- Home city and country: Brussels, Belgium
- Pre-MFE degree(s): BS, Civil Eng., Free University of Brussels; MS, Electrical Eng., Free University of Brussels; MBA, Vlerick Business School
- Summer Internship: Market Risk and Quantitative Research, Ares Management
- Post-MFE Placement: Vice President/Market Risk Quant, MUFG Union Bank, Los Angeles, CA
Who We Are
Who We Are
"The MFE program’s career services office organized many talks by professionals from different fields in finance which gave me great insights into the areas I would be able to contribute the most. From numerous career workshops to one-on-one coaching, I was able to take the next step in my career."
Gert Dekegel ('14)
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"I chose UCLA Anderson’s MFE program due to its location within a business school – something that most other MFE programs do not offer. Exposure to the financial industry through recruitment events, presentations by industry practitioners, and hands-on career support, have provided me with the tools I will need to apply the quantitative theories learned in the classroom to the real world."
Chelsea Ding ('15)
- Home city and country: Nanchang, China
- Pre-MFE degree(s): BS, Transportation Engineering, Beijing Jiatong University; MS, Civil Engineering, Ohio State University
- Summer Internship: BlackRock
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"I really enjoyed the UCLA MFE’s geographical and professional diversity. My classmates ranged from former bankers who wanted to expand their skillset to electrical engineers who wanted to make a change in their career. We were all different in terms of age, work experience and wisdom; but at the same time we were all the same in terms of our thirst for knowledge and our desire to make an impact."
Vitalii Ihnatiuk ('14)
- Home city and country: Kyiv, Ukraine
- Pre-MFE degree(s): BA, Economics, National University of Kyiv
- Summer Internship: Quantitative Intern, Esoteric Capital
- Post-MFE Placement: Analyst, Electronic Trading Strats Team, Morgan Stanley, New York, NY
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"The MFE program– taught by UCLA Anderson’s world-class finance faculty – has provided me with the necessary knowledge and skills to prepare me for a career in quantitative finance. The program has strong connections with the finance industry and the career services office provided one-on-one support and exposure to employers to ensure I secured a great summer internship."
Yongduo Liu ('15)
- Home city and country: Lanzhou, China
- Pre-MFE degree(s): BS, Physics & Mathematics, Peking University; PhD., Materials Science & Engineering, UCLA
- Summer Internship: Bloomberg, Quantitative Research
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"The MFE Program at UCLA stands out among all other MFE courses for its unique emphasis on quantitative asset management. The courses are completely hands-on, and I was able to apply the classroom learnings directly to real-world situations during my internships at the SEC and DoubleLine. The homework assignments ranged from calibrating interest rate models to gathering financial data and back-testing investment strategies. These assignments, along with the internship experience and Applied Finance Project, have prepared me well to hit the ground running in my first job."
Shipra Mahajan ('13)
- Home city and country:
- Pre-MFE degree(s):
- Summer Internship:
- Post-MFE Placement: Quant Analyst, Multi-Asset Group, Alliance Bernstein
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"As a data scientist in finance I am responsible for researching and developing software and analytics for our firm. My work involves a lot of statistical coding in R, primarily for developing portfolio risk analytics and researching financial models. The skills I acquired during the MFE Program at UCLA have enabled me to analyze and present interesting and relevant data for our portfolio of quant traders, and have been invaluable in preparing me for this exciting and challenging position."
Huang Pan ('11)
- Home city and country: Santa Clara, CA
- Pre-MFE degree(s): B.S., Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, UC Berkeley; M.S. Electrical Engineering, Stanford
- Summer Internship: Telesis
- Post-MFE Placement: Data Scientist, T2AM LLC
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"I chose UCLA Anderson's MFE program because it was one of the very few MFE programs taught within a business school. As a UCLA MFE, I was able to improve both my quantitative finance skills and my soft skills while building a professional network comprised of both MFEs and MBAs."
Roman Sandoval Villamuera ('14)
- Home city and country: Barcelona, Spain
- Pre-MFE degree(s): BEng, BA, Aerospace Engineering & Business Administration, Open University of Catalonia; MS, Aerospace Engineering, Polytech University, Turin
- Summer Internship: Research Analyst, Chantico Global
- Post-MFE Placement: Associate, RQA Fixed Income, BlackRock, New York, NY
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"One of the nice things about UCLA Anderson is that it's a school within a school. At Anderson, you run into familiar faces, enjoy comfortable chairs in the best library, mingle with classmates and MBAs at the Anderson-wide weekly party, and then when you want a bit more variety you have the entire UCLA campus a few steps away."
Emily Steinbarth ('15)
- Home city and country: Calgary, Canada
- Pre-MFE degree(s): BA, Economics, Claremont McKenna College
- Summer Internship: ROW Asset Management
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"The MFE program is really intense but it has a great learning culture associated with it. Professors and TA's are always available to provide assistance, while your classmates cultivate an atmosphere of non-competitiveness and of mutual respect."
George Tsirmpas ('14)
- Home city and country: Athens, Greece
- Pre-MFE degree(s): MS, Chemical Eng., National Technical University of Athens
- Summer Internship: Complex Securities Valuation & Analytics, Stout Risius Ross
- Post-MFE Placement: Analyst, Complex Securities Valuation & Analytics, Stout Risius Ross
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"The career services programming at UCLA Anderson is incredible. The MFE program works extremely hard to effectively retain employer relationships and does a great job promoting the UCLA MFE brand name while providing excellent support to the students during the job search and interview process."
Garrett Wiegele ('14)
- Home city and country: Shawnee, Kansas, USA
- Pre-MFE degree(s): BA, BS, Economics & Mathematics, Rockhurst University
- Summer Internship: Quantitative Analytics Intern, Drobny Capital
- Post-MFE Placement: Quantitative Associate, Green Street Advisors, Newport Beach, CA
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"As someone who didn’t come from a finance background, the MFE program has provided me with a very strong financial and quantitative foundation. The top-notch faculty are at the cutting-edge of their respective disciplines, and if you're going to continue to push those boundaries, you need to be taught by the best. We're dealing with some very heady material, and the MFE professors consistently convey it in such a way that it makes sense for students both new and familiar to financial engineering."
Bryan Williams ('15)
- Home city and country: Cedar Rapids, IA, USA
- Pre-MFE degree(s): BA, Chemistry, Grinnell College; MS, Inorganic Chemistry, UCLA
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"The applied finance project and summer internship allowed me to apply what I learned to real-world finance problems. Thanks to this program, I built a solid foundation in finance and significantly improved my quantitative skills allowing me to make a smooth transition from the world of biological sciences to financial engineering."
Esther Zhao ('10)
- Home city and country: Shandong, China
- Pre-MFE degree(s): B.S., Biology, Peking University; M.S. Applied Biotechnology, Univ. of Uppsala
- Summer Internship: IPM Informed Portfolio Management, Sweeden
- Post-MFE Placement: Financial Engineer, Duff & Phelps (2y 4m); Credit Risk Analyst, MUFG Americas (current)
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Advisory Board
| Mark Abbott | MD, Head of Quantitative Research | Guardian Life Insurance Company |
| Terry Benzschawel | Managing Director (Dir., Quant Credit Trading) | Citigroup |
| Gregg Berman | Director of Research for Market Integrity, Monitoring and Surveillance | Citadel Securities |
| Jane Buchan | Dr., Chief Executive Officer | PAAMCO |
| Eric Forgy | Founder | Coherent Capital Advisors |
| Dwight Grant | Managing Director, Transaction Services | PwC |
| Shady Guirguis (MFE'10) | Quantitative Portfolio Manager | Walleye Trading LLC |
| Jason Hsu | Chairman & Chief Executive Officer | Rayliant Global Advisors |
| Serguei Issakov | Global Head of Quantitative Research and Development | NumeriX |
| Ananth Madhaven | Global Head of Transitions & Trading Research | BlackRock |
| Ravi Mattu | Managing Director and Head of Analytics | PIMCO |
| Ben Meng | Senior Portfolio Manager, Head of Asset Allocation | CalPERS |
| Alan Nadel | Portfolio Risk Analyst | Western Asset |
| Murad Nasal | Head of Market Risk Modeling | Goldman Sachs |
| Ryan O'Grady | Chief Executive Officer | ROW Asset Management |
| Randall Rojas | Adjunct Assistant Professor of Economics | UCLA |
| Ali Shirazi (MFE'11) | Director, Market Risk | Bank of America |
| Joe Signorelli | Managing Director and Head of Wedbush Futures | Wedbush |
| Vasily Strela | MD, Global Head of Market Modeling Group | Morgan Stanley |
| Savita Subramanian | Head of US Equity and Quantitative Strategy | Bank of America |
| Bhaskaran Swaminathan | Dr., Partner & Director, Research | LSV Asset Management |
| Wilson Tsai | Director of Quant Analysis | |
| Karyn Williams | Head of Client Solutions | Two Sigma |
| Brad Wilson | Quantitative Researcher | Jane Street Capital |
International Advisory Board
| Prof. Jason Hsu | Chairman & CEO, Rayliant Global Advisors, and Adjunct Professor | UCLA Anderson MFE Program |
| Brian Baker | Director | PIMCO Asia |
| Laurence Long Chen | Senior Researcher UCLA Anderson MFE alumni representative |
China Financial Futures Exchange |
| Richard Chen | Chief Executive Officer | Core Pacific Yamaichi |
| Tai Tee Chia | Managing Director | 600B Sovereign Wealth Fund of Singapore |
| Eric Forgy | Head, Risk Management | AIA Hong Kong |
| Ting Li | Senior Managing Director | State Street Global Advisors |
| Cheng Liao | Senior Research Director | AXA Investment Management |
| Xiaoyan Liu | Chief Executive Officer | E Fund Management |
| Zhigang Ma | Chief Executive Officer | China Securities Index Company |
| Leslie Mao | Director, Investment Services | Towers Watson |
| William Yang | Chief Executive Officer | Ping An Russell |
| Bill Yuyin Zhan | Director General, Investment Department | China National Social Security Fund |
| Paul Hang Zhang | China Investment Corp. | |
| Henry Xue Jun Zhao | Chief Executive Officer | Harvest Fund Management |