The University of Colorado Denver Business School announced Ajeyo Banerjee as the Executive Academic Program Director of the J.P. Morgan Center for Commodities. The partnership between the University of Colorado Denver and J.P. Morgan is the first-of-its-kind in the academic world, which provides innovative programs, and academic work in the field of commodity finance, economics and policy. The J.P. Morgan Center for Commodities is supported by the firm’s $5.5 million gift to the CU Denver Business School and aims to solidify Denver as the world’s hub for this field of study.
In the Business School, Ajeyo Banerjee also holds the positions of Director of the Finance and Risk Management Program as well as Director of the Risk Management and Insurance Program. Ajeyo joined the university after completing his Ph.D. in Finance and Econometrics and his MBA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Before he moved to USA, Ajeyo worked as a credit analyst at the State Bank of India, the largest commercial bank in India. In addition to a Master’s degree in Physics, Ajeyo is a Certified Management Accountant, and a Certified Banker. He has held visiting professorial positions at the edhec Business School, Lille, France, and the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India.
Ajeyo’s research interests are in mergers and acquisitions, international corporate finance, governance structures in organizations, and the impact of risk on value. He has published in top economics and finance journals including The American Economic Review, The RAND Journal of Economics, Journal of Corporate Finance, Financial Management and Managerial & Decision Economics. At the Business School, Ajeyo has held prior positions as the Director of the MBA Program and the Director of the Accelerated MBA Program. In the latter capacity, he conceptualized and managed innovative, theme-based, integrated executive partnerships with Coors Brewing Company, IBM Printing Services, and Prologis, Inc.
In 2007, Ajeyo received the Business School’s Dave Laube Community Impact Award. In 2004, he was awarded the Business School’s Jim Basey Term Professorship Award for Leadership and Innovation. In 2005 and 2006, The Denver Business Journal invited him to be in a panel of academic M&A experts to select the best business acquisition in the state of Colorado.
The J.P. Morgan Center for Commodities occupies an iconic location on the first floor of the new 120,000-square-foot CU Denver Business School building in downtown Denver. The center features a state-of-the-art Finance and Commodities Lab, using industry-standard financial software and technology tools as part of the students’ curriculum. The lab will provide students with hands-on experience and a better understanding of how trading and market analysis can help commodity producers and consumers manage portfolios and risk in these industries.
