Denis Schweizer

Professor of Finance, Concordia University
Professor Dr. Denis Schweizer studied business administration at Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University in Frankfurt/Main. In April 2008 he completed a doctorate at European Business School (EBS) in Oestrich-Winkel with a thesis entitled “Selected Essays on Alternative Investments”. During his doctorate, he worked as research assistant at the PFI Private Finance Institute/ EBS Finance Academy in Oestrich-Winkel and was responsible for the conception of executive education programs. Furthermore, he gained teaching experience as he regularly held trainings in executive education. He was awarded the titles of Financial Risk Manager (FRM) and Certified Financial Planner (CFP).

In August 2008 Denis Schweizer was appointed Assistant Professor of Alternative Investments at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management. He published numerous articles in the field of alternative investments, fintech and corporate finance in renowned journals and books, received multiple research awards. His innovative research ideas received multiple competitive research grants from e.g. the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Education of Good Governance Fund of Autorité des Marchés Financiers of about $1,000,000.

He is also on the Editorial Review Boards of the Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice and Small Business Economics and is Associate Editor for Finance Research Letters and Banking and Finance Review. Denis Schweizer is teaching at all university levels including BSc, MSc, MBA, and PhD-level as well as in executive education programs. His teaching excellence was recognized with four WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management best teacher awards. From September 2011until January 2012 he was a visiting scholar at New York University, USA. In August 2014 he was appointed as Associate Professor at Concordia University John Molson School of Business and promoted to Full Professor in 2020. He received the Manulife Professorship in Financial Planning in November 2015. During the period June 2016 to June 2019he was appointed as director of the Van Berkom Small-Cap Investment Management Program. During his tenure as Director of the Van Berkom Small-Cap Investment Management Program, the investment fund of $1m invested in North American small-caps portfolio outperformed its benchmark by ~40% (simple alpha based on invested capital) in the 2017-2018 period.

Areas of expertise
- Alternative Investments
- Blockchain
- Chinese Capital Markets
- Crowdfunding
- Cryptocurrency
- Commodities
- Corporate Finance
- Entrepreneurial Finance
- Fintech
- Fraud
- Hedge Funds
- Insider Trading
- Initial Coin Offerings
- Innovation
- Rare Earth Material
- Real Estate
- Risk Management
- Venture Capital