Chicago – When Mount Carmel economics teacher Tim Fischer learned an alumnus had volunteered to guest lecture for his business class once a week, Fischer was excited. But when Fischer heard the alum was 1958 graduate John Gilmore, he was ecstatic.

Gilmore, who serves as President of Mount Carmel’s Board of Directors, is the former CEO of Goldman Sachs and is currently a retired partner for the world renowned investment banking firm. Gilmore has also served as Chairman of the Chicago Board of Trade.

Fischer’s Economics class was an elective for juniors and seniors. In the beginning of the semester, Gilmore taught the students about International Business, and then focused on investments. Wanting to provide the students with a real-life experience, Gilmore even provided his own money for the class to develop a stock portfolio, calling it the Caravan Club.

Students researched companies and had to present their findings in front of the class. If the research was not detailed enough, Gilmore had no problem questioning the student’s thought process. Eventually, six student teams were formed to buy stocks.  They each receive a detailed summary of their holdings from Goldman Sachs each month.

The trimester-long course ended in November with a trip to the Chicago Board of Trade and the Federal Reserve Bank downtown. Students were at the Board of Trade for the opening bell, where they visited with 1994 graduate Sergio Sanchez, a successful international trader.  After touring his office, they proceeded to the Federal Reserve Bank, which included a museum tour and an exhibit on U.S. currency.

“John’s presence has been an inspiration to the students,” Fischer said. “He came from Mount Carmel, where these boys are from, and he essentially went to the highest level of business. He was the C.E.O. of a Fortune 500 company. As far as a resource goes, you can’t do much better than that.

“We were lucky to have John volunteer so much of his time. It was clear to me that he really enjoyed spending time with us. He challenged the students. If they didn’t present tangible, specific reasons why a company would be ideal to invest in, he would not go along with their answer.”

St. Barnabas graduate and current senior Dan Knibbs was one of the students who felt Glmore’s wrath. Knibbs and his fellow students had two weeks to research stocks. After hours of Internet research and personal interviews, Knibbs decided UPS sounded like a good choice. Then Gilmore went over all the positives and negatives of his choice.

“Whether you made a good selection or not, Mr. Gilmore was going to tear your choice to pieces,” Knibbs said. “He told us that the only way to make money was by taking risks. He said if we followed the crowd, we would never make money. I didn’t know what to expect coming into this class, but I can’t believe how much I learned.”

Even though Knibbs was put on the hot seat in front of his peers, Gilmore eventually deemed Knibbs’ selection an excellent one. UPS is one of the ten stocks the Caravan Club eventually purchased.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Matt Kellam, Director of Communication
P: 773-324-1020  x245
F: 773-324-2468
mkellam@mchs.org