Message from the Area Coordinator
The Finance and Managerial Economics Area at the Naveen Jindal School of Management keeps growing! We welcomed almost 230 new undergraduate students to our BS in Finance program and about 120 new graduate students to our MS in Finance and MS in Financial Engineering and Risk Management programs. The 13-month MS in Finance Cohort program experienced a 50 percent increase in enrollment with students from China, India, Kuwait and the United States. Our finance faculty remains very productive in research.
We also successfully held our second UT Dallas Fall Finance Conference on Oct. 6. This selective and high-quality conference covers a broad spectrum of topics on corporate finance, asset pricing and recent issues involving cryptocurrency. It provides a great platform for finance researchers to present their most recent research and receive feedback on important issues in finance.
The conference facilitates an excellent venue for leading researchers to exchange ideas and discuss recent issues that have attracted significant attention from both finance academics and practitioners. About 50 participants from the Federal Reserve Board, Georgia Tech, Ohio State University, University of Florida, University of North Carolina, University of Notre Dame, UT Austin and Yale University — among others — attended.
Please keep in touch and update us on any exciting news you may have.
Dr. Harold Zhang
Professor, Finance and Managerial Economics
Area Coordinator, Finance and Managerial Economics
Naveen Jindal School of Management
Recent Happenings
Establishment of Finance Advisory Board
The recently established Finance Advisory Board provides input on the knowledge and skills finance graduates require to meet current and future market demands. Additionally, the board assumes a leadership role in promoting, recruiting and hiring UT Dallas finance graduates.
The Finance and Managerial Economics Area believes that strategic engagement with the Finance Advisory Board and distinguished members from the business community furthers the success of the area in preparing students to become finance professionals locally, nationally and internationally.
| Name | Company | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Jeff Ayres | Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation | Senior Financial Analyst |
| Richard Davis | SAMCO Capital Markets | Managing Director |
| Grant Farrell | TriKnight | Managing Member |
| Jack Furst | CSWC Capital Southwest | Director |
| John Harris | Financial Accounting Workshops | Director |
| Kevin Kirksey | ALM First Financial Advisors | Principal, Strategic Solutions Group |
| Jacob Mangalath | Generational Equity LLC | Valuation Manager |
| Dean McGowan | Wealth Management, UBS | Senior Vice President |
| Jennifer Murray | Hollyford Consulting | Partner |
| Robert Rough | Telos Capital Advisors | Managing Director |
| Jack Sadden | Valesco Industries | Managing Director |
BS in Finance Program
Emerging Risk Forum
On Oct. 29, the Risk Management and Insurance Concentration hosted an Emerging Risk Forum to provide UT Dallas students opportunities to learn more about the University’s risk management and insurance curriculum, meet RMI professionals and network with RMI and actuarial science students. Featured guest speakers included Bill Jackson, regional vice president of Texas Mutual’s Dallas office, and Steven Badger, a partner at Zelle LLP in Dallas.
Jackson introduced a new course, Risk Control and Safety Engineering (FIN 4336), to forum attendees. This course is exclusive to UT Dallas and only offered at the Jindal School, thanks to the partnership between the Jindal School and Texas Mutual. Badger gave a presentation on his decade spent leading subrogation action arising from the 9/11 terrorist attacks (the litigation was settled for $1.2 billion). The Insurance Record reported on the forum in both its print and online magazines.
MS in Finance Program
Each semester, the MS in Finance program holds several enrichment events for students to meet alumni and industry professionals, learn about finance industry trends and enhance their professional skills.
Finance Internship Roundtable
At the Finance Internship Roundtable held in September, three MS in Finance international students, Uruba Andaleeb, Hamza Raza Jaffery and Wan Yee Lau, shared their 2018 summer internship experiences. They also reflected on their internship job searching, interview techniques and skill sets necessary to help students, especially international students, gain a clearer view of professionalism in the finance field.
Day in the Life of a Financial Analyst
In October, the program held a panel discussion on “A Day in the Life of a Financial Analyst.” Three recent alumni, Jai Krishnan, MS’16; Peter Bellino, MS’15; and Monty Hsu, MS’15; formed the panel and talked about their professional lives as financial analysts, their insights on market trends and skill sets required for finance professionals. Students interacted with the alumni during a Q&A session and said in comments, such as the following, that they found the event very beneficial and valuable:
“Great opportunities to meet the ones who have experienced the same situations and problems like us (students, international students, etc.).”
“Alumni shared their experience about job searching and how to prepare ourselves for it — learnt a lot.”
“Alumni gave many interview tips. They are very friendly and willing to share their experience.”
Financial Engineering and Risk Management (FERM) Program
The year-old MS in Financial Engineering and Risk Management program is a 36 semester-credit-hour STEM and cohort degree program that focuses on finance, programming and risk management. The program regularly holds Friday events. One recent event was a panel discussion on “A Career in Risk Management,” hosted by Edgewood Partners Insurance Center Inc. (EPIC). Panelists discussed employment opportunities, shared industry insights and trends, and collected students’ résumés. The students said they enjoyed chatting with the guest speakers and establishing mentor relationships with them. EPIC posted the event on its LinkedIn page and tagged JSOM and UTD.
Student Spotlight
The Graduate Finance Management Council (GFMC), a graduate-level finance student organization, focuses on the needs and interests of graduate finance students and helps promote the MS in Finance program domestically and internationally. Recently, GFMC and Wiley cohosted a CFA Exam Prep workshop that provided students useful CFA exam preparation information and tips.
The GFMC member application for each academic year will be available in early December and April. All continuing students are encouraged to join GFMC and facilitate the connections between prospective and current students and alumni.
Alumni Corner
Chun-Pin (Monty) Hsu is a senior financial analyst who specializes in business valuation. He graduated in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting from National Taiwan University. In 2015, he attained his Master of Science in Finance degree from The University of Texas at Dallas. During his time at UT Dallas, he completed all CPA exams, the CFA level I exam and internship programs with Nissan Motor Acceptance Corporation, Southwest Airlines and Mercer Capital. He is now a CPA licensed in Texas and holds the CFA designation awarded by the CFA Institute.
He attributes his internship opportunities, certifications and career success to his MS in Finance studies at UT Dallas:
- “The MSF Program at UT Dallas provides students with flexible curriculum to pursue our personal goals. I was able to leverage this advantage to complete multiple certificate exams, internships and a master’s degree within two years.”
- “My recommendation to students is to ask as many questions as possible during their time at UT Dallas. It sounds simple, but many missed this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Professors, guest speakers, alumni and classmates are always the best source of knowledge and information. With the environment provided by UT Dallas, you get to know and learn from one of the best and most diversified talent pools in the U.S., and it’s growing.”
Community Outreach
We had a successful UT Dallas High School Top Trader Competition in summer 2018! A total of 138 participants entered this year, 26 percent of them female and 74 percent male. This represents growth of 86 percent over the summer 2017 enrollment of 74 participants and more than double the number of participants in the summer 2016 competition (approximately 50 participants). Both Top Trader manager Kristin Spain and Dr. Carolyn Reichert, MS in Finance program director, commended student assistant and GFMC President Sebastian Cadario for doing an excellent job to help with this achievement.
First-prize winner of the summer 2018 competition:
“The Top Trader Competition was a really great way for me to spend the summer, and I’m glad to have signed up after coming across it serendipitously. Although the actual stock trading was undeniably the more ‘exciting’ part to the competition, I appreciated the lessons on personal finance, which I believe are more applicable in my life. I learned about a broad range of topics from the business videos — from 401k plans to the 72 rule. Additionally, the online site where I traded provided an excellent way in which I could learn how to invest while foregoing all the risk associated with putting my own money in the market. My experience in this competition was commendatory, and I hope to participate again next summer.”
— Audrey DeJong, Richardson (Texas) High School
Second-prize winner of the summer 2018 competition:
“I learned many new concepts of finance during the competition, and not just about the stock market. I learned about personal finance and many important things later in life, like buying versus leasing a car. One of my biggest concerns while trading was the amount of stock I should buy, as I was unsure how much I was willing to risk in one company. During the competition, I decided to invest in both technology and vehicular companies. Technology companies had profits, but the vehicular companies all had losses. Luckily, I invested a substantial amount more in my technology companies than vehicular ones, so I profited. Overall, I learned that not all stocks are profitable, and you may still have many losses with a net gain.”
— Justin Li, Highland Park High School (Dallas, Texas)
Upcoming Events
Please check the Comet Calendar and the MS in Finance web page for upcoming events.
