Watch now: Illinois Wesleyan donor makes Bloomberg Finance Lab reality | Local Education

BLOOMINGTON — Illinois Wesleyan University students will soon benefit from a high-tech finance lab, including 12 Bloomberg Terminals and two live stock tickers.

Officials dedicated the Greg Yess ’82 Bloomberg Finance Lab on Thursday evening. Yess, who works in finance and lives in St. Louis, donated the funds for the lab. He approached Bob Murray, another 1982 grad who now works in advancement at IWU, about three years ago with a desire to give a donation that would make a real impact on what he said is a campus that already excels.

Clay Anderson speaks on Thursday during a tour of the Bloomberg Lab at Illinois Wesleyan University. Located in Room 101 of State Farm Hall, the Bloomberg Lab includes 12 licensed terminals and two live stock tickers.

CLAY JACKSON, THE PANTAGRAPH

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“This lab is just adding a little bit more to that, to a school that is already phenomenal,” Yess said.

Yess had four interviews for a first job after graduating from IWU with a degree in accounting, and he got four offers, he said. He credits that not to himself but to the university and the quality of education it provides.

“I think that speaks highly of Wesleyan and the accounting program,” he said.

Greg Yess speaks on Thursday during a dedication ceremony at the Bloomberg Lab in State Farm Hall on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University. The event included a tour of the lab, reception and remarks from Yess, Wesleyan President Georgia Nugent, and Cory Schieler, director of venture capital at State Farm.

CLAY JACKSON, THE PANTAGRAPH

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The Bloomberg Terminal is a software system from Bloomberg L.P. that allows for real-time monitoring of market data, analytics and news. Along with the software, they also use a specialized keyboard that provides better shortcuts for the terminal.

The deep array of information the terminals provide makes them powerful tools that will be useful to other students beyond finance classes, IWU President Georgia Nugent said.

“For our students to be able to have this state-of-the-art facility, it’s very cool,” she said.

Illinois Wesleyan University President Georgia Nugent speaks on Thursday during a dedication ceremony at the Bloomberg Lab in State Farm Hall. The event included a tour of the lab, reception and remarks from donor and alumnus Greg Yess, Nugent, and Corey Schieler, director of venture capital at State Farm.

CLAY JACKSON, THE PANTAGRAPH

Interest in business-related majors is increasing, Nugent said. The lab is one way the university is trying to adapt to that trend.

While Yess declined to put a number figure on the donation amount, he said it was enough to create an endowment that will continue paying for the licensing fees for terminals. Bloomberg Terminals are licensed on a yearly basis, like a subscription, rather than being a one-time purchase.

CLAY JACKSON, THE PANTAGRAPH

Finance majors will now receive a Bloomberg Certificate when they graduate, an additional certification they can include on their resume showing proficiency in using a Bloomberg Terminal, Yess and Nugent said.

The lab will also specifically benefit students in the Portfolio Management Class, where the students manage almost $4.5 million, with advice from a board of 12 alumni and friends of the university. Part of the portfolio is withdrawn each year to fund some scholarships.

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President Georgia Nugent speaks on Thursday during a dedication ceremony at the Bloomberg Lab at Illinois Wesleyan University. The event included a tour of the lab, reception and remarks from donor and alumnus Greg Yess, Nugent, and Corey Schieler, director of venture capital at State Farm.

CLAY JACKSON, THE PANTAGRAPH

Clay Anderson, a junior, was in that class this past year. He repeated his final presentation to the audience Thursday night. In it, he advocated for increasing the portfolio’s number of shares in Boeing, increasing it from 2% of the portfolio to 3%. He is sticking to his advice, despite shares tumbling since he gave the presentation, after a worse-than-expected quarterly report from the company.

He also had a lot of thanks to Yess for the donation that made the lab possible. The students had been working with a single Bloomberg Terminal, scheduling limited time slots.

“Having this open area will really allow us to do as much digging as we want to do,” Anderson said. “(…)It’s just really great to see all these people giving back to the students.”

CLAY JACKSON, THE PANTAGRAPH

Having the lab, with its 12 terminals, helps set IWU apart, as most schools its size might have a terminal or two but not a full lab’s worth, Nugent said. Most other schools also do not have students managing a portfolio of real money.

Using a terminal is an essential part of a business curriculum, said Corey Schieler, a 1997 graduate and chair of the student portfolio management board. He now works as a director at State Farm. He compared the learning the terminals would provide to compound interest, where investments earn interest on previously earned interest.

“The power of compound learning is going to be seen here for a long time to come,” he told the audience on Thursday.