UTC SMILE Fund alums Luke Johnson and Ryan Nichols (photo by Angela Foster).
As Chattanooga’s population and economic development continue to grow, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga students are fulfilling a need for bright, prepared and eager professionals ready to take fiduciary responsibility seriously.
Founded in 2015, the SMILE Fund—short for Student Managed Investment Learning Experience—was introduced to provide students with the opportunity to manage a real stock portfolio for a client.
With that goal in mind, the SMILE Fund’s mission statement is “to provide UTC students with a proficient knowledge of portfolio management, investment strategies and equity valuation techniques while growing the value of the fund.”
The SMILE Fund currently manages more than $3 million, having grown from an initial investment of $250,000.
Robert L. Maclellan and UC Foundation Associate Professor of Finance Hunter Holzhauer has served as the fund’s program director since its inception.
“I wanted to do this in a totally different way,” Holzhauer said. “I wanted this to be an out-of-class, pro bono, real-world business that the students run. I wanted it to be so much like the real world that it shocks the people when they go to work for them because the students already know what they’re doing. I felt that way because I knew how competitive it is in business, finance and wealth management.”
The local Chattanooga community has seen an influx of SMILE Fund alums ready to work in the financial service industry, including former fund presidents Luke Johnson and Ryan Nichols.
Johnson, a Signal Mountain native and 2023 UTC graduate, was a recipient of the John C. Stophel Distinguished Student Award for his work within the Gary W. Rollins College of Business.
Joining the SMILE Fund team during his first year at UTC, Johnson—who earned his bachelor’s degree in finance—was eager to explore a passion he stumbled upon in high school.
“When I was 15, I bugged my dad to open up an investment account for me,” Johnson recalled. “I don’t remember why, but you can get a UTMA account, and they’re the custodian until you’re 21. I had an app where you could select stocks and invest $300. I bought Amazon, Apple and Tesla.
“When I turned 21, I had like $2,100. I multiplied my money by seven. I thought this was super easy. That’s all you have to do. I got super lucky because it’s not that easy. For some reason, I had an interest in it. When I got to college, I immediately looked for the SMILE Fund.”
Johnson held multiple roles within the organization, ultimately finishing as president. He credits the fund for his first internship with Patten & Patten, one of the largest registered investment advisors in Chattanooga, which manages assets exceeding $2 billion.
Ray Ryan, the president, CEO and portfolio manager at Patten & Patten, is the SMILE Fund’s industry mentor. Ryan’s connection with the fund led to Johnson becoming an intern with the company.
“When I was a runner, I would go ask Ray questions,” Johnson explained. “I would show interest in markets. I would show interest in investments. He was involved in the SMILE Fund. He is a great teacher. He took opportunities to teach me, as well as the other runners and people in the SMILE Fund, whenever he could.
“I was given an opportunity because of the SMILE Fund. It’s just building on the opportunities and a lot of them came from being involved in the fund.”
Ryan Nichols and Luke Johnson both served as SMILE Fund presidents during their time at UTC.
Johnson currently works as a portfolio manager for Acumen Wealth Advisors, one of the fastest-growing registered investment advisors in Chattanooga.
Reese Veltenaar, the CEO and managing partner of Acumen, is a Rollins College of Business alum who also serves on the SMILE Fund advisory committee.
“One of the best things about working with the SMILE Fund is that you get an insight into the most dedicated students who know finance in general and have had a good opportunity to do deep research,” Veltenaar said. “Anybody who’s worked in the officer or leadership positions in the SMILE Fund is a huge opportunity for us from a candidate perspective.”
Veltenaar and Acumen have hired multiple SMILE Fund graduates due to the valuable experience students gain during their time in the program.
“Confidence is one of the biggest things the people from the SMILE Fund have,” Veltenaar explained. “They just come out with a high level of confidence just because they’ve been tested in front of a huge group. They’ve done the research. They’ve participated more than just in a classroom setting. They feel better about their ideas, which helps get buy-in from the rest of the team and then ultimately usually works better on implementation.”
A Chattanooga native, Nichols took a similar route to Johnson upon graduation. Initially, Nichols interned with Acumen and was hired as an analyst.
Recently, he accepted a position as an analyst at Alderman Enterprises, a Chattanooga-based private equity firm. Nichols describes the main difference in his new role as examining smaller, private, long-term investments instead of large, publicly traded companies.
Nichols, who graduated with degrees in accounting and finance in 2024, said he didn’t know finance was his path until talking to Holzhauer at an initial SMILE Fund interest meeting.
“It showed what I think UTC and the Rollins College of Business offer,” Nichols said. “It’s a different level of personalization. You are able to connect on a deeper level with your professors.”
In addition to the real-world skills the SMILE Fund provides, Nichols said the relationships with teammates are just as meaningful.
“Almost all of my closest friends are from the SMILE Fund or fund alumni,” Nichols said. “That comes from other places like my internship working with guys at Acumen. I’m still close with the people I worked with there and other alums that I didn’t work with. It has had a huge impact on my life on the personal and relationship side.”
Holzhauer said Johnson and Nichols were crucial to the SMILE Fund, specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“They were steady hands when I needed some steady hands,” Holzhauer said. “These are students managing real money, doing real things and both of them got to go to Acumen. Acumen asked me for my best folks and they were our presidents back to back.”
While Chattanooga and Nashville are two cities well-represented by SMILE Fund graduates, Holzhauer hopes to continue expanding the fund’s reach.
“I hear about SMILE Fund students helping other fund members get jobs more than I’m doing myself, which blows my mind,” Holzhauer said. “I’d like it to get a little bit bigger in Atlanta. We have a few students helping each other out in New York and a couple in Chicago. It’s Chattanooga and Nashville that have taken off the most, but we’ll eventually take over the world if we can.”
Holzhauer hopes that they continue to develop a group of individuals willing to support one another in their careers and lives.
“We have a slogan, SMILE Fund for life,” Holzhauer said. “All groups and companies have slogans, but … I didn’t want them to think I was going to be a semester professor. I want to be there for them. If they need to call me at any time or if they want to have lunch, breakfast or grab a coffee to run an offer past me—you name it—I’m there for them.”
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