Four UTC Finance students were selected to participate in a four-week summer internship with Galtere, Ltd., the commodities-focused hedge fund of Renée Haugerud. The experience took the students from the skyscrapers in New York City to a farm in Preston, Minnesota.
Stephen Reaves, Nicole Koegel, Cody Edwards, and Tyler Gallups got a firsthand experience of live trading, intensive research, and the knowledge and advice of Wall Street professionals in NYC. The students were put to work on a global asset hedge fund. They blogged about their experiences.
“As part of our internship experience, we were given a portfolio to ‘roll.’ We closed out positions and then entered into new ones. We had to get out of a contract by the first notice date or the physical asset would be delivered to us. We can’t have 1,000 barrels of unprocessed crude oil coming to the doorstep!” Reaves wrote. “That is a glimpse of what we have been doing here.
Renée Haugerud had spoken with Paul Tudor Jones, and he said he would hire someone straight out of college if they knew how to roll positions and perform basic portfolio management techniques.”
“We spend our days researching EVERYTHING!” Koegel wrote. “We are each responsible for a paper portfolio of $100M in addition to group projects. Our positions need to be from a macro perspective across multiple asset classes, so research is very important.”
Group collaboration also played a key part in the internship experience.
“There is a varied knowledge base within this group which helps the diversity of ideas and conversation. The collaboration between all of us is enlightening and helpful. The ability to talk out ideas and help teach one another has proven to be strength. It has enabled us to be confident in our thought process and take positions on themes and trades accordingly,” Koegel wrote.
The experience also included conversations with guest speakers such as a Foreign Exchange trader from Barclays, a trader from Galtere Ltd., and an analyst from Queen Anne’s Gate Capital.
“The knowledge and experience the speakers have shared with us is priceless. This kind of information goes well beyond the text book and we are able to witness the industry in action,” Koegel wrote.
The last week of the internship was spent in Preston, the site of Haugerud’s farm.
“Haugerud’s father was a farmer, so she began to understand commodities and futures literally from the ground up. She learned the impact of big yield crops on the market, so she understood the business from the dirt to the market,” said Katrina Craven, Director of Marketing and Communications in the UTC College of Business. “I think it was very enlightening for the students to see the industry from that side as well, it’s very different than just reading the stock reports on the screen.”
Students stayed at the Jailhouse Inn, Haugerud’s childhood home that has since been turned into a bed and breakfast. Students met with the father and son team that currently runs the farm.
“They were kind enough to explain the entire process of their business. We were able to see ALL of their equipment and they explained in detail how each machine works. They also shared the cost of carry invoices with us so we could literally see how their business works,” said Koegel said in her blog.
The students were also able to speak with crop insurance salesmen, soil quality testers, and Renée Haugerud herself.
“The Minnesota aspect of the trip gave insight into how the futures market is able to exist. We were exposed to first-hand knowledge that students do not normally have the opportunity to experience,” Koegel explained.
The internship was made possible through Galtere, Ltd’s Founder, Chief Investment Officer and Managing Principal, Renée Haugerud. Haugerud and her husband, UTC alumnus and former Mocs football player, John H. Murphy, established the Galtere Institute: Finance for the Future Initiative at UTC’s College of Business in 2009. The Institute’s mission is to promote the art and science of trading and investing.
