Ames Murray
Portfolio Manager
AIM Course and Fund
The Applied Investment Management (AIM) course has long been a cornerstone of the Capital Markets and Investment Management curriculum and a key to student success. Founded by Professor Mustafa Gültekin in 1999, the course is one of the more popular offerings in the School and enrolls both graduate and undergraduate students through an application process. Students consistently rate the course as the most important educational experience of their time at UNC Kenan-Flagler.
The AIM course develops your skills in all areas of investment management and provides a unique experience for entering related fields. It combines classroom coverage of MBA-level material in finance with hands-on applications, skill development and an opportunity to learn from, and interact with, program alumni and other successful financial analysts. You learn advanced concepts in finance, gain exposure to new analytical tools, acquire knowledge about the workings of financial markets, and develop intuition about value-creation through stimulating and challenging coursework. AIM Board members, guest speakers and mentors from industry will enhance your understanding of the real-world application of financial analysis and portfolio management.
The AIM class actively manages the Global Perspectives Fund. The fund has about $2 million in Assets Under Management invested in equities, and it has flexibility to invest in other asset classes, if economical. The AIM class greatly expands your skills in investment management and provides invaluable experience for you to enter a wide range of investment-related fields.
AIM is an applied 6-credit course over two semesters, where you apply what you have learned in other finance courses. You may take the course for one semester or both and receive proportional credit. The course cannot be taken for part of a semester e.g. one Mod. It is open to qualified final-year MBA and undergraduate students. The next AIM class will begin in Mod I of fall 2025 and run through Mod IV of 2026. Admitted students are strongly encouraged to attend the class during Mod IV (starting in March 2025) to familiarize themselves with portfolio positions and the investment process, ahead of the transition to next year’s team.
For undergraduate students, the pre-requisite courses are 407 (Financial Accounting) and 408 (Corp Finance), with 191 (Gateway into Capital Markets & Investments), 580 (Investments), 581/584 (Financial Modeling) and PRIME (577) recommended. For MBA students, the pre-requisite courses are Investments 1 and 2 and PRIME is recommended. You should have the ability to pull up a company’s 10K filing, locate the income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement and know what most of the terms mean. Since this is an applied course, there is minimal formal instruction; instead, you are expected to apply what you know, with feedback provided.
The AIM class meets on Wednesdays, from 3:30 p.m. to 6:20 p.m. in the PNC Capital Markets Lab. Please review the course syllabus for details and answers to any questions you may have before applying.
Applications are due by Feb. 28, 2025.
Decisions and notifications will be sent out no later than March 14, 2025.
Applications will be accepted between February 7 – February 28, 2025:
Click here for the 2025-2026 MBA Student Application
Click here for the 2025-2026 Undergraduate Application
Capital Markets Lab
The PNC Capital Markets Lab is the central financial resource at UNC Kenan-Flagler. It provides students with hands-on experience using the most sophisticated and ubiquitous tools in the investment management industry. It includes 20 Bloomberg terminals as well as research tools like FactSet, CapIQ and Morningstar, and representatives of Bloomberg and FactSet visit the School to provide instruction on using their tools.
Each year more than 500 undergraduate and MBA students achieve Bloomberg certification, an important credential in the financial services industry. The PNC Capital Markets Lab provides a real-world setting for students to manage portfolios with exposure to equities, fixed income assets and derivatives. It enables world-class research for the Global Perspectives Fund, a student-run portfolio managed from the lab.
The lab was founded in 2008 and named the PNC Capital Markets Lab in 2025. It is designed to provide an applied learning experience for students concentrating in Capital Markets and Investments. The skills developed help UNC Kenan-Flagler students launch successful careers in risk management, asset management and trading positions in banks, commodity firms and hedge funds.
Current AIM Student Leadership Team
(Select photo to view full profile.)
Ames Murray
Ames Murray is the Portfolio Manager of the Global Perspectives Fund and President of the Investment Management Club at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.
In the summer of 2025, he served as an Equity Research Summer Associate at Evercore ISI in New York City. During his first year at Kenan-Flagler, he competed in the Alpha Challenge, one of the nation’s premier investment competitions, where his team earned both first- and third-place finishes.
Prior to business school, Ames was an Equity Research Analyst at Alexander Capital Advisors, a small-cap, value-focused hedge fund, where he conducted fundamental research in the industrials sector. He began his career at Goldman Sachs before joining Cross Keys Capital LLC as an Investment Banking Associate.
Ames earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Accounting from Elon University, graduating with honors.
Katja Muller
Risk & Performance Manager
Katja Muller
Katja Muller is a 2nd year MBA at UNC Kenan-Flagler and serves as a Co-Performance and Risk Manager for the fund. She was an equity research analyst this summer covering the AI-power theme at Waverly Advisors, and before that, interned at Thornburg on domestic smid-cap and global all-cap mandates across consumer and e-commerce. Prior to pursuing an MBA, she built a $2M farm goods business while Director of Retail at One Acre Fund – Rwanda. She started her career in strategy consulting at Monitor Group (now Monitor Deloitte) and later spent time at the Robin Hood Foundation in NYC. Her interests lie in both public and private capital markets, and ultimately at the intersection of profits and social objectives. She earned her B.S. in Economics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Cole Winterstein
Risk & Performance Manager
Cole Winterstein
Cole Winterstein serves as Head of Risk and Performance for the fund, where he leads portfolio monitoring, performance attribution, and risk analytics. He spent six years at Bank of America, bringing experience across fixed income and commodities trading, along with a strong command of capital markets strategy and data-driven investment analysis. Cole is a CFA charterholder and a registered securities representative. He is currently a second-year MBA candidate at UNC Kenan-Flagler, concentrating in Corporate Finance and Capital Markets.
Outside of work, Cole enjoys staring at mountains, collecting vintage records, losing money on speculative investments, and chatting with friends and strangers about the weather.
Akos Szecsi
Market Strategist/Economist
Akos Szecsi
Olivia Li
Trader
Olivia Li
Olivia is a senior studying Business Administration and Statistics. She serves as a Trader for the AIM fund. Beyond AIM, she is the Undergraduate Student Chair for the 2025 Investment Management for All: Wealth and Women event, President of Smart Women Securities, and President of Dive In: Chapel Hill. This past summer, she gained experience at Diamond Hill as an equity research intern.
Vince Galioto
Trader
Vince Galioto
Hannah Fishman
Investor Relations
Hannah Fishman
Hannah Fishman is the Investor Relations Manager of the Kenan-Flagler Equities Fund at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.
She has gained experience across private equity, fintech, and technology startups, including roles at Sumeru Equity Partners, The Clearing House, and Codium AI (Now Qodo).
Hannah is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with coursework in Economics and a minor in Jewish Studies, and is expected to graduate in 2026. She is an Ernest E. Mayo Merit Scholar and is an Honors Carolina student.
Izzy Marshall
Investor Relations
Izzy Marshall
Izzy is a fourth-year student pursuing a dual major in Business Administration and Physics with a concentration in Quantitative Finance. In addition to her involvement with AIM, she serves as President and Team Captain of the Women’s Club Soccer White and is a member of the Wealth Management 4 All planning committee.
Izzy studied global markets and business in Barcelona during July 2024 and in Madrid during Spring 2025.
This past summer, she worked at Millennium Management, LLC as a Business Unit Control Intern, supporting operations across multiple asset classes and products. Previously, she spent a year and a half as a Statistics and Operations Research Analyst with the Sports Analysis Intelligence Laboratory, collaborating with UNC Division I athletic teams on data-driven projects. She has also conducted research in quantitative finance and worked as an Undergraduate Learning Assistant in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.