2025 - 2026
The Heilbrunn Center recently welcomed Jonah Sonnenborn ’05, Senior Managing Director, Head of Real Estate, Access Industries to the Center's Advisory Board. Jonah joins the distinguished group of professionals who provide invaluable guidance and advice to Professor Santos and the Heilbrunn Center. To learn more about the Heilbrunn Center's advisory board, read here.
Welcome to the Value Investing Program Class of 2026!
Students are selected for the Program through a competitive application process and complete a set of seven courses including: Modern Value, Applied Value Investing, The Credit Superhighway, Economics of Strategic Behavior, Value Investing with Legends, and two elective courses from a menu of Heilbrunn Center courses. Beyond access to world-class practitioners who teach in the Value Investing Program, students in the Program also receive access to special programming, including recruiting and career workshops, mentors, and various networking events.
The Heilbrunn Center maintains a resume book for students in the Program. If you are interested in recruiting from the Value Investing Program, please contact Meredith Trivedi at [email protected].
In addition to the Center’s regular course offerings, we are pleased to offer several new elective courses -- The Business of Asset Management taught by Guy Miller, Senior Deputy General Counsel at Citadel Securities; International Value Investing taught by David Samra ’93, Managing Director of Artisan Partners and Founding Partner of the International Value Group; and Domestic Immersion: Value Investing & Asset Management, Southern Atlantic Region taught by Ehsan Ehsani ’22 – during the 2025-2026 academic year.
International Executive Education
The Heilbrunn Center will host the Modern Value Investing Executive Education Program in London in spring 2026. Registration will open in January 2026. For more information regarding this program please email Meredith Trivedi at [email protected] or visit https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/valueinvesting/LondonProgram.
5x5x5 Russo Student Investment Portfolio
We are thrilled to announce the new positions for the 2025 vintage of the 5x5x5 Russo Student Investment portfolio including Avery Dennision (AVY) - Keshav P.; Cellebrite (CLBT) - Roy Swisa; CNH Industrial (CNH) - Mario Stefanidis, CFA; Light & Wonder (LNW) - Joe Ferguson; and WESCO International (WCC) - Garrett Wallis.
Visit here to read the student write-ups from the current and past vintages.
New and Ongoing Initiatives
The Heilbrunn Center hosted the Inaugural Value Investing Program Alumni Day on May 9, 2025. The Center welcomed more than 100 Value Investing Program alumni for this half-day event which included a ‘State of the Markets’ panel and a lecture from Professor Bruce Greenwald, the Robert Heilbrunn Professor Emeritus of Asset Management and Finance.
The Center will return to the UAE through the Chazen Study Tour program in January 2026. Nineteen students joined the Center on the visit in 2024, and we look forward to expanding the programming.
In partnership with Carl Kawaja ’91, the Heilbrunn Center first launched the Kawaja Growth Stock Pitch Challenge during the 2022- 2023 academic year. This event is open to all first- and second-year students. Congratulations to this year’s winner, Aman Goyal ’25 who pitched Eternal (NSEI: ETERNAL). Aman also won the event in November 2023 with his pitch on Insulet (PODD). Judges for the 2025 event included Kelly Granat, Co-CIO Managing Director, Lone Pine Capital; Andrew Suzman, chair of Capital Research and Management Company and Portfolio Manager, Capital Group; and Carl Kawaja ’91, chair of Capital Research and Management Company and Portfolio Manager, Capital Group.
The Center was pleased to once again host the 6th Annual Applied Value Investing Stock Pitch Challenge. Competitors included Morgan (Xinyue) Zhang '25 pitching AO Smith (first place), Mario Stefanidis, CFA '25 pitching CNH (second place), Harsha Mohan '25 pitching Global Payments, and Kit Popolo '25 pitching Ibotta. To watch the video from that event, visit here.
The Pershing Square Challenge remains a highlight of the academic year. In partnership with Mr. Ackman, the Heilbrunn Center hosted the 18th Annual Pershing Square Challenge in April 2025. Event winners included Dimitry Karavaikin ‘26, Erik Listoe ‘26 and Tuan Nguyen ‘26 for their pitch on Carlisle Companies Inc (CSL). To watch video of that event, visit here.
Stay Involved and Upcoming Events
There are many ways to engage with the Heilbrunn Center and our students.
Mentor a Student
As part of the Value Investing Program experience, each student is paired with at least one industry professional who provides guidance and advice on career development, feedback on pitches, and other assistance with networking and recruiting. This mentorship provides our students with the invaluable opportunity to engage one-on-one with an active member of the investing community and has led to many lifelong professional friendships. For those unable to commit the time to a formal mentee, we also offer mock interview preparation for the VI Program students and are building a directory of practitioners to conduct mock interviews on a one-off basis.
If you are interested in participating with the mentorship or mock interview program, please contact Julia Kimyagarov at [email protected].
Speak on Campus
The Heilbrunn Center, in conjunction with CSIMA, hosts a regular professional development series for students to hear from and ask questions of practitioners in a small group setting. If you are interested in speaking on campus, please contact Meredith Trivedi at [email protected].
Judge a Stock Pitch
Participate as an IIC judge, CSIMA Stock Pitch Competition judge, Applied Security Analysis practice pitch judge or meet with students individually to provide feedback on their verbal and written stock pitches. If you are interested in serving as a judge, please contact Meredith Trivedi at [email protected].
Upcoming Events
The Heilbrunn Center has planned a robust calendar of events for students and the alumni-practitioner community during the 2025-2026 academic year. Listed below are Center's open events. For a calendar of student-only events, please visit campus groups or email Julia Kimyagarov at [email protected].
The 35th Annual Graham & Dodd Event featuring Nicolai Tangen Wednesday, November 12, 2025 | The 19th Annual Pershing Square Challenge Thursday, April 30, 2026 |
The 4th Annual Kawaja Growth Stock Pitch Challenge Fall 2025 | The 17th Annual “From Graham to Buffett and Beyond” Omaha Dinner Friday, May 1, 2026 |
The 7th Annual Applied Value Investing Stock Pitch Challenge January 2026 | The 2nd Annual Value Investing Program Alumni Day Spring 2026 |
The 29th Annual CSIMA Conference Friday, February 6, 2026 |
The 35th Annual Graham & Dodd Event featuring Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, will take place on November 12 from 12:00pm-2:00pm at the Metropolitan Club. Registration will open in September.
Keynotes for the 29th Annual CSIMA Conference on February 6, 2026 include Matt Fine, Portfolio Manager of the Third Avenue Value Strategy portfolios; Matthew McLennan, co-head of the Global Value team, First Eagle Investments; Dan Rasmussen, Founder and Managing Partner, Verdad Advisors and Will Thorndike, Managing Partner, The Cromwell Harbor Partnership. Further details on speakers to follow.
Value Investing with Legends podcast
If you do not already, listen and subscribe to the Value Investing with Legends podcast hosted by Tano Santos and Michael Mauboussin.
Follow us on LinkedIn, X (@CenterDodd), and Instagram (@heilbrunncenter).
Annual Letter Archive