Each year, 200 Burkenroad students follow 40 public companies across the Southeast. The students research the companies and their markets, travel to their headquarters to meet with top management, design financial models, and publish objective, in-depth equity research reports with recommendations for potential investors.

For the first five years of its existence, the program was called Freeman Reports. In 1998, it was renamed in recognition of financial support from Aaron Selber Jr. (B ’50) and Peggy Burkenroad Selber (NC ’53) in honor of her father, legendary coffee importer William Burkenroad Jr. (B ’23).

Over its 25 years, Burkenroad Reports has earned national recognition in numerous publications. The Burkenroad Reports Investment Conference has become one of the biggest business events in the Gulf South. And in 2001, the establishment of the Hancock Horizon Burkenroad Small Cap Fund (HHBUX) was inspired by Burkenroad and uses its investment reports as a source of its research. The fund has outperformed 99 percent of all stock mutual funds in the country.

While a number of instructors and support personnel help keep the program running, the face of Burkenroad Reports is undeniably Ricchiuti, a professor of practice and the William B. Burkenroad Jr. Clinical Professor, who is known as much for his comic timing and high energy as for his deep knowledge of finance.

To recognize an exceptional faculty member who enhances Freeman’s innovative, differentiated and competitive finance offerings, the Peter Ricchiuti Professorship in Finance was fully funded at over $600,000 this year. Nearly 40 donors have contributed since its establishment in 2013. Championed by a group of former students, this professorship honors the great influence Ricchiuti has had on the Freeman School and thousands of Tulanians over the years. To learn more about this professorship — or professorships in general — please contact freemanalumni@tulane.edu.