Featuring Cliff Asness

Cliff Asness is a Founder, Managing Principal and Chief Investment Officer at AQR Capital Management. He is an active researcher and has authored articles on a variety of financial topics for many publications, including The Journal of Portfolio Management, Financial Analysts Journal, The Journal of Finance and The Journal of Financial Economics. He has received five Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy Awards from The Journal of Portfolio Management, in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2014 and 2015. Financial Analysts Journal has twice awarded him the Graham and Dodd Award for the year’s best paper, as well as a Graham and Dodd Excellence Award, the award for the best perspectives piece, and the Graham and Dodd Readers’ Choice Award.

In 2006, CFA Institute presented Cliff with the James R. Vertin Award, which is periodically given to individuals who have produced a body of research notable for its relevance and enduring value to investment professionals. Prior to co-founding AQR Capital Management, he was a Managing Director and Director of Quantitative Research for the Asset Management Division of Goldman, Sachs & Co. He is on the editorial board of The Journal of Portfolio Management, the governing board of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Finance at NYU, the board of directors of the Q-Group, the board of the International Rescue Committee and the board of trustees of The National WWII Museum.

Cliff received a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School and a B.S. in engineering from the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating summa cum laude in both. He received an M.B.A. with high honors and a Ph.D. in finance from the University of Chicago, where he was Eugene Fama’s student and teaching assistant for two years (so he still feels guilty when trying to beat the market).

Notable Contributions

• Received the James R. Vertin Award from CFA Institute in recognition of his lifetime contribution to research.
• Five-time winner of the Bernstein Fabozzi/ Jacobs Levy Award and two-time winner of the Graham and Dodd Award for his research.
• Vaughan Executive in Residence at the University of Missouri's Trulaske College of Business.
• Member of the governing board of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Finance at NYU.
• Named one of the 50 Most-Influential People in Global Finance by Bloomberg Markets magazine.

The CAIA Association
The CAIA Association is a global professional credentialing body dedicated to creating greater alignment, transparency, and knowledge for all investors, with a specific emphasis on alternative investments. A Member-driven organization representing professionals in more than 95 countries, CAIA Association advocates for the highest ethical standards. The organization provides unbiased insight on a broad range of investment strategies and industry issues, key among them being efforts to bring greater diversification to portfolio construction decisions to achieve better long-term investor outcomes. To learn more about the CAIA Association and how to become part of the organization’s mission, please visit https://caia.org/.

FactSet
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The FDP Institute
The Financial Data Professional Institute (FDPI) was established by the  CAIA Association to address the growing need in finance for a workforce that  has the skills to perform in a digitized world where an increasing number of decisions will be data and analytics driven. The Financial Data Professional (FDP) is a global designation for  investment professionals with data science skills.

MUFG
MUFG Investor Services is an industry leader in asset servicing, banking and fund financing, working with some of the largest investment firms in the world. Leveraging the financial and intellectual capital of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (“MUFG”), one of the largest banks in the world with more than US$2.8 trillion in assets, our diversified client base includes hedge funds, fund of hedge funds, regulated funds, private equity and real asset funds across a broad array of investment strategies, asset types, and fund structures.

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State Street
We’re at the heart of financial services. And our clients are at the heart of everything we do. We develop solutions to meet their challenges. We recruit the best. We build partnerships and invest in innovation to help them innovate and grow. Through our new fully interoperable platform, State Street Alpha SM , we bring together our clients’ choice of real-time data and intelligence across the investment lifecycle to help them make better decisions and deliver growth for their clients. With built-in flexibility and scalability, Alpha lets clients manage any assets in any market and streamline their day-to-day processes — helping to facilitate innovation, better inform investment decisions, optimize returns and streamline business operations.

Vanguard
Vanguard was founded in 1975 upon a simple, but revolutionary idea: an enterprise owned by the mutual funds it offers and managed solely in the interests of its fund shareholders. Unlike other investment management companies, Vanguard is owned by the Vanguard funds, which in turn are owned by our clients. This unique structure represents a radical departure from the industry norm, where management companies ultimately serve their fund and company owners.

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