New Zhang Financial Presidential Internship levels up Experience-Driven Learning opportunity through investment management

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Western Michigan University President Russ Kavalhuna is taking his investment in student success to the next level, entrusting a student with managing a portion of his financial portfolio with the launch of the new Zhang Financial Presidential Internship. 

“Experience-Driven Learning is particularly powerful when something real is at stake. In this case, it’s my own investment portfolio,” says Kavalhuna. “This internship gives a student the opportunity to make decisions that carry real consequences, with the guidance of professionals, and that level of learning and responsibility are what prepare our Broncos for the industry.” 

Mo Tall, a personal financial planning major, is the inaugural recipient. As a paid intern at Zhang Financial under the guidance of professionals, he has the opportunity to research, design and implement an investment portfolio for the president and conduct routine meetings with him to discuss his portfolio’s performance.  

“Having this experience has really increased my confidence in being able to do this in a more day-to-day role in the future,” says Tall. “It’s really exciting; this is an amazing opportunity.” 

The internship will be completed under the guidance and mentorship of a Zhang Financial employee, and Tall will also have access to all of the wealth management firm’s asset management resources to help grow the president’s portfolio. 

“At Zhang Financial, we believe in experiential learning,” says WMU Trustee Lynn Chen-Zhang, chief executive officer at Zhang Financial.  

While her company has made a practice of hiring Western students as interns for decades, she says this new initiative is an especially proud moment for her and her husband, Charles Zhang, who has been named the nation’s top independent financial advisor by Barron’s for three years. The Zhangs are WMU alumni. 

“It really is a great full-circle moment,” she says. “When my husband started this financial advising business in 1991, we didn’t have any natural markets in the Kalamazoo area, and some of his economics professors from Western were among his first clients. They believed in their products—their students—and so by creating this internship, Zhang Financial and the president are saying we put our faith in our students, and we believe in our students.” 

This internship gives recipients a rare opportunity to manage a real client portfolio and make investment decisions rather than simply observe. 

“It’s very uncommon, so to have this opportunity is really amazing, and it’s definitely giving me a leg up in terms of being able to talk about my experiences with future employers,” says Tall. “Something like this puts you a cut above peers looking to go into similar roles.” 

Kavalhuna agrees. “Entrusting a student with my own portfolio is a reflection of how strongly I believe in Western’s education and in our students. 

“We are demonstrating our confidence in their abilities and our commitment to preparing Broncos who are ready to lead immediately after graduation,” he says. 

Moving forward, the Zhang Financial Presidential Internship is expected to be awarded annually and include a yearlong paid internship as well as a $5,000 award. 

About the recipient 

Tall is a first-generation college student and infantry soldier in the U.S. Army Reserves from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. At Western, he has held leadership positions in the Army ROTC and Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity and is also a member of WMU’s chapter of DECA and the Financial Services Association.  

He has gained hands-on experience in evaluation analysis as a student evaluator for WMU’s Evaluation Lab as well as financial planning and wealth management through two internships: first at Stifel Nicolaus and then at Zhang Financial, where he started in 2024. 

“It’s really where I became very solidified in my knowledge of financial planning,” says Tall. 

Tall’s work with Zhang Financial is already paying dividends; he’s accepted a full-time job with a top global investment firm’s branch on the East Coast, which he will start after graduating with his bachelor’s in business administration in the summer. 

“It’s a perfect example of how experiential learning paves the way for the future success of our students,” says Chen-Zhang. 

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