In July, the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences will have the pleasure of hosting Dr Ronald Kahn of Black Rock Asset Management, well-known expert on portfolio management and quantitative investing, when he presents the biennial Thys Visser Commemorative Lecture Series.
The late Thys Visser was a dynamic business leader, alumnus of this Faculty, and strong supporter of Stellenbosch University. Following his untimely death in 2012, the Faculty decided to honour his memory with a biennial lecture series by leading international scholars.
According to Prof Stan du Plessis, Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, "This lecture series opens an opportunity for our students, staff and the general public to listen to world-class academics and practitioners presenting the latest scholarly work in areas of public interest."
Dr Kahn is Managing Director and Global Head of Scientific Equity Research at BlackRock. He leads BlackRock's Scientific Active Equity business, which manages over $75 billion in assets (institutional portfolios, hedge funds, and mutual funds) for institutions and individuals worldwide.
The lecture series, with the title Asset Management: Then, Now and Tomorrow, will consist of three evening lectures on 25, 26 and 27 July 2016 at STIAS, 10 Marais Street, Stellenbosch:
- 25 July 2016 at 18:00 for 18:30: The Modern History of Investment Management - A Macro View
- 26 July 2016 at 18:00 for 18:30: Seven Insights into Active Management - A Micro View
- 27 July 2016 at 18:00 for 18:30: The Future of Investment Management
Members of the public are welcome to attend the lectures free of charge but need to make a reservation by clicking here.
For directions to the venue, click here.
More about Dr Ronald Khan:
Ronald Kahn has published many articles on investment management, and, with Richard Grinold, authored the influential book Active Portfolio Management: Quantitative Theory and Applications. He serves on the editorial advisory boards of the Financial Analysts Journal, the Journal of Portfolio Management and the Journal of Investment Consulting. He also teaches the equities half of the course, "International Equity and Currency Markets", in UC Berkeley's Master of Financial Engineering Program.
He earned an AB degree in physics, summa cum laude, from Princeton University, and a PhD in physics from Harvard University. He was a post-doctoral fellow in physics at University of California, Berkeley. The 2007 book How I Became a Quant includes his essay describing his transition from physics to finance.
