From student to mentor, Kevin Klassen ’19 creates opportunities through finance
Inspired by Gettysburg faculty and alumni mentors, Kevin Klassen ’19 turned his curiosity into a passion for quantitative finance and a career at T. Rowe Price. Now the newly named portfolio manager works alongside faculty to help prepare and inspire Gettysburg’s next generation of investors.
Long before Kevin Klassen ’19 became a portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price, he was a Gettysburg College sophomore searching for the work that would inspire him.
One day before class, Klassen noticed Economics Prof. Drew Murphy ’84, P’20 studying a series of investment charts on his laptop. Curious, Klassen waited until an opportune moment after class, introduced himself, and asked a simple question: “What are you doing on your laptop? I want to know about that.”
That moment helped transform Klassen’s curiosity into a passion for quantitative finance. It also began a relationship that would shape his path from Gettysburg to T. Rowe Price—and eventually bring him back to help students pursue their own ambitions.
“Kevin was incredibly hardworking, very ambitious, and a robust learner,” Murphy recalled. “He excelled, helped his team and every other team, and brought up the level of everyone’s work.”
Kevin Klassen ’19 and his future wife Lisa Fendrick Klassen ’19 stand in front of Glatfelter Hall following Commencement exercises in May 2019.
A mathematical economics major from West Nyack, New York, Klassen cultivated his interests through Murphy’s finance and investments courses, an independent study, and an honors thesis supported by Murphy and Economics Prof. Brendan Cushing-Daniels and Prof. John Cadigan. He also studied statistics with Mathematics Prof. Ben Kennedy and spent a semester in Copenhagen studying entrepreneurship and international finance.
The rigor of those experiences gave Klassen the technical foundation he needed to enter quantitative investing. Just as importantly, Gettysburg taught him how to connect with others and communicate complex ideas clearly.
“In a small classroom, you’re interacting with professors, talking to other students, and presenting your ideas,” Klassen said. “Being able to explain something very technical in a nontechnical and easy-to-understand way has been a huge differentiator for me.”
Klassen also sought guidance beyond the classroom, regularly visiting the Economics Department to ask questions and exchange ideas. Those conversations grew into relationships that continue today.
Kevin Klassen ’19 (with Lisa Fendrick Klassen ’19) returns to campus each year to engage with Gettysburg faculty and students about investment principles.
“Drew has been invaluable to me in terms of mentorship and connections, and he has been a sounding board for almost a decade,” Klassen said. “I still talk to Brendan and John pretty often and bounce things off them. I’m really grateful to Gettysburg for those relationships.”
Other Gettysburg relationships helped Klassen take his first professional steps. Former baseball teammate Eric Brown ’17 introduced him to T. Rowe Price. Meanwhile, Murphy connected him with Christina (Moore) Keller ’15, one of the first Gettysburg graduates to enter the firm’s investment fellowship program.
“Combining that broad education with more focused exposure to finance is going to set Gettysburg students apart and position them to succeed.”
– Kevin Klassen ’19
After interning with T. Rowe Price the summer before his senior year, Klassen joined the fellowship program after graduation and completed rotations in several areas of quantitative research. He joined a newly formed quantitative investment team in 2020 and was selected in 2025 to build and lead a group combining quantitative and fundamental analysis. He and his colleagues later developed a new exchange-traded fund within T. Rowe Price’s Capital Appreciation suite, which launched in June with Klassen serving as a portfolio manager.
His achievement marks another milestone in a growing connection between Gettysburg and T. Rowe Price. Murphy estimates that approximately 16 Gettysburg graduates have entered the investment fellowship program over the past 15 years, building a network that continues to create opportunities for students.
Kevin Klassen ’19 (left) and Kevin Benavente ’20 work with Gettysburg students in the Bloomberg Terminal Lab.
For Klassen, that network is something to strengthen and share. For five years, he has co-taught quantitative investing with Murphy. He has also supported the Center for Career Engagement and Admissions programming, advised the College’s new finance major, and helped guide the development of Gettysburg’s student-run investment fund. Both Klassen and Kevin Benavente '20, an investment analyst at T. Rowe Price, recently returned to campus to engage with Murphy's investment class.
“I’m amazed by his passion and willingness to help Gettysburg students,” Murphy said. “In the middle of his incredibly busy life, he will stop and spend 45 minutes or an hour talking in depth with a student. He just gives and gives.”
That commitment reflects the relationships that once helped Klassen find his own direction. Now, he believes Gettysburg’s finance major will offer students more direct preparation while preserving the breadth that distinguishes a liberal arts education.
“They’re not only going to take finance classes—they’ll take math, English, and language classes,” Klassen said. “Combining that broad education with more focused exposure to finance is going to set Gettysburg students apart and position them to succeed.”