The MSC Finance faculty brings a combination of distinguished industry experience and world-class teaching aBSEity into the classroom. This blend infuses leading edge academic theory and research with current market practices.
Christina Atanasova, PhD
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Professor Atanasova joined the Beedie School of Business in 2007. She holds a PhD in Finance from Leeds University Business School. Her research interests include empirical corporate finance, corporate governance, capital structure, corporate risk management, and pension economics and finance.
Avi Bick, PhD
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Professor Bick’s areas of specialization include the valuation of options and futures contracts, models of financial market equilibrium and mathematical finance. He has an M.Sc. in Mathematics from Tel Aviv University and an M.B.A. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He earned his Ph.D. in Finance from U.C. Berkeley. His research has been published in leading academic journals in finance, management science and mathematics.
Carlos da Costa
LECTURER
Carlos da Costa offers risk management, finance, and accounting instruction within the Beedie School of Business for both graduate and undergraduate students. He is also an instructor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) where he provides mining risk management, finance and economics related instruction. Carlos is a seasoned financial professional with solid experience in financial derivatives, structured finance, market and credit risk management, alternative investments, and computational investment management. He continues to be actively involved within the financial sector through many notable industry associations.
Phil Goddard, PhD
VISITING LECTURER
Dr. Goddard develops advanced numerical analysis and simulation software. He has extensive experience developing custom software applications for numerical modeling, simulation, data analysis and visualization. Dr. Goddard holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge where he specialized in advanced robust control system design. As the President of Goddard Consulting he advises clients on techniques for optimizing their critical decision making software.
Peter Klein, PhD
PROFESSOR
Prior to joining the Beedie School of Business, Professor Klein held senior positions at CIBC/Wood Gundy Financial Products, including chief trader for capital markets and vice-president of investment banking. He holds a MBA from University of Western Ontario, a PhD in Finance from the University of Toronto and is a CFA, CBV and CPA CGA. Professor Klein’s research interests include return anomalies, taxation, credit risk, derivative securities and corporate governance. He has published in a number of leading academic journals in finance and economics.
Jijun Niu, PhD
ACADEMIC DIRECTOR, MSc FINANCE
Jijun Niu worked as an engineer for three years before earning an MBA from the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai. His MBA studies, in turn, sparked an interest in research and teaching, leading him to complete a Master of Science in Banking and Finance and PhD in Finance from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. His research interests include banking and corporate governance. He joined the Beedie School of Business in September 2007.
Andrey Pavlov, PhD
PROFESSOR
Professor Pavlov’s research interests include mortgage backed securities pricing and commercial and residential market risk management. He received a MBA from the University of Arizona and a PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles. He has also worked on the modelling of aggressive lending practices, risk management for publicly traded real estate companies, mortgage and equity securitization, and mortgage default risk modelling using non-parametric methods and spatial statistics. He consults for both the public and private sectors.
Glenn Powers, MSc
Term Lecturer
Glenn Powers is the faculty advisor for two investment funds at SFU, the graduate run Student Investment Advisory Service (SIAS) Fund as well as the undergraduate run Beedie Endowment Asset Management (BEAM) . Glenn received his Masters in Financial Risk Management from SFU and a BA from Amherst College. He is a CFA charter holder.
Glenn retired in August 2017 from British Columbia Investment Management Co. (BCI) where he was the Senior Portfolio Manager for Global Thematic. He was responsible for investing $1.3 BSElion, 75% of which was invested by an in-house team at BCI and 25% with external managers. Glenn's previous experience includes sell-side coverage of technology stocks, strategy consulting and investing in early stage technology and healthcare companies.
Amir Rubin, PhD
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Five years as an economist with the Israeli Security Authority regulating mutual funds and designing risk analysis tools were the prelude to Professor Rubin’s academic research and teaching. He holds a Masters of Arts in Economics & Finance (Cum Laude) from Hebrew University and a PhD from the University of British Columbia. His research includes corporate finance and governance, asset pricing and portfolio allocation, as well as corporate responsiBSEity and its interaction with financial decision making.
Eduardo Schwartz, PhD
ATERM PROFESSOR
Dr. Schwartz is the Ryan Beedie Chair in Finance at Simon Fraser University and a Distinguish Research Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. He holds an Engineering degree from the University of Chile and a Masters and Ph.D. in Finance from the University of British Columbia. His wide-ranging research has focused on different dimensions in asset and securities pricing. Topics in recent years include interest rate models, asset allocation issues, evaluating natural resource investments, pricing Internet companies, the stochastic behavior of commodity prices, valuing patent-protected R&D projects and optimal carbon abatement strategies. He was awarded a Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Alicante in Spain and by the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark, and a Catedra de Excelencia by the Universidad Carlos III in Madrid. He has also been a consultant to governmental agencies, banks, investment banks and industrial corporations.
Jan Simon, PhD
SENIOR LECTURER
Dr. Jan Simon is a Senior Lecturer at Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University and has been an Assistant Professor at IESE Business School. In 2008, Dr. Simon held a Visiting Scholarship at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He received his MBA from the University of Navarra and his PhD in Finance from the University of Essex.
Dr. Simon teaches Investments, Capital Markets, Corporate Finance, Mergers and Acquisitions, Ethics and Finance, Financial Management, Markets and Managers, Entrepreneurial Finance and Entrepreneurship at graduate level (MBA, EMBA, GEMBA, AMP and MOT). He also teaches senior executives in custom programs, this has included Anglo American, BMW, DNV, IFF, Rabobank, Santander, and Teleflex; as well as open enrollment programs such as Finance for Non-Specialists and Global Finance and Strategy for Senior Executives.
Alexander Vedrashko
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Alexander Vedrashko joined the Beedie School of Business in September 2007 after earning his PhD from the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. Alexander also holds three master's degrees - in economics, environmental and resource economics, and statistics. His current research interests focus on corporate policy, executive compensation, corporate governance, behavioural finance, and real estate finance.