Iona University Students Place in Top 3 Percent of Bloomberg Global Trading Challenge
From Left: Anthony Molina ’26, Thomas Browne ’25, Paul Romano ’26, Gabriel Pollon ’26 and Patrick Dougherty ’25.
Five students in the finance club of Iona University’s LaPenta School of Business finished in the top 3 percent of over 2,400 teams worldwide in Bloomberg’s 2024 Global Trading Challenge.
Through this competition, teams of three to five students compete against university students from around the world to experience firsthand what real-world investing looks and feels like. Using Bloomberg Terminals, the teams define market assumptions, develop a return-generating strategy, and execute trades within a closed network.
The Iona team, led by faculty advisor Matthew Carey, was given $1 million to invest and achieved a final profit of $204,564. This earned them 81st place out of 2,424 teams.
Finance club president Paul Romano ’26 credits his team’s success to employing an earnings-based strategy.
“We focused on smaller market cap companies scheduled to report earnings during the week. By leveraging the capabilities of the Bloomberg Terminal, we conducted in-depth analyses to determine the investment potential of each company,” he said.
"I'm proud of the Iona team for their outstanding performance. The students' dedication, financial acumen, and tireless work ethic truly shone through," said Carey, director of the Center for Financial Market Studies and the LaPenta-Lynch Trading Floor. "Experience with Bloomberg Terminals gives our students a crucial edge as they prepare for careers in finance."
The Iona team was led by finance majors Thomas Browne ’25, Patrick Dougherty ’25, Anthony Molina ’26, Paul Romano ’26 and Gabriel Pollon ’26.
ABOUT IONA
Founded in 1940, Iona University is a master's-granting private, Catholic, coeducational institution of learning in the tradition of the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers. Iona's 45-acre New Rochelle campus and 28-acre Bronxville campus are just 20 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. With a total enrollment of nearly 4,000 students and an alumni base of more than 50,000 around the world, Iona is a diverse community of learners and scholars dedicated to academic excellence and the values of justice, peace and service. Iona is highly accredited, offering undergraduate degrees in liberal arts, science and business administration, as well as Master of Arts, Master of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees and numerous advanced certificate programs. Iona students enjoy small class sizes, engaged professors and a wide array of academic programs across the School of Arts & Science; LaPenta School of Business; NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences; and Hynes Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Iona also continues to be recognized in prestigious national rankings. Most recently for 2025, Iona has been named one of the nation’s best colleges by The Princeton Review, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and others. Additionally, U.S. News & World Report recognized Iona as one of top for social mobility in the country, while Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) ranked an Iona degree in the top 5 percent nationally for long-term return on investment. Iona’s LaPenta School of Business, meanwhile, is also accredited by AACSB International, a recognition awarded to just 6 percent of business schools worldwide. In addition, The Princeton Review recognized Iona’s on-campus MBA program as a “Best Business School for 2024.” Iona also offers a fully online MBA program for even greater flexibility. In July 2021, Iona announced the establishment of the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences, which is now principally located on Iona’s Bronxville campus in collaboration with one of the nation’s top hospitals. Connecting to its Irish heritage, Iona also opened a new campus in County Mayo, Ireland, located on the historic 400-acre Westport House Estate. A school on the rise, Iona officially changed its status from College to University on July 1, 2022, reflecting the growth of its academic programs and the prestige of an Iona education.