As the winter semester pushes forward, many Grand Valley State University student organizations are active with new leadership and are setting larger goals for 2017 than the last.

Under the GVSU radar, the student-run Seidman Investment Portfolio Organization (IPO) that manages a $69,000 portfolio, is focused on strategizing to one day break the $100,000 mark in the investment portfolio.

Dating back to 1976, IPO was formally known as the GVSU Finance Club started by a group of students interested in the stock market. Drake Jaglowski, who will serve as the president of IPO for 2017, said he has two main goals for his term: member retention and portfolio growth.

“I want our students to gain as much possible knowledge as they can about finance and investments,” Jaglowski said. “Finance is a career that provides unlimited opportunities for advancement. If you want to keep progressing into new roles, knowledge is powerful.”

Not only does Jaglowski want to bring in new members and increase opportunities for growth, but is focused on breaking the $70,000 point the portfolio is currently under.

Ryan Bowles, vice president of portfolio management, said IPO’s main objective for the portfolio is to outperform the S&P 500, an index of 500 stocks acting as the leading indicator of U.S. equities.

“Once we get past $70,000 we can employ more of an opportunistic approach to our portfolio,” Bowles said. “We want to then take on and push more of the $100,000 range in the coming years.”

Over the past few years, Bowles said IPO has developed a diverse range of investments, a goal the executive board was pleased to meet.

“Seeing how our performance was over the past year was kind of a big eye-opener for us,” he said. “Diversification is the number one rule to the investing portfolio. It’s the best way to beat the market or perform within the general market.”

Leaving their mark at GVSU, Bowles said IPO provides a plethora of opportunities to students from all majors, whether a student is into finance or even engineering.

“There’s nothing better than having a sound financial future, and that goes for everyone whatever it may be,” he said. “On a general sense this organization will open you up, like when we host one of our seminars or let you go pitch a stock. (IPO) allows for people to speak up. You get out of this organization is what you put into it.”

Throughout the year, IPO plans to host resume and interview preparation workshops to help students build communication skills, business strategies and open the door to internship experiences.

“We provide the tools and oversight to get people good internships and get people access to top employers,” Bowles said.

“Members who contribute to the portfolio, I think they gain more communication skills,” Jaglowski said. “It’s something to put on a resume, I think employers are looking for experience as well as GPA.”

For the future, both Jaglowski and Bowles said IPO is working to gain more connections past West Michigan to bring in more opportunities for hands-on experience and strategy.

Those interested in becoming a member, meetings are every Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Seidman Forum SCB-1008 at the Seidman College of Business on the Pew Campus.

Students are expected to attend six meetings, upload resume to Lakerjobs, volunteer for three hours of community service and join the organization page on Orgsync to remain a general member.

For more information on Seidman IPO, visit www.gvsu.edu/invest/.