Meet the Women of SMIF

For the first time in its history, the Student Managed Investment Fund is composed of 25% women managers. Get to know some of them in our profile.

Lizzie Reedy, ’21, Head Growth Fund Manager
Lizzie Reedy is pursuing a B.S. in business administration with concentrations in finance and marketing.

“Since learning about the opportunity as a freshman, I aspired to join SMIF in order to acquire tactical, hands-on experience managing a portfolio with my peers while running intrinsic and extrinsic valuation analysis of potential investment opportunities,” Reedy said.

Most recently, Reedy was an investment banking summer analyst at Perella Weinberg within their Financial Institutions and Restructuring groups. After graduation, she will be returning to Perella Weinberg as an investment banking analyst full-time in New York City. 

“I think it is essential to have women in SMIF and in the business school in order to provide diversity of thought and to serve as role models for underclassmen. Women may view stock pitches and market movements from different lenses. This can provide valuable insight that can bolster our investment thesis and decisions,” Reedy said. “Furthermore, pursuing a finance concentration may be daunting for some first-years as the track is male-dominated. Having female professors and students in visible leadership roles can inspire more female underclassmen to pursue a career in finance and form those mentor/mentee relationships.”

Rachel Perry, ’21, ESG Manager
Rachel Perry is a senior majoring in business administration with a concentration in finance and management and a minor in anthropology. She is SMIF's inaugural ESG Manager and is passionate about the intersectionality between sustainability and finance.

“It is so important to encourage other women to join SMIF and the business school because women aren't represented equitably in that space,” Perry said. “The responsibility to recruit women is shared equally among all individuals, but also needs system change to create supportive, transparent, and accountable spaces that allow women (and men!) to be themselves and be challenged.”

Through her role, Perry aims to provide students with exposure and insight into the growing ESG space and its ability to uncover long-term operational business risks by integrating financially material ESG factors into our investment process.

Susan Pelczar, ’21, Growth Fund
Susan is pursuing a degree in business administration with a double concentration in finance and accounting. Most recently, Susan was a summer analyst at Barclays in the Sales and Trading division in New York City.

“I wanted to be a part of it because SMIF because it allows students the opportunity to gain real-life experience and allows you to develop skills that you can directly apply in the job market,” Pelczar said. “Having women in such positions sets a precedent for younger generations and also allows women to empower each other further. SMIF is a great way to meet other individuals with similar interests that I never would have gotten a chance to meet before.” 

Isabel Nonemaker, ‘21 Value Fund
“The aspect of SMIF that compelled me to apply was the freedom and trust Richmond gives the fund to invest at our own discretion, encouraging us to make well thought out pitches and decisions,” Nonemaker said. “It was clear this is one of the best learning opportunities within the business school, and I knew I wanted to both experience it and contribute.”

Nonemaker is from Swarthmore, Pa., pursuing a major in business administration with concentrations in finance, economics, and management. This summer she interned at Vanguard with the Retail Investor Group’s Project Management Office doing finance and data analytics. After graduation, she will be returning to Vanguard as part of their two-year ELDP rotational program.

You can learn more about the Student Managed Investment Fund here.