SBU's SIMM Considers Investing in BWV

Brown and White Ventures co-founder Jim Aroune and advisory board member Neil Bommele presented to St. Bonaventure University's Students In Money Management Investment Club for a third time on Monday, September 22nd.

In two previous meetings with the organization at the Swan Business Center, Bommele and Aroune provided an introduction to the new venture capital fund as an educational experience.

The latest - was all business.

SIMM hosted Brown and White Ventures as an investment candidate. The fund became the student investment group's first prospect for capital commitment under a new sector it is opening.

It is also the first time an organization affiliated with the university has considered investment in the nearly three-year-old fund.

SIMM has provided students with hands-on experience in actively managing an investment portfolio of publicly traded companies since 2004. Seeded with a $20,000 investment from St. Bonaventure Class of '85 alum Chris Kinslow, SIMM's current portfolio value exceeds $850,000.

But for the first time, SIMM will commit to a sector it calls alternative investments. Among the options it may consider: entering into a limited partnership in a venture capital fund.

Forty students attended, reviewed the fund's presentation and asked questions for half an hour. SIMM's student leadership will determine whether the organization invests.

SIMM also donates one-third of its gains to charitable, non-profit organizations. It retains one third in its Equity Fund and delivers one-third of its gains to the university's endowment.

Its mission aligns with that of Brown and White Ventures, which brings university alumni together as investors, deliver maximum returns for limited partners and commit at least ten percent of its net profits to a charitable contribution to St. Bonaventure's School of Business.