FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Garrison Financial Institute in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas sponsored a competition between three student teams, representing each of the college’s three fund management classes.

The winner of the competition, which was held in coordination with the institute’s advisory board meeting in November 2010, was the Arvest Bank fixed-income team. Members include Connor Crowley, Woodside, N.Y.; Taylor Herren, Murphy, Texas; and Weston Schack, Edmond, Okla.

The team presented their analysis of Oklahoma and Kansas state municipal bonds to the members of the Garrison Financial Institute advisory board, the judges. The winning team will receive a teleconference with Mohamed El-Erian, the chief executive officer and co-chief information officer of PIMCO.

“PIMCO is the premier fixed-income investment firm in the world,” said Rochelle Costrell, associate director of the Garrison Financial Institute. “This is an astounding opportunity for our students to connect with one of the world’s top financial experts. Dr. El-Erian is highly respected in the world of investing.”

“At the board meeting, we were also honored to host guest speakers Teri Frisch and Jeffrey Springer, both PIMCO senior vice presidents, who presented ‘Investing in the New Normal.’”

The second student team included representatives of the Rebsamen Trust fund, Kevin Chen, Connor Crowley, and Adam Marden, who presented their analysis of AutoZone stock. The MBA Shollmier Fund team presented its analysis of the PIMCO Total Return Fund (Class D shares). Students on this team are Prasanth Kambhatla, Thomas Morel and Clayton Thomas.

Before rejoining PIMCO in 2007, El-Erian served for two years as president and CEO of Harvard Management Co., the entity that manages Harvard’s endowment and related accounts. He has also served on the faculty of Harvard Business School. He first joined PIMCO in 1999 and was a senior member of PIMCO's portfolio management and investment strategy group. Before coming to PIMCO, El-Erian was a managing director at Salomon Smith Barney/Citigroup in London and before that, he spent 15 years at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. His book, When Markets Collide, was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. It won the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs 2008 Business Book of the Year and was named a book of the year by The Economist and one of the best business books of all time by the Independent (United Kingdom). He was named to Foreign Policy’s list of “Top 100 Global Thinkers” for 2009 and 2010. El-Erian has served on several boards and committees, including the U.S. Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, the International Center for Research on Women, and the International Monetary Fund's Committee of Eminent Persons. He is currently a board member of the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He holds a master's degree and doctorate in economics from Oxford University and received his undergraduate degree from Cambridge University.

The teleconference will take place in spring of 2011 at a time of El-Erian’s choosing. Currently, Walton College finance students manage $10.2 million in real funds through the supervision of the Garrison Financial Institute.