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Michael Thelen, president

Michael Thelen is a Senior Finance Major and President and Co-founder of Spartan Global Development Fund. Michael grew up in the East Lansing area, but has lived and studied in Mexico, Argentina and Australia. Michael has been especially passionate about Microfinance after attending a lecture by Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and the pioneer of the microfinance model, in Mexico.

In the past Michael has interned at various financial institutions including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Last summer, Michael interned for Republic Partners, a boutique investment-banking firm in Chicago. Michael is also a Financial Markets Institute Scholar.

Chaz Bauer, vice president

Chaz is a Junior Finance and Economics Major and Vice-President and Co-Founder of Spartan Global Development Fund. Chaz grew up in Madison Heights, Michigan and has been on a study abroad to Australia. He has been interested in microfinance ever since taking an Economic Development course at MSU.

Chaz has an entrepreneurial background, running his own successful painting business for the past two summers. In addition to his involvement in the Spartan Global Development Fund, he is also a member of the Student Investment Association as well as a Team Lead for Students Consulting for Non-Profit Organizations.

Mark Zaguskin

Mark is a Junior Honors Finance Major and co-founder of Spartan Global Development Fund. Mark was born in present day Azerbaijan, but spent most of his life in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Mark speaks fluent Russian and a bit of German. He enjoys visiting his family, who are spread out across 6 different countries around the globe.

Over last summer, Mark interned for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney as a Private Wealth Intern. Mark has also interned for Citigroup and worked with a small umbrella start up company, Idea’s Unlimited. Mark is also involved with Students Consulting for Nonprofit Organizations and is the Captain of the Michigan State’s Fed Challenge team. Mark is a Financial Markets Scholar.

Abel Teshome

Abel is a graduate student in the M.S. in Accounting program and is a Co-Founder of Spartan Global Development Fund. Abel was born and raised in East Lansing, MI, just a few blocks away from Michigan State University. In the early 1980’s, his family emigrated from Ethiopia to America. Abel can casually speak Amharic, and hopes to travel to Ethiopia sometime in the future.

In May 2009, Abel graduated from Michigan State University, earning a B.A. in Accounting with honor. One month later, in June 2009, Abel sat for and passed the Level I CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) exam. He plans to continue through the CFA program in addition to earning the CPA designation.