James Noel Ward

Assistant Professor

  • Department: Economics and Management
  • Graduate Program(s): International Management
  • Office: 
    G-3A04
  • Office Hours: 
    By appointment

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A Mississippi native, Professor Ward joined The American University of Paris in 2001. After a first degree in Philosophy at Boston University (1985), he continued at Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München before working as a financial aid officer, then a commercial fisherman in Sitka, Alaska. He served as Youth Minister at Christ Church, Greenwich, then tested a vocation as a Benedictine monk. He afterward worked in futures markets at the Chicago Board of Trade focusing on trading and research. After a decade as an analyst, database manager, statistician, and economist, he completed a Master of Science in Finance at The George Washington University (1999). He founded Andres, McKenzie & Ward which was acquired by Alternative and Derivative Investments (ADI) of Paris, a hedge fund. He served as high yield bond investment manager for ADI, and began teaching at AUP to distract himself from market stress. Professor Ward joined AXA Investment Managers as head of High Yield Investments, then joined AUP full-time as Assistant Professor of Finance in 2013, and currently is completing his Doctoral thesis in Finance at L’Université Paris. Ward currently researches hedge funds, the persistence of excess returns, fixed income & credit markets, corporate capital structure, and exotic derivatives. He recently was Visiting Professor of Economics at Deep Springs College where he taught computational and behavioral finance.



Education/Degrees

  • Bachelor of Arts, 1985, Philosophy and Religion, Boston University.
  • Master of Science in Finance, 1999, The George Washington University.
  • Chartered Financial Risk Manager (FRM®), The Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP).
  • Chartered International Professional Risk Manager (PRM®), The Professional Risk Managers' International Association (PRMIA)

News

In April 2016, Professor James Ward had an article published on the USA election process and prediction markets where you can bet on outcomes.

Affiliations

  • Guest Lecturer: 2021-2022. Pyongyang University of Science
  • Technology (PUST), Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). http://www.pust.co/
  • The Professional Risk Managers' International Association
  • The Global Association of Risk Professionals
  • The CFA Institute
  • Deep Springs College
  • The American Finance Association
  • The Financial Management Association
  • European Financial Management Association
  • l’Institut Louis Bachelier
  • The Bachelier Finance Society
  • International Association for Quantitative Finance
  • Association of Behavioral Economics and Finance
  • Association pour le développement de l'histoire économique
  • Association d'Études Sociales de la Finance
  • Association Française de Finance
  • Association Française de Gestion Financière
  • Association Française de Sciences Économiques
  • European Economics and Finance Society
  • The Ludwig von Mises Institute
  • The Mont Pelerin Society

Research Areas

  • Options
  • Exotic options
  • Capital structure
  • Time-series
  • Dispersion
  • Credit
  • Fixed-income
  • Speculative grade
  • Credit
  • Behavioral finance.

Awards, Fellowships and Grants