The Wealth Management Initiative, unlike our other Wharton initiatives, is located within Wharton Executive Education. This inimitable vantage point provides unique opportunities for the Initiative to pursue its goals by facilitating natural connections with industry, alumni, and other important constituencies. In addition, the experienced professionals in Wharton Executive Education work in conjunction with the Academic Director to support the Initiative.
Christopher C. Geczy
Adjunct Associate Professor of Finance
Director, Wharton Wealth Management Initiative
Dr. Geczy has been on the Finance Faculty at Wharton since 1997 and has recently taken on the Academic Directorship of the Wharton Wealth Management Initiative at Wharton Executive Education. He has a BA in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD in finance and econometrics from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago. Before his studies at Chicago, Chris worked for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC, in its Division of Research and Statistics. He regularly teaches investment management and co-created the first full course on hedge funds at The Wharton School along with a number of executive education courses and has taught AIMR/CFA-Institute-accredited professional Risk Management courses through the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business. Chris has been the Academic Director of a number of Wharton Executive Education programs including the 2009 Securities Industry Institute in partnership with SIFMA.
He has served on the Economic Advisory Board of NASDAQ, acts an editor of the Journal of Alternative Investments and on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Wealth Management. Chris is also a founding board member and Chairman of the Mid-Atlantic Hedge Fund Association and serves on the curriculum and exam committee of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association (CAIA).
Chris’s current research focuses on various topics including wealth management, risk management, asset allocation, multifactor models, the performance of managed funds, and various aspects of equity lending and short-selling. His work has appeared in numerous books and scholarly journals including the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and the Journal of Political Economy. It has also been covered in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Financial Times,Forbes, NPR, SmartMoney Magazine, on CNBC’s Squawk Box and in numerous other media outlets.
Jennifer Gers
Director
Jen Gers is a Director of Custom Programs for the Aresty Institute of Executive Education at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Through a consulting methodology, Jen works with corporate clients and Wharton faculty to develop the curricula, select the faculty, and create learning experiences that will produce results based on targeted objectives. She is responsible for the design, development, implementation and evaluation of a portfolio of customized executive education programs for the Financial Services industry.
Prior to joining Wharton Executive Education, Jen worked for The Vanguard Group. Based in Malvern, PA, Jen was responsible for overseeing the analysis of Vanguard’s portfolio of Domestic and Balanced Mutual Funds. She also previously worked with teams in the US and Dublin, Ireland to help manage and administer all facets of their Offshore Mutual Fund portfolio.
Jen earned her MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York University and holds a BA in Communications from the University of Pennsylvania.
