Luis Cortes Dequidt

Rady School of Management at UC San Diego

“Immigrant, impact-driven investor leveraging capital markets to expand ownership and reduce inequality.”

Hometown: San Diego, CA (Originally from Vigo, Spain)

Fun fact about yourself: I emigrated from Spain at 13 years old and learned English by watching financial news.

Undergraduate School and Degree:

University of San Diego: BBA in Finance

University of San Diego: Masters of Science in Finance

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school?

UBS Wealth Management – Registered Client Service Associate (Financial Analyst)

Where did you intern during the summer of 2025? The Beyster Institute, San Diego, CA

Where will you be working after graduation? Seeking a role in impact investing, ideally within a fund focused on climate solutions or ownership expansion.

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

President & Founder of The Rady Investing Club

VP of Finance for The Rady Student Association

Teaching Assistant (Business Analytics, Financial Accounting, Mergers & Acquisitions)

CFA Charter holder

Dean’s Circle Invitee (Top MBA Students)

Financial Modeling Specialist (The Beyster Institute)

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? Founding The Rady Investing Club stands out most. When I arrived at Rady, I noticed there was no structured space for students passionate about capital markets to engage deeply with investing. I built the school’s first Investing Club from the ground up: recruiting over 50 members, organizing investment roundtables, and hosting guest speakers across wealth management, private equity, investment banking, and hedge funds.

Launching the club while serving as VP of Finance for the Rady Student Association, working as a Teaching Assistant, maintaining a high performing GPA, and completing the CFA Level III exam tested my discipline and leadership. But more importantly, it created a lasting community at Rady for students who see investing not just as a career, but as a responsibility.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? One of the moments I am most proud of professionally did not involve a financial model or portfolio performance. It involved standing up for integrity.

During my time at UBS, I became aware of behavior from a senior colleague that created a hostile and uncomfortable environment for members of our team. After listening to and supporting a colleague who experienced inappropriate conduct, I made the difficult decision to formally report the issue to Human Resources.

The investigation process was lengthy and uncomfortable, but it ultimately led to corrective action. That experience reinforced a lesson I carry with me today: leadership is not defined by title or technical skill, but by the willingness to protect others when it matters most.

Finance operates on trust. If we expect clients to trust us with their capital, we must first uphold trust within our own teams.

Why did you choose this business school? I chose Rady because it represents the rare intersection of rigorous academic finance and real-world capital markets, a combination that aligns deeply with who I am.

Outside of work and school, I genuinely enjoy reading academic research in finance. One of my favorite papers on portfolio construction was authored by a Rady professor, and discovering that connection made the school feel intellectually alive to me. It signaled that the faculty were not only teaching finance, but actively shaping its evolution through research.

I was also deeply inspired by Rady’s connection to Nobel Laureate Harry Markowitz, whose work on Modern Portfolio Theory fundamentally shaped how we understand risk and diversification. As someone who has always admired the intellectual foundations of finance, knowing that a pioneer of portfolio theory taught here reinforced my desire to join a school with that kind of academic legacy.

I have always sought to bridge theory and practice. My career in wealth management and quantitative modeling reflects the professional side of finance, while my curiosity for academic research reflects the intellectual side. I believe growth comes from continuous learning — and when you stop learning, you stop evolving. Rady’s faculty and research culture embodied that philosophy, making it the right place for me to deepen both my technical expertise and my understanding of how capital markets can shape society.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? My favorite MBA professor was Dr. Kristina Buti. As a fellow European immigrant, her story deeply resonated with me. She grew up in Hungary under the Soviet regime, where economic systems were centralized and markets functioned very differently from the capital markets we study today. She later transitioned into investment banking and academia in the United States. That journey, from a communist economic system to advising on mergers and acquisitions in global markets, gave her a uniquely balanced perspective on finance.

In her classroom, finance was never just about valuation models or discount rates. She constantly challenged us to think about how economic systems shape incentives, opportunity, and wealth creation. She would connect theory to lived experience, contrasting different market structures and reminding us that capital allocation decisions ultimately impact people’s lives.

What I admired most was her intellectual rigor combined with humility and passion. She held us to a high analytical standard, but she also created space for debate and curiosity. Her passion for finance was contagious, and she reinforced my belief that markets, when structured thoughtfully, can be powerful engines for opportunity and mobility.

What was your favorite course as an MBA? My favorite course was Mergers & Acquisitions with Dr. Buti. While the technical rigor of building valuation models, analyzing synergies, and structuring deals was intellectually exciting, what made the course exceptional was its emphasis on the human dimension of transactions.

We explored why so many mergers fail despite sound financial logic. Culture clashes, leadership misalignment, incentive conflicts, and integration missteps often undermine even the most analytically justified deals. That realization reshaped how I view finance. It reinforced that capital markets are not abstract systems; they are built on trust, incentives, and human decision-making.

The course also sharpened my ability to evaluate strategic intent. A deal is not just about price; it’s about long-term value creation. M&A showed me that finance sits at the intersection of numbers and narrative, and the most successful leaders understand both.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? My favorite MBA tradition at Rady is the Dean’s Circle Dinner. The event brings together top MBA students, faculty leadership, and distinguished alumni in an intimate setting designed for genuine conversation rather than transactional networking.

What made the experience meaningful was not just the opportunity to meet accomplished professionals, but the shared intellectual lineage. Speaking with alumni who personally interacted with pioneers like Harry Markowitz and William Sharpe reminded me that Rady is deeply connected to the foundations of modern portfolio theory. As someone passionate about capital markets, that connection felt both humbling and inspiring.

The evening reflected something core about Rady’s culture: accessibility. Faculty, administrators, and alumni are approachable, invested, and genuinely committed to students’ growth. It reinforced that success here is not siloed, it is communal. The school fosters a network that extends beyond graduation, built on mentorship, shared ambition, and mutual support.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? I would have started building relationships in impact investing earlier. While I was disciplined academically and professionally, I initially underestimated the importance of intentionally cultivating networks in mission-aligned investing. Impact investing sits at the intersection of finance and values, and I learned that conviction must be paired with community.

What was the most impactful case study you had in business school and what was the biggest lesson you learned from it? One of the most impactful case studies I encountered was the Heidi Roizen case. What struck me most was how intentionally she built and nurtured her network over time. Her success was not based solely on expertise or position, but on authentic, reciprocal relationships cultivated long before she needed them.

The case reframed how I think about capital. We often focus on financial capital, but social capital compounds just as powerfully. Being known, trusted, and generous within your community creates optionality and resilience that no spreadsheet can capture.

The biggest lesson I learned is that ambition without community is fragile. Whether in investing or leadership, influence is built through credibility and connection. That realization pushed me to be more intentional about relationship-building, particularly in impact investing, where trust and shared values are foundational. It also reinforced why I value the Rady community, it fosters genuine relationships rather than transactional networking.

What did you love most about your business school’s town? San Diego is home in every sense. I arrived as a 13-year-old immigrant and grew into who I am here. The optimism, warmth, and entrepreneurial spirit of this city shaped my confidence and ambition. Its energy inspires big thinking while remaining grounded in community.

What business leader do you admire most? The business leader I admire most is Sir Ronald Cohen, often referred to as the father of impact investing. What inspires me about his career is that he did not reject capitalism, he refined it. After building a highly successful career in private equity, he turned his attention to a fundamental question: How can capital markets be structured to generate both financial return and measurable social impact?

Through his work in developing social impact bonds and advocating for standardized impact measurement, he has helped shift investing from a purely profit-driven exercise to one that incorporates accountability for societal outcomes. He recognized that capital shapes the world we live in, and that if we measure impact with the same rigor as financial returns, we can align markets with human progress.

His philosophy resonates deeply with me. I believe capital markets are one of the most powerful tools we have to address inequality, climate change, and ownership gaps. Sir Ronald Cohen’s work demonstrates that systemic change does not require abandoning markets, it requires redesigning incentives within them. That vision is one I aspire to carry forward in my own career.

What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What insights did you gain from using AI? At Rady, AI tools were integrated into financial modeling, market research, and case analysis. I used AI to stress-test portfolio assumptions, analyze earnings transcripts at scale, and simulate macroeconomic scenarios. The biggest insight was not speed, it was augmentation. AI is most powerful when paired with domain expertise. In investing, human judgment still determines which questions matter; AI simply expands the analytical frontier.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? The classmate I most admire is Yiying Pang. As a fellow board member of the Investing Club, she brings intellectual depth, discipline, and an unwavering commitment to impact. While my focus is on reducing wealth inequality, her passion lies in investing in biotech companies solving critical health challenges. Her optimism, integrity, and willingness to support others, both professionally and personally, reflect the type of leader our generation needs.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?

1) Launch an impact-focused hedge fund that allocates capital towards climate solutions, employee ownership models, and companies seeking to tackle today’s challenges.

2) Democratize sophisticated investment education so that first-generation and immigrant families have the necessary tools and knowledge to build generational wealth.

What made Luis such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2026?

“Luis is a difficult person to miss at Rady. Over the past two years, he has immersed himself in a wide range of opportunities as an MBA and has taken a leadership role in crafting many of them. As a club founder, Luis saw an opportunity to serve his fellow MBAs by leveraging his own experience and expertise, while encouraging others to grow in their interest and knowledge of finance and investments. As a member of the Rady Student Association leadership, he helps to facilitate the growing club ecosystem and cohort social dynamics.

Beyond these extracurricular endeavors, Luis continues to be an outstanding student in the classroom while also preparing for the CFA Level III exam this year. Even with all these commitments, he still finds time to DJ events into the early morning hours. It is exceptionally rare to find Luis without an enormous smile and his infectious enthusiasm is easily felt by students and administrators alike. Over the past two years, he has continued to grow as a leader and helped to elevate the MBA program to the benefit of his classmates and those who will join the Rady MBA in the future.”

Joe Sweeney
Executive Director, MBA Programs

DON’T MISS: MBAS TO WATCH: CLASS OF 2026

© Copyright 2026 Poets & Quants. All rights reserved. This article may not be republished, rewritten or otherwise distributed without written permission. To reprint or license this article or any content from Poets & Quants, please submit your request HERE.