Adjunct Faculty Program

Kalid Azad studied Computer Science and Finance at Princeton University and has been writing professionally for fifteen years, from chapters in Deitel's How to Program textbooks to technical whitepapers for Microsoft. He founded BetterExplained.com in 2007, which has grown to help millions of readers with its clear, insightful math lessons. The site is known as a top education resource, referenced by hundreds of university courses, Science Magazine, The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Scientific American.

Richard Excell is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Finance at the University of Illinois, Gies College of Business. He is a retired Senior Portfolio Manager at Wolverine Asset Management (WAM) in Chicago where he ran a global equity long/short hedge fund portfolio. In this role, he oversaw a portfolio that combined quantitative factor and discretionary macro analysis with bottom-up fundamental analysis and derivatives trade implementation to create a concentrated long/short portfolio that delivered high risk-adjusted returns for institutional investors. Before joining WAM, he was CIO and Partner at Satori Investment Partners. He spent most of his career with UBS O’Connor, where his last role was Managing Director, Senior Portfolio Manager and Co-Head of the Fundamental Equity Market Neutral Fund. Rich holds a B.S. in Finance with a minor in Accounting and Japanese Studies from the University of Illinois and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Stacey Gilbert earned a Bachelor's degree in mathematics with a minor in economics from Dartmouth College and is the Portfolio Manager of Derivatives at Glenmede Investment Management LP (GIM). Stacey also serves as GIM's Chief Investment Officer, overseeing portfolio management, research and trading operations, and shaping investment strategy and implementation. Prior to joining GIM, Stacey served as the Head of Derivative Strategy at Susquehanna International Group where she held several leadership positions and led the company's Education department.

Sara Levin serves as a Director on WallachBeth’s ETF and Derivative Trading team, providing institutional clients guidance on the complex and evolving exchange-listed landscape. Sara brings deep understanding and first-hand experience of the institutional investment landscape, with expertise in market structure, 40's Act fund construction, and distribution strategy across asset classes. Before joining WallachBeth in 2017, Sara served on WisdomTree’s Institutional Distribution team and was responsible for extending and enhancing relationships across endowments and foundations, public and corporate pensions, insurance firms and asset managers. Prior to WisdomTree, Sara began her career at ETF Securities in London. She was later promoted to a business development role in New York working on a team tasked with increasing the firm’s US footprint. That division has since been acquired by Aberdeen Standard Investments.

Nishank Modi earned a Master's degree in Computer Science from New York University and is a Senior Director of the Cboe Labs team at Cboe Global Markets, where he develops innovative, tradable products for the listed derivatives marketplace. Prior to joining Cboe, Nishank spent more than 15 years cultivating his distinct expertise in risk managing volatility exposure. Most recently, he served as a Portfolio Manager at Goldman Sachs, where he managed assets for global institutions and high-net worth individuals. Previously, Nishank traded options for Talpion Fund Management and was a market-maker for Group One Trading.

Sheldon "Shelly" Natenberg began his trading career in 1982 as an independent market-maker in equity options at the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe). From 1985 to 2000, he traded commodity options and was an independent floor trader at the Chicago Board of Trade. While continuing to trade, Shelly has become very active as an educator. Shelly is the author of the highly-revered Option Volatility and Pricing: Advanced Trading Strategies and Techniques. The book addresses many problems faced by professional traders, with particular emphasis on the practical aspects of option evaluation and risk management.

Annie Northrop leads risk management at SpiderRock Advisors, overseeing the risk monitoring process for all SRA investment mandates. Annie began her career as an options and ETF market maker for Susquehanna International Group on the New York and American Stock Exchanges. She later moved to the hedge fund space, where she spent twelve years trading volatility arbitrage strategies for Parallax Volatility Advisors, BlueFin Trading, and Walleye Trading Advisors. Prior to joining SpiderRock, Annie served as the Director of Options Strategy for First Republic Investment Management. She earned a Bachelor's degree in economics, with honors, from the University of California at Berkeley, and an MBA from Cornell University.

Pav Sethi is the founder and Chief Investment Officer of Gladius Capital Management, an asset management firm focused on derivative strategies and products for institutional clients. Pav has pioneered novel derivative structures and engaged in multiple landmark transactions. His focus most recently has been on structuring large-scale derivatives programs as tools for portfolio allocation and optimization for some of the largest pension and endowment plans in the United States. Pav earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Cornell University and a master's degree in mathematics from the University of Chicago.

Luis Silva earned a master's degree in business from the National University of Colombia and is the CEO of Opción Sigma, where he provides options seminars to the Spanish-speaking investing community. Luis worked in the securities industry for more than seventeen years, eight of which as an adjunct professor teaching Financial Derivatives and Marketing at several universities. Luis utilizes his YouTube channel (OPCIÓN SIGMA), with over 60,000 global subscribers, to help educate Spanish-speaking audiences on the features, risks, benefits, and advantages of trading options.