Alliance Capital Management, a large investment firm with a location in downtown Minneapolis, announced a $500,000 gift Friday to the Carlson School of Management.
The money was recently added to the Golden Gopher Growth Fund, a mutual fund managed by MBA students. With this latest gift the fund’s assets topped $2.5 million, making it one of the three largest student-managed funds in the nation.
Like the fund’s other two major contributors, U.S. Bancorp and Norwest Bank, Alliance Capital Management approached the donation as an investment in the area’s future workforce.
“The Minneapolis/St. Paul area is quickly becoming one of the top financial centers in the country,” said Al Harrison, Alliance Capital Vice chair and Minneapolis office manager. “It makes sense to give (Carlson School students) the same opportunities for successes in school that they’ll find on the front lines of the market.”
During the 1999-2000 academic year, 18 students will work on the fund, each with a time commitment of 15 to 20 hours per week. The fund consists of a handful of stocks representing small Minnesota companies, largely those in the technology and bio-technology fields.
The fund was launched in May 1998 with a $1 million investment from U.S. Bancorp and began operating out of the financial markets lab located on the first floor of the Carlson school building.
Alliance is a investment firm with more than $321 billion in assets under management with a concentration on retirement funds, foundations, endowments and benefit plans. The University has been a client of Alliance since 1970.