Vikas Agarwal, Ph.D

Associate Professor of Finance
J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University

Vikas Agarwal is an Associate Professor of Finance at Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business. Vikas received his Ph.D. in finance from the London Business School. He is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Financial Research, University of Cologne, Germany. He also holds a Research Associate position at EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Center, France.

His broad areas of research interest include investments and asset pricing. His current research focuses on various issues related to hedge funds including characterization of risks, performance evaluation, determinants of money flows and risk-taking behavior, and impact of managerial incentives on performance in the hedge fund industry. His research has been published both in academic and practitioner journals including Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Investment Management, Journal of Alternative Investments, Foundations and Trends in Finance, and Journal of Asset Management. His research has been cited and discussed in the financial press and magazines including Euromoney, Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.

Kasim L. Alli, Ph.D

Chairman and Full Professor, Finance Department
School of Business, Clark Atlanta University

Dr. Kasim L. Alli is currently the Chairman and Full Professor in the Finance Department at Clark Atlanta University's School of Business. Dr. Alli has also taught at Morehouse, Georgia State University, and was a visiting (2004-2006) Professor of Finance at the Mona School of Business at the University of West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica. Dr. Alli was a recipient of the 2007 faculty Professor fellowship from Morgan Stanley Corporation. Prior to beginning his academic career, Dr. Alli was a Bank Officer for Wema Bank, PLC in Lagos, Nigeria, where he was involved in Foreign Exchange and Treasury activities, loan syndication, and credit analysis.

His research and teaching interest is in Corporate Finance, particularly valuation and financial analysis, Portfolio Management and International Finance. He has been involved in executive education programs as program coordinator and faculty for both local and overseas executives including directing USAID sponsored programs. He has received awards for excellence in teaching at the undergraduate, graduate and executive education levels. His research has been published in leading academic and professional journals including the AREUA Journal, Journal of Financial Research, Financial Review, Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, Journal of Financial Education, the Valuation Journal and the CPA Journal.

Dr. Alli has worked as a consultant for a variety of large and small corporations and governmental institutions, such as Procter and Gamble Corp., Equiva Corporation (a joint venture subsidiary of Shell Oil Corp and Texaco Corp), Fulton County Government, Federal Highway Administration, DJ Miller and Associates, several Small Business and Economic Development Centers and the State of Georgia D.O.T. Examples of consulting experiences include projects focusing on Financial Modeling, Personal Financial planning and consumer credit education, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Value Based Performance Measurement, Valuation of Privately Held Stock and Minority Interest, Valuation of Economic Damages, Disparity Studies, Statistical analysis, Privatization and Strategic Planning, Executive Education (including curriculum development and training) and corporate Financial Planning and Analysis.

Dr. Alli earned a PhD. from Georgia State University in Finance, a MS from Georgia State University in Economics, an MBA from Georgia State University in Finance, and a BS (Honors) degree in Business Administration from the University of Lagos, Nigeria