$2.5 Million Gift Establishes David O. Nicholas Applied Finance Lab at UWM's Lubar School David O. Nicholas, President & Chief Investment Officer of Nicholas Company, Inc., has made a $2.5 million gift to establish the David O. Nicholas Applied Finance Lab at UWM’s Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business. Nicholas is a 1987 graduate of the School’s graduate finance program.
“The Nicholas Lab will be a bridge between the classroom and the world of investment finance, enhancing our students’ capabilities by providing them with sophisticated financial databases and investment decision-making and management tools,” said Dean V. Kanti Prasad.
Equipped with state-of-the-art professional databases, streaming financial news, financial software, and high-power dual-monitor computers, the David O. Nicholas Applied Finance Lab will feature the same technology and real-time market data, analysis, and news available to professional traders in investment firms. The facility will also support a full spectrum of curriculum enhancements in both the investment and corporate finance arenas.
According to a 2006 national survey by the Graduate Management Admission Council, finance graduates are most in demand by employers. Nationwide, business schools including those at Cornell University, Massachusetts Institute for Technology, and the University of Texas, are responding to this demand for well-trained finance graduates by developing similar applied finance labs or “trading rooms.”
The area’s largest investment managers – including Nicholas Company, Mason Street Advisors, Baird Advisors, M&I Investment Management, Artisan Partners, Heartland Advisors, Stark Investment, and Ziegler Investment Services Group – account for over $150 billion in assets under management. In addition, Southeastern Wisconsin is headquarters to a number of financial industry powerhouses, among them Northwestern Mutual and Marshall & Ilsley Corporation.
“The lab will play a key role, not only in developing investment management expertise in-state, but in retaining that talent pool for our large investment management community,” said Nicholas. “It will be very important to both UWM and to the community to have this facility.”
2006-07 marks the 40 th anniversary of UWM’s Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business. With close to 22,000 alumni and numerous corporate knowledge partners, the School is a major source of management knowledge in Southeastern Wisconsin. The School offers a full array of accredited undergraduate and graduate programs, including a BBA. MBA, MS, Executive MBA, and PhD. More information on the Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business can be found at www.uwm.edu/Business or by calling (414) 229-4235.
