Adapting to the Contemporary Business World
As the business world evolves, professionals in finance roles need to continuously reskill and upskill to stay on top of the latest industry tools, trends, and terminology.
Certificate Overview:
Professional Certificate in Strategic Financial Management
Volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (commonly known as VUCA) are some of the main factors impacting the business world today. Professionals should equip themselves with the tools they need to make impactful financial decisions in the 21st-century VUCA environment.
Are You Looking to Boost Your Career in the Modern Financial Industry?
If you are a professional in a finance role—financial analyst, financial advisor, consultant in the financial industry, investment fund manager, portfolio manager, venture capital and private equity manager, or capital market professional—you will benefit from this certificate program. Decision-makers such as chief financial officers, financial controllers, risk managers, business development managers, as well as fintech-dedicated professionals and entrepreneurs will also gain valuable insights from the program.
About the Certificate Program:
Leveraging the University of Chicago’s excellence in analytics, behavioral economics, and finance, our ten-month Financial Management is designed to provide you with solid theoretical knowledge of cutting-edge financial topics and practical applications to solve real-world business challenges.
This certificate includes the following courses:
The Psychology of Finance
Psychology influences investors' and financial analysts' behavior and impacts market outcomes. Understand the thinking behind money management and financial trading.
Corporate Financial Strategy
Understand the decision-making process for raising and allocating capital, establishing account management, and identifying key concepts in capital budgeting.
Decision-Making and Risk Management
How can we ensure a better, more logical approach to decision-making without complicating matters further? The answer: risk management.
Fintech
Discover the impact of fintech from multiple perspectives—investor, corporate, and consumer—and learn about the regulation behind it.
Machine Learning for Finance
Collect, organize, and use data to perform advanced financial analysis with algorithms and statistical techniques and tools.
After Completing the Program You Will Be Able To:
- Share solid theoretical knowledge of critical finance-related topics
- Provide a practical application of this knowledge in your work environment
- Foster other soft skills like collaborative teamwork, critical thinking, problem solving, communication abilities, time management, multicultural awareness, remote working techniques, and development and management of international networking
Meet Your Instructors
George Dan, MBA
The Psychology of Finance Instructor
George Dan founded User Nudge, Inc. as part of a lifelong journey to understand human decisions. Using behavioral science, the company decodes human behavior and focuses on how those using online interfaces make decisions. Previously, Dan was the head of operations analytics at a software-as-a-service company, where he devised frictionless processes, implemented systems, and developed new ways to launch digital products.
He earned an MBA from Chicago Booth and is a board member for Family Service of Lake County, a nonprofit serving families via counseling, education, and mental health support.
Sourav Ghosh, MSc
Fintech Instructor
Sourav Ghosh has built and deployed low-latency, high-throughput automated trading systems across futures trading exchanges worldwide for over a decade. He specializes in statistical arbitrage market making for the most liquid global futures products. He currently serves as VP of Treasury at XP Inc., working on their low-latency quantitative trading business.
Ghosh earned a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Southern California. His areas of interest are fintech, algorithmic trading strategies, low-latency application development, and statistical learning methods.
Borislava Karageorgieva, CFA, MBA, PAHM
Corporate Financial Strategy and Decision-Making and Risk Management Instructor
Borislava Karageorgieva is a corporate finance expert with international experience in financial licensure compliance and regulatory analysis, mergers and acquisitions, angel investing and entrepreneurship, and board governance.
She is the board president of the Chicago Booth Angels Network of Chicago, where she focuses on angel and seed investing for innovative start-ups. Karageorgieva has founded two businesses and mentors entrepreneurs. She earned her MBA from Chicago Booth and an undergraduate finance degree in Sofia, Bulgaria. She is also a CFA Institute charterholder.
Lara Kattan, MPP
Machine Learning for Finance Instructor
Lara Kattan is a data science educator and curriculum writer. She is currently developing curriculum for institutions such as the University of Chicago and data science learning start-ups. Before embarking on a career in curriculum development, she was a consultant in risk practice at McKinsey & Co.
Kattan earned an MA in public policy with a concentration in econometrics from the University of Chicago and a BA in economics and political science from Northwestern University. A lifelong learner, she is also pursuing master’s degrees in computer science and mathematics from DePaul University.
Career Outlook
As a vital activity for business survival and growth, financial management offers a wide range of prominent job prospects and career paths. Roles in corporate financing hold five of the top ten positions in US News and World Report’s Best Business Jobs for 2021 ranking. As for data-based financial analysis, the increasing demand for advanced functions has led this market to be currently valued at 6.32 billion dollars. The practice of behavioral finance is also growing rapidly, as more financial advisors use techniques in this field to build their clients’ portfolios. Risk management operations follow the same trend, with its market growing at a rate of 18.7%.
476,200
Is the number of new jobs that will be created in business and financial operations between 2019-2029
- Accountant
- Behavioral Scientist
- Business Development Manager
- Business Owner
- Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
- Chief Risk Officer
- Entrepreneur
- Finance Director
- Finance Manager
- Financial Analyst
- Financial Controller
- Fintech Specialist
- Investment Banker
- Investor Relations Manager
- Model Risk Specialist
- Real Estate Manager
- Risk Manager
- Treasurer
Admissions Process
1
Candidacy Fee:
2
Interview
3
Results
Our Admission Committee will inform you of the final decision*.
*(2 business days max)
