The Pershing Square Challenge

Each year the Heilbrunn Center presents the Pershing Square [Philanthropic] Challenge which is the culmination of a three-month competition among roughly forty teams of first- and second-year Columbia Business School Students enrolled in the Center's Applied Security Analysis course.

Bill Ackman, founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management L.P., launched the challenge in 2008. The challenge is open to students who are enrolled in Applied Security Analysis.

After an initial round of eliminations, five final teams present at the Pershing Square Finals event, hosted by Bill Ackman. A panel of judges then selects the winning teams, which receive a financial prize from Pershing Square. In maintaining the original goal of educating students who are ready to take on leadership roles as value investors, students shall decide the amount of the prize that they wish to keep and the amount that they wish to donate to an area of their choosing within Columbia Business School.

To learn more about the Pershing Square Challenge please reach out to the Heilbrunn Center team at [email protected]

Columbia Business School published an article on the event which can be found here. 

19th Annual Pershing Square Value Investing and Philanthropy Challenge (2026)

Date: April 30, 2026
First Place Winners:  Zekun Feng ‘27, Aaron Samuels ‘27, and Elliot O. Tompras ‘27 who pitched DoorDash (DASH)
Second Place Winners: Cameron Degan ‘27, Karl Eshwer ‘27, and Greer Lafontant ‘27 who pitched Baker Hughes (BKR)
Third Place Winners: Jyas Totlani ‘27 and Hideyuki Okada ‘27 who pitched Celsius (CELH)

18th Annual Pershing Square Challenge (2025)

Date: April 25, 2025
First Place Winners: Dimitry Karavaikin ‘26, Erik Listoe ‘26 and Tuan Nguyen ‘26 who pitched Carlisle Companies Inc (CSL)

17th Annual Pershing Square Challenge (2024)

Date: April 30, 2024
First Place Winners: Jared Duda '25, Joe Ferguson '25, and Garrett Wallis '25 (VVV)
Second Place Winners: Morgan Zhang '25, Jennifer Ma '25, and Yadong Wei '24 (POOL - short)

16th Annual Pershing Square Challenge (2023)

Date: April 27, 2023
First Place Winners: Samuel Hook '24, Thomas Schlabach '24, and Nick Stern '24 (LAD)
Second Place Winners: Sanjiv Ahluwalia '23, Vania Diez-Canseco '23, and Arthur Siddharta '23 (ABNB)

15th Annual Pershing Square Challenge (2022)

Date: April 28, 2022
First Place Winners: Georgina Cheng '23, Ma Lang '23, and Bohan Xue '23 (PGNY - short)
Second Place Winners: Edison Chang '23, Justin Manevski '23, and William Wu '23 (CARG)

14th Annual Pershing Square Challenge (2021)

Date: April 15, 2021
First Place Winners: Paul Chandler '21, Jack Devine '21, and David Kilgariff '21, Dolby (DLB)
Second Place Winners: Bill Henry '22, Tom Moore '22, and Dickson Pau '22, Anji (ANGI)

13th Annual Pershing Square Challenge (2020)

Date: April 30, 2020
First Place Winners: Manas Bajaj '21, Akshay Chawla '21, and Amitaabh Sahai'21, EPAM Systems, Inc. (EPAM)
Second Place Winners: Kyle Campbell '21, Shaunak Misra '21, and Michael Weng'21, Sysco Corporation(SYY)

12th Annual Pershing Square Challenge (2019)

Date: May 2, 2019
First Place Winners: Laurent Liu '19,K.Y. Wong '20, and Mingming Wu '20, Dollarama, Inc. (DLMAF)
Second Place Winners: David Hao '20, Eric Niu '20, and Freda Zhuo '20, Aramark (ARMK)

11th Annual Pershing Square Challenge (2018)

Date: April 18, 2018
First Place Winners: Jade Hu '19,Asher Jacobs '19, and Rana Pritanjali '19, Stericycle, Inc. (SRCL)
Second Place Winners: Steven Cao '19, Winter Li '19, and Tyler Redd '19, Credit Acceptance Corporation (CACC)
Third Place Winners: Mike Allison '19, Eric Herzfeld '19, andMichael Wooten '19, Spotify Technology (SPOT)

10th Annual Pershing Square Challenge (2017)

Date: April 19, 2017
First Place Winners: Windsor Cristobal '18, Anji Lin'18, and Isabella Lin '18, Yum China (YUMC)
Second Place Winners: Nicholas Briody '18, Vy Huynh '18, and Antonio Lequerica '18, Smucker's (SJM)

9th Annual Pershing Square Challenge (2016)

Date: April 20, 2016
First Place Winners: Thais Fernandes '16, Melody Li '17, and Joanna Vu '17, Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.B)
Second Place Winners: Chris Andreola '16, Brandon Cohen '16, and Daniel Rudyak '17, Charles Schwab (SCHW)

8th Annual Pershing Square Challenge (2015)

Date: April 22, 2015
First Place Winners: Brendan Dawson '16, Patrick McDonald '16, and Moiz Valji '16, Altice (ATC)
Second Place Winners: Tyler Boone '16, Brandon Cohen '16, and Christopher Crawford '16, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCAU)
Third Place Winners: Damian Creber '16, Michael Herman '16, Hospital Corporation of America (HCA)

7th Annual Pershing Square Challenge (2014)

Date: April 23, 2014
First Place Winners: Matt Ford '15, Oystein Kvaerner '15, andBrian Waterhouse '15, Allegion (ALLE)
Second Place Winners: Joseph Goldschmid '14, Allen Keel '14, and Mahmud Riffat '14, Cablevision Systems Corporation (CVC)

6th Annual Pershing Square Challenge (2013)

Date: April 24, 2013
First Place Winners: Richard Hunt '14, Stephen Lieu '14, Rahul Raymoulik '14, Hertz (HTZ)
Second Place Winners: Jeremy Colvin '14, Eric Lai '14, Akhil Subramanian, Dollar Tree (DLTR)

5th Annual Pershing Square Challenge (2012)

Date: April 25, 2012
First Place Winners: Anna Baghdasaryan '12, and Rohit Dhingra '12, Avon Products, Inc. (AVP)
Second Place Winners: Jonathan Au '13, Arjun Bhattacherjee '13, andRory Ellison '13, Ingersoll-Rand PLC (IR)
Third Place Winners: Rod DeCrayencour '13, Jake Lubel '13, and Grant Smith '12, Legg Mason, Inc. (LM)

4th Annual Pershing Square Challenge (2011)

Date: April 8, 2011
First Place Winners: Cristiano Amoruso '12, Rick Carew '12, andMatthew Robinson '11, Motorola Solutions (MSI)

3rd Annual Pershing Square Challenge (2010)

Date: April 23, 2010
First Place Winners: Matthew Gordon '10, Garrett Jones '11, andMichael Smeets '11, Broadridge Financial Solutions (BR)

2nd Annual Pershing Square Challenge (2009)

Date: April 3, 2009
First Place Winners: Grant Bowman '10, John Piermont '10, and Tim Ruppert '09, Apollo Group, Inc. (APOL)

1st Annual Pershing Square Challenge (2008)

Date: April 25, 2008
First Place Winner: Shilpa K. Marda '09, Nutrisystem (NTRI)

For more information about past Pershing Square Challenges, pleasecontact the Heilbrunn Center.