Best Prof: Kumar Venkataraman

Kumar Venkataraman at SMU's Cox School is among the world's 40 best business school profs under the age of 40.

Kumar Venkataraman at SMU’s Cox School is among the world’s 40 best business school profs under the age of 40.

Kumar Venkataraman

Fabacher Endowed Professor of Finance

Age: 37

Hometown: Mumbai, India

Institution: Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business

Marital Status: Married

Children: Two daughters (7 and 5 years)

Education: Arizona State University, PhD, Business Administration

Birla Institute of Technology and Science, MMS

Courses: Hedge Funds

Alternative Assets

Investments

At SMU Cox Since: 2000

Before SMU Cox: Arizona State PhD student

Extracurricular Activities: Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Consultant

Fun Fact: “I am a fan of the Harry Potter series. I am also a fan/play tennis.”

Professor Kumar Venkataraman’s research in the area of market microstructure has influenced important policy debates on the structure of financial markets, and has been cited by regulators in United States and Europe. His work has been featured in industry publications, such as The CFA Digest, in several text books, and in business press, including The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Economist and Bloomberg News. Several regulating bodies have tapped Venkataraman for his expertise including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the New York Stock Exchange.

He is a recipient of the Gerald J. Ford Senior Research Fellowship which is the highest University research award at SMU and the Research Excellence Award for the Cox School. He has received the Outstanding Teaching Award in the Cox MBA program and was twice nominated for the University-wide Faculty Teaching Award.

Students Say:

“Kumar was one of my favorite professors in the whole MBA program. Kumar did a phenomenal job of blending hands-on experience with real hedge fund strategies with his passion for finance and the theory and math behind the numbers. One of the most fun things is having a professor who truly loves what they teach, and everyday Kumar came to class excited to be part of his student’s journey towards their MBA.”

“Prof. Kumar’s portfolio theory and asset pricing class is one that I was advised as a ‘Must-Take’ at SMU. Not only did Prof. Kumar make it interesting and informative, but also fun. He would bring printouts of WSJ articles referring to the topic on that day, sometimes the dates on these articles were not even a week old! This significantly increased my interest in the theory behind asset pricing.”

Kumar Venkataraman is among “The World’s 40 Best B-School Profs Under the Age of 40

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