Greg Ciresi

Bio

Greg Ciresi has worked for more than 25 years in the financial industry, including time on the buy-side and sell-side at hedge funds. As a financial engineer, he specializes in the modeling of cash flows for investments, mortgages, projects, and macroeconomic scenarios. These models include measures of expected revenue and profit, break-even costs, and yields. They require careful tracking of expenses associated with financing costs and exchange fees. They also include a variety of risk measures, such as drawdowns and volatilities. Some of these models help to measure and manage the risks of a multibillion-dollar fixed income portfolio. Other models specialize in the costs and benefits associated with the prepayments of mortgages. He develops prototypes for these models in spreadsheets and then builds them using various programming languages.

Aside from his profession, he has been teaching part-time for more than 23 years. Most of the teaching was with the U.S. Department of Finance at New York University School of Professional Studies. These courses are targeted to masters and PhD-level professionals working in finance who seek to upgrade their skills. The courses he teaches include financial modeling, risk management, using the yield curve, interest rate swaps, fixed income risk management, pricing options, credit risk management, financial econometrics, investment planning, and portfolio management. As a practitioner, he emphasizes how students use the results of models to improve their decision-making under uncertainty.

His first degree is in physics from Drew University in New Jersey. In service to his school, he served as the treasurer of the Extra-Curricular Activities Board, where he was responsible for keeping track of funds provided by the school to student clubs. For one year he served as head of the university’s swim club, as well as the Drew Investment Club. His graduate degree is in mathematics from New York University’s Courant Institute, where the coursework included a mixture of finance and mathematics to prepare him for a career in the complexities of financial markets. 

Education

• Courant Institute, New York University – MSc, Mathematics in Finance – New York, USA
• BSc, Physics – Drew University – Madison, New Jersey, USA

Research

• Silverman JM, Ciresi G, Smith CJ, Marin DB, Schnaider-Beeri M. Variability of familial risk of Alzheimer disease across the late life span. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2005 May;62(5):565-73. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.62.5.565. PMID: 15867110

Employment

• WorldQuant University – Curriculum Engineer – New York, New York, USA
• WorldQuant University – Instructor – New York, New York, USA
• New York University – Adjunct Professor – New York, New York, USA
• Cantor Fitzgerald – Managing Director – New York, New York, USA
• Stevens Institute of Technology – Adjunct Professor – New York, New York, USA
• Baruch College – Lecturer – New York, New York, USA
• Millennium – Quant – New York, New York, USA
• TIBCO – Consultant – Santa Clara, California, USA
• Elder Research – Consultant – Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

WQU Courses

• Financial Markets
• Financial Data
• Financial Econometrics
• Machine Learning in Finance
• Deep Learning for Finance
• Portfolio Management
• Risk Management
• Capstone

Fun Fact

Greg enjoys indoor rowing (and outdoor rowing weather-permitting). "I also play violin," he says, "but not so well that you would pay to hear me." He is an avid Jane Austen fan and considers her one of the greatest game theorists who has lived.

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