of Saskatchewan is committed to provide our membership with various programs to enhance their knowledge and understanding of relevant issues within industry. Over this past fiscal year, there were a total of seven luncheons and breakfasts. Our society was privileged to have the following speakers: September 6, 2012 – Stephen Murchison, Deputy Chief, Bank of Canada – “ToTEM as a Financial Forecasting Model”, Regina September 12, 2012 – Stephen Murchison, Deputy Chief, Bank of Canada – “ToTEM as a Financial Forecasting Model”, Saskatoon December 13, 2012 – Jeff Martin, CFA, Peters & Co - Themes in the Canadian Energy Market”, Regina. May 29, 2013 – Craig Reynolds, Senior Vice President and CFA, Saskatchewan Roughriders– “Impact of the Roughriders on the Economy and the upcoming Grey Cup”, Regina. 2.2 Educational Programs Society Scholarship Program A recent change in the scholarship program is that we no longer offer Society Scholarships and the new scholarship is named as “Access Scholarships” administrated by the CFA Institute. Candidates will apply directly through the CFA Institute website. The Education Chair at the society level will participate in the selection process of scholarship recipients. In 2013 and 2014, CFA Institute has allocated 5 and 7 scholarships, respectively, to our society. 4 Pre Exam Support The Society continued its strong support for candidates in preparing for CFA exams by teaming up with the Boston Security Analysts Society and offering all three levels of practice exams. This year 43 candidates participated in the Boston practice exam program. The Boston mock exams were made available to candidates to pick up both in Regina and Saskatoon in late April. We also organized mock exams at the University of Regina and University of Saskatchewan campus on April 27 and gave candidates the opportunity to practice the exam in a realistic test environment. Post Exam Reception We celebrated the end of June 2013 exam season by hosting the CFA Exam reception at the Trifon’s Pizza located across the University of Regina campus on June 1. Candidates and members enjoyed refreshments and a light supper, and had the opportunity to discuss their exam experiences while networking with other members and candidates. The Marquee Group Excel Financial Modeling Course For the second time the Society offered a two-day financial modeling course taught by the Marquee Group during April 2-3. Our members, candidates and university students who attended this short course expressed very positive feedback after the seminar. The seminar focused on using Excel to apply financial knowledge in a hands-on manner. The course covered several of the common methodologies that are used in current practice to project a business’s financial performance and determine its value, including discounted cash flow analysis. In the future, the Excel Modeling course is expected to be offered in our society once every two years. Investment Research Challenge Our Society, partnered with the Paul J. Hill School of Business, University of Regina, participated in the 2012-2013 CFA Institute Investment Research Challenge (IRC) (Local level) hosted by the Canadian Prairies Societies in Calgary. The IRC is a competition between university-sponsored teams that research a designated publicly traded company (Enbridge was the designated firm for the Canadian Prairies Societies), prepare a written report and present their findings to a panel of judges. The competition has three levels: Local, Regional, and Global. Winners at the Local level advance to compete against Teams within their geographic region at the Regional level. Winning Teams at the Regional level advance to compete at the Global level. Dr. Zhou Zhang, CFA, served as Faculty Advisor. James Baldwin, CFA (Greystone Investments), served as Industry Mentor. Three students, Mitch Clarke (Team Captain), Steven Perlinger and Junting Zhou, represented our society participating in the competition. The Winning team at the Canadian Prairies Societies level is the Mount Royal University team. 5 2.3 University Relations We grew our candidate base by strengthening our relationships with Saskatchewan’s universities. During the year, our executives and board members visited the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Regina several times to promote the CFA program to students. As a result, a large proportion of Level I candidates are either fresh graduates or completing the final year of their undergraduate programs. We also increased our interactions with Saskatchewan university students. For instance, many students in the UR Investing program volunteered at our events including the Annual Forecast Dinner. This interaction allows students to expand their network and also allows the Society to assist students in navigating their career paths. 2.4 Annual Forecast Dinner & Markets Outlook Dinner Forecast Dinner The Society held the 21st CFASS Forecast Dinner on Thursday January 24th, 2013 at the Conexus Arts Centre in Regina. This year’s dinner drew 316 guests. The dinner is the Society’s signature event for members and the financial community. This year’s speakers were Derek Holt, Vice President of Scotia Economics and keynote Barry Ritholtz author of Bailout Nation and CEO of Fusion IQ. Master of ceremonies were Donovan Workun and Graham Neil. Our society collaborated with the CFA Society of Winnipeg this year to bring in Barry and we will look to collaborate with other local societies in the future to be able to bring in high profile speakers. For the second year in a row we incorporated corporate sponsorship which enables the society to continue to make this our signature event and we thank RBC Investor Services, Greystone Managed Investments Inc. and State Street for their participation. Outlook Dinner The Society held the seventh annual CFASS Outlook Dinner on Thursday June 13 at TCU Place in Saskatoon. This year’s dinner drew 117 guests from the financial community. Speakers were Ed Carlson, author of George Lindsay, the Art of Technical Analysis and Tony Crescenzi, Executive Vice President of PIMCO. As a result of the positive feedback we had from the MC’s at our Forecast dinner in January we again used Donovan Workun and Graham Neil who added some humour to the dinner. We continue to be optimistic about growing this event going forward and making it our Society’s signature event in Saskatoon and incorporated corporate sponsorship for the first time. The addition of corporate sponsors going forward will enable the Society to continue to make investments in this dinner and grow this event for the future.