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Meet our team at the Center for Finance Strategy and Innovation
We are an array of expert, directors, advisory board, executive fellows and the faculty who contribute to the CFSI.
Directors
- Dr. David Springate – Co-Director and Co-Founder –
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Dr. David Springate, Finance Professor, Jindal School of Management, UT Dallas. His teaching and research interests include corporate finance, valuations, private equity finance, turnarounds and restructurings. He is the founding director of the Executive MBA Programs at University of Texas at Dallas and currently serves as the Academic Director. David holds a doctorate in Corporate Finance from the Harvard Business School. His research papers have appeared in notable academic journals. Many of his published cases have been reprinted. Additionally, he has testified before a committee of the Canadian Parliament. He is past chapter president and now board member of Financial Executives International, a board member of the Harvard Business School Club of Dallas, and a Fellow of the Dallas Committee on Foreign Relations. David was the first Associate Dean for Executive Education at UT Dallas. Previously he was professor at IMD in Switzerland, at SMU, and the University of Tennessee. He was employed in investment banking in Geneva for several years with an affiliate of Banque Hentsch. In addition to his PhD, he earned an MBA from the University of Western Ontario (Ivey School), and holds electrical engineering degrees from Royal Military College of Canada and the University of Alberta. He also served as an Air Warfare Systems engineering officer at the Central Experimental and Proving Establishment of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
- Dr. Robert Kieschnick – Co-Director –
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Robert Kieschnick is the Director of the M.S. in Financial Engineering and Risk Management Program and former area coordinator for the Finance and Managerial Economics faculty. He is an accomplished author with papers in such journals as the Journal of Evolutionary Economics, the Journal of Corporate Finance, and the Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance. Some of his areas of concentration include hedging, capital structures and working capital management. Robert’s Ph.D. and M.A. were awarded by the University of Texas at Austin.
- Ms. Elizabeth Jones – Associate Director and Co-Founder –
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Elizabeth F. Jones, is a visiting graduate finance and strategic management professor who for more than fifteen years has taught and led business advisory projects in private equity finance, risk management, and technology innovation. Concurrently, she serves on corporate boards and is a strategic advisor for private equity backed companies. She has over 27 years of finance experience as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co., investment banker, private equity financier, SEC financial expert and corporate venture capitalist. She also has a long history of public service as an elected official, trustee, director and strategic advisor. She has served on the National Board of Examiners of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award & Performance Excellence Program. Elizabeth received her BA in Economics and Political Science from Wellesley College, an MBA from Erasmus University Netherlands), and is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government Senior Executives in State & Local Government program. She holds a Governance Fellow designation from the National Association of Corporate Directors and is a recipient of the MIT Alumni Association Presidential Citation award.
Director of Fintech Training
- Dr. Jay Scott –
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Dr. James Scott teaches in the Financial Engineering and Risk Management Graduate Program in the Jindal School of Management, and in the Social Data Analytics and Research Graduate Program in the School of Economics, Political, and Policy Sciences. He holds both doctoral and masters degrees from the University of Texas at Dallas specializing in management, information technology, healthcare, and data analytics. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering degree from Texas Tech University. Jay has 28 years of corporate experience in Fortune 500 companies such as Computer Sciences Corporation, KPMG, and Verisign, and served in the U.S. Army as a Satellite Communications Officer for eight years. His current research examines the financial impacts of blockchains using data-analytics. Jay has appeared on panels at the Consumer Electronic Show and at National Broadcasters Association Convention. He was an invited speaker to the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s academic competition in Seoul and, recently, to the Texas Women University College of Business.