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Source: Joseph Spadafina and Tomisin Fadeyi, Co-Presidents, Ivey Asset Management Club.
We interact with assets every single day. Your bank account is an asset. So are your investments, your grandparents’ pension, and perhaps your home sweet home.
In 2024, global assets under management surged past $120 trillion, according to McKinsey and Company, triple the size of the U.S. stock market. From hedge funds like Citadel racing to beat the market to Norway’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, the asset management industry is expanding into every corner of your family, Canada, and the world.
At Ivey, a dedicated community is ensuring this $120 trillion powerhouse doesn’t stay in the shadow. That’s Ivey Asset Management Club (IAMC).
Leading IAMC this year are Co-Presidents Joseph and Tomisin, both longtime members who previously served as Directors. Their passion for IAMC drives their vision: to create a welcoming community for all students. This year, they are particularly focusing on AEOs, who have historically had limited access to the “buy-side” – institutions that use capital to purchase securities or assets with the goal of generating a return for their investors. IAMC is making it a priority to ensure AEOs feel informed and inspired to explore this through asset management.
“They call it asset management, but it’s really a universe,” Joseph explains. “Equities, fixed income, currencies, commodities—and then you hit private credit and real estate and so much more. It’s an umbrella term for the buy-side, but there are so many paths within it that we just don't hear about.”
That diverse horizon is the club’s raison d’être. Take, for example, IAMC’s flagship Toronto Firms Trip in October. This school year, they visited traditional powerhouses like TD and CIBC, but also explored the “middle market,” such as Fitzrovia, a real estate asset management firm. Moreover, IAMC recently hosted a personal investing and networking session in partnership with BMO Global Asset Management. Joseph, Tomisin, and Team focused on engaging with AEOs, and the event was a massive success, drawing over 110 attendees!
So whether it's fireside chats with industry leaders like Brad Benson (VP, Portfolio Management at CI Global Asset Management) or networking sessions with BMO, IAMC’s goal is to make the intangible, tangible. “Bringing professionals in person is the best way,” says Joseph, who previously worked at CI Global Asset Management. “You may find a career you never knew you’d love.”
With recruitment timelines shifting earlier every year, Tomisin, who previously worked in private capital at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, offers what I find to be a genuinely unique piece of advice: “Find what you’re NOT interested in by talking to people and building a connected network.” The process of elimination! Knowing where not to invest your time is just as vital as finding your winning trade.
Asset management is exactly like an investment portfolio: diversified. Diversity of sectors, roles, companies, and values. By exploring it through IAMC, you learn the true value in compounding wealth and knowledge.
And who knows? One day, you might even find yourself taking the helm of Ivey Asset Management Club.
To learn more about IAMC, visit their website and Instagram!