Four Kellogg School of Management students have won the 2002 Chookaszian Prize in Risk Management for their work analyzing hedge funds.

Students Amy Ballew, Meenu Gupta, Geoffrey Lasry and Ariel Weinberger (all ’02) won the $10,000 prize for their paper, “Hedge Funds: Approaches to Diversification.” The Chookaszian Prize, established by Dennis Chookaszian, is given each year to an MBA student or group of students at Kellogg who have written the best paper in the area of financial risk management, including derivatives, hedging, insurance and risk management.

In commending this year’s winners, Finance Professor Costis Skiadas said: “The four authors managed, in a short period of time, and under the pressure of a demanding academic program, to put together a highly competent quantitative analysis of hedge funds as a separate asset class from the point of view of the investor. The Chookaszian Prize entries this year, particularly the winning paper, remind us once again that the Kellogg student body is rich in quantitative skill and intellectual rigor.”

Dennis Chookaszian spent his career in risk management, as chairman and CEO of CNA Insurance from 1992 to 1999 and chairman and CEO of mPower, a registered investment adviser, from 1999 to 2001.

Students who wish to apply for the 2003 prize must submit papers by the middle of the spring quarter, and may do so by contacting Professor Skiadas. The prize is announced at the end of spring quarter.