Twin sisters make history on U of I team and earn national recognition in finance competition

Twin paths, singular triumph: Twin Lakes sisters make history with U of I investment team

Abby and Ellie Thomson are twins, but they don’t do everything in unison.

The sisters from Twin Lakes — a community near Rathdrum in North Idaho — grew up in the same household and attended the same primary school, secondary school and the same community college. After all of that, they both enrolled at University of Idaho and will earn bachelor’s degrees at the College of Business and Economics next school year.

The sisters will say that they have always been on different paths, even if those paths aligned at U of I’s Moscow campus where they are a part of a U of I investment team that made history in Spring 2025 by winning the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Society’s Spokane Research Challenge and eventually placing in the top 34 teams in a field of more than 1,200 teams globally.

The CFA is an annual world competition that provides university students with intensive training in financial analysis and professional ethics. As part of a team, each student is tested on analytical, valuation, report writing and presentation skills as they assume the role of a research analyst in real-world settings.

Spring 2025 is the first time a U of I team has placed in the local competition, much less advanced to regional and national competitions.

“It requires researching a publicly traded regional company — ours was based in Liberty Lake — providing a report, along with a recommendation to buy, sell or hold the company’s stock and to defend the report to a group of CFA certified industry experts,” Abby Thomson said. “We pulled some all-nighters preparing for the competition, including sleeping in the Albertson Building.”

The competition requires each student on the four-person team – U of I’s team was comprised of the Thomsons, Mika Brouwer and Connor Patterson – to spend at least 300 hours in preparation, Senior Instructor of Finance Duff Bergquist, the team’s mentor, said. “They write a 10-page paper that is an evaluation of the company, similar to the Wall Street research that forms company reports,” Bergquist said.“It’s handed in at the end of January, and they must defend it by giving a 10-minute presentation and a 10-minute Q&A.”

After winning the local Spokane-area challenge, which included teams from Washington, Montana and Idaho, the CBE team placed regionally and advanced to the Americas round.

The U of I team finished shy of competing in the world event in which teams from across the globe vie for the ultimate title of best of the best. The team, however, advanced to the Americas round which included teams from North and South America, and Canada.

“We were very proud to have ranked among the top 16 teams in all of the Americas,” Ellie said.

Competing in the CFA competition — and doing well — immediately sets apart the resume of a finance student heading into the job market, Bergquist said.  

“Everyone in that business world knows what the CFA is,” he said.  

Team members representing U of I were members of the Barker Trading Club, a volunteer, non-credit offshoot of the Capital Management and Trading Program, which is a business school program that focuses on risk and money management and provides a hands-on learning opportunity for students to develop capital management skills.

The Barker program was one of the reasons the sisters enrolled at U of I. They both joined the club last year.

When we learned about the Barker and Davis programs, we realized this was the place to be. Ellie Thomson, finance student

After high school, Ellie and Abby attended North Idaho College, determined to chase individual careers that didn’t include business degrees.

“I wanted to earn a degree in environmental science, then go to law school to be an environmental attorney,” said Ellie, who worked as a river guide in Riggins in the summer while at NIC.

At Lakeland High she enjoyed student government while her sister chose sports as extracurricular activities. Abby spent summers as a lifeguard and decided on a degree in a medical field until both sisters found common ground in a college accounting class.

“We had to take a business elective and fell in love with accounting,” Abby said. “It really piqued my interest. I liked the logical nature of it and decided that’s what I want to do.”

Their community college instructors recommended attending U of I for the opportunities offered in the College of Business and Economics.

“We had planned to go to other schools to study business, but U of I was highly recommended,” Ellie said. “It was close to home, affordable and when we learned about the Barker and Davis investment programs, we realized this was the place to be.”

Like Barker, the Davis program helps students gain experience managing stocks, bonds and other equities in the college’s portfolio.

Since enrolling at U of I and joining Greek Life, the twins from North Idaho have immersed themselves in the College of Business and Economics. They’ve become part of an elite group of student traders who manage $150,000 by investing in real estate, communications and utilities.

“Being in the Barker program really set us up for competing in the CFA,” Ellie said.

Although the U of I team didn’t advance to the world round of the competition, placing in the top 16 in the CFA’s America round automatically ranked them in the top 34 in the world.

“We wanted to set the bar high. We wanted to get the word out there that University of Idaho offers a unique opportunity to compete at the highest levels through the Barker program. We are ecstatic to have placed within the top 34 teams globally.”

Article by Ralph Bartholdt, University Communications

Photos by Garrett Britton, University Visual Productions

Published in May 2025