GIG Reimagines Who Finance Is For

On a misty November evening in the Swilcan Suite Ballroom of Hotel du Vin, students in black tie shuffled chips across green felt tables. The semesterly black tie event for the Global Investment Group— known on campus simply as GIG — had returned in the form of a casino night. It was a social event, but the undercurrent was unmistakably serious: these were students who, between lectures and essays, manage a real investment fund, cultivate an alumni network stretching into senior management at global banks, and debate the future of world markets with unusual fluency.

Courtesy of GIG

GIG, founded in 2001 and now a registered charity, is small by design. Only 33 students a year become fund members, a selectivity that has given the group a reputation for rigor and a “rubber stamp of approval,” as Fund President, Ben Preece put it. This year, more than 170 applied for just 8 spots.

Yet the story of GIG  is not one of elite exclusion but of deliberate expansion — not in size, but in who feels invited in.

“We’re big on bringing people from different backgrounds,” said Ben, who alongside managing the fund also oversees GIG’s outreach initiative. “You don’t need a stacked finance CV. Genuine interest matters more.”

Ben speaks from experience. He came from an English state school, and even now notes the educational divide that new arrivals feel between public and private school students. “You can tell who had exposure to this world before,” he said. “I didn’t.”

Opening the Door, and Then Paying It Forward

Ben himself joined the University’s investment society in his first year. In second year, he decided to apply to GIG, earned a place, and, unexpectedly, leadership of a sector.

“It was a steep learning curve,” he said. “You grow fast because you have to.”

Now, as a senior member and mentor, he sees it as his responsibility to help newer students navigate a world that often feels opaque. GIG’s official charity program, Pave the Way, was created last year to address exactly that. Designed for state schools in Scotland, the initiative provides financial literacy sessions and candid talks about careers in finance.

“State school students often start behind,” Ben said. “We tell them what no one told us.”

A talk at Madras College (Photo Courtesy of GIG)

A Fund Restructured for the Future

The fund’s structure — 23 stocks across 10 sectors — is simple enough on paper. Members conduct detailed research and present a buy, sell, or hold recommendation. This year, however, the sectors themselves changed.

Gone is the metals and mining category, substituted for energy and renewables. A US-heavy portfolio broadens with the addition of emerging markets. Information technology now stands alone as a forward-looking pillar.

These choices weren’t random. Ben spent the summer at Schroders studying emerging markets and brought that perspective back to GIG. Younger analysts, he argues, need early exposure to the regions and industries shaping the next decade.

But the shift also responds to who is joining the fund. Many new members are first- or second-year students — some studying languages or sciences, not finance. Training has been expanded accordingly.

“A stacked CV can be misleading,” Ben said. “We’re looking for people who ask good questions, who challenge assumptions. Some of the best investors don’t come from management degrees.”

He points to his own mentor at Schroders, who studied Russian and French and rose through the industry by being, in Ben’s words, “one of the strongest thinkers in any room.”

Inside the Weekly Fund Meeting

Last Tuesday evening, GIG held its end-of-semester presentations, where different sectors present a full investment recommendation — a buy, hold, or sell — backed by 20 to 25 hours of research. Each sector is comprised of three to four students, with one sector head —typically a fourth-year or postgraduate student— all of whom collaborate to create their pitch. 

Courtesy of GIG

This week, Financial Institutions (or FIG for those in the know) took the floor. Three analysts — Oscar Tschackert, Eulalia de Orléans, and Nikos Ninios — presented their case on CME Group, the global derivatives exchange. The slide deck, projected on a wall-sized screen, emphasized strong management, resilience in volatile markets, and an ESG profile with a notably high MSCI rating relative to peers. The group recommended a hold.

“What’s the succession plan?” one student asked. “The CEO seems central.”

“Why are dividends so small?” another challenged.

“Growth mindset,” Eulalia replied. “CME is prioritizing reinvestment.”

Courtesy of the FIG Team

Matthew Walker, Head of Operations, and one of the two students with final decision-making authority over the fund, pushed harder: “Why hold this rather than rotate into gold? The price trends look similar.”

The analysts defended the stock’s defensive qualities, pointing to its global derivatives exposure and institutional investor base. Ben acknowledged the strength of the presentation but noted one caveat: CME is the smallest position in the fund. “If this were equally weighted with our other holdings,” he said, “I’d agree with the recommendation. As it stands, I’m inclined to buy more.”

The final word rests with him and Matthew.

Next came Consumer Staples, with Antonio Zell, Aurèle Nuremberg, Johanna Mackenzie, and Alexis De La Chapelle presenting on US Foods. The team highlighted the company’s unusually strong board diversity — 40% female — and the independence afforded by not having an executive chairman. But the data was “muddy,” in their words, with conflicting assessments from major rating agencies. Their thesis: a firm hold.

The Consumer Discretionary team with Kennedy Bubrig, Connie Hardick, Lila Fageraas, and Nikhil Freiherr Raits Von Frentz concluded the evening with a bullish case for Richemont, a luxury conglomerate with a pattern of acquisitions every one to two years. “They’re ahead of Kering and LVMH on several metrics,” one analyst argued. The recommendation was an unambiguous buy.

For the newer members, many only weeks removed from their first exposure to financial models, the meeting was a glimpse into the high expectations that define GIG. For the veterans, it was business as usual — a chance to teach, to test ideas, and to sharpen each other’s thinking.

“It’s a simulation of industry practice,” Ben said afterward. “But it’s also a place where people learn how to ask hard questions.”

When Wall Street Comes to Town

This month, GIG hosted a joint speaker event with Women in Business and the Investment Society. But while the room held around 40 people, more than half were from GIG.

Mike Wilson and Laurie Hawkes (Courtesy of GIG)

The guests — Mike Wilson, a veteran with a globe-spanning résumé, and Laurie Hawkes, whose path wound from biochemistry to investment banking — offered what one attendee called “financial realism, not platitudes.”

“Put away the textbooks,” Mike told students at the outset. “No bullshit allowed.”

Mike, who helped create the JD/MBA program between Dartmouth and Boston University and has worked in Boston, London, and Tokyo, spoke with a candor that startled some in the room. He was skeptical of crypto (“I think crypto is crap”), wary of market valuations (“hugely overvalued”), and deeply concerned about geopolitical uncertainty.

“Be very wary about going out on a limb these days,” he said. “I’m more cautious than I’ve ever been — and I lived through Black Monday and the financial recession.”

He urged students to distinguish trading from investing, to study semiconductors, to understand behavioural finance, and to treat risk assessment as central to any analysis. At one point, he praised GIG’s own research: “Your analysis reports are as good as what’s on Wall Street.”

Laurie, meanwhile, described a different arc — one shaped by the realities of being a woman in finance. She began in international development, pivoted to an MBA at Cornell, landed at Salomon Brothers, and entered a trading floor where only 3 out of 1,100 professionals were women.

“It was a boys’ club,” she said, recalling the sports-based camaraderie from which she was excluded. Some women, she noted wryly, were promoted early “to fill quotas, before they were ready.”

Still, she built a career through discipline and unvarnished self-assessment.

“Economic viability mattered most,” she said. “I gave up a personal life in my twenties and thirties.”

Both speakers delivered blunt advice for today’s students: call people instead of emailing; prepare two days for every interview; ask the “stupid” questions; read widely. Mike rattled off a list of recommended books, from Barbarians at the Gate to Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs.

A Changing Industry, Reflected on Campus

The two speakers’ presence underscored a broader shift. GIG today is roughly 50/50 men and women. Its leadership describes a culture dramatically different from the world Laurie entered decades ago.

“You can tell finance is changing by comparing management to new analysts,” one attendee noted.

Still, both speakers warned against complacency. Remote work, Mike argued, is eroding the informal mentorship that once defined the industry. “You don’t gain mentors by Zoom,” he said. “You miss the pub conversations.”

A Club That’s Become a Community

Much of GIG’s success lies in its tight-knit culture. Because the fund remains so small, members bond quickly. Alumni — now scattered across major financial centers — stay engaged and often help younger students.

“There’s a willingness to pick up the phone,” Ben said. “People do it because they remember what it was like here.”

Social events like Casino Night, organized this year by Events Co-Heads Maddie Bailey and Caitlyn Eby alongside Social President Storie Lynch, help maintain that community. About half the attendees brought guests; conversations flowed easily

between talk of exams, internships, and the future of the fund.

Courtesy of GIG

But beneath the elegance of the evening runs a deeper purpose. GIG, at its core, is preparing students for a world of volatile markets, shifting technologies, and the demand for broader perspectives.

“If you want success,” Mike told the students, “have passion, have drive, and talk to people face to face. Don’t hide behind screens.”

For Ben, and for many of the students listening, this blend of rigor, openness, and mentorship is what makes GIG more than just another university investment club.

“It’s a community,” he said. “One that looks after its own — and brings others in.”