Jan Simon

Jan Simon is Professor of the Practice of Management in Entrepreneurship at IESE and the Academic Director of its International Search Fund Center.

Jan worked over two decades in the investment industry. He co-headed the Emerging Markets Trading Desk at Salomon Brothers, set up the Continental Sales-Trading Desk at Goldman Sachs, and was a member of Merrill Lynch’s Hedge Fund Advisory Group. He has been a Special Advisor to Pacific Lake Partners and is the Managing Partner of Vonzeo Capital, a global institutional investor in search funds.

His expertise is in the areas of investment strategies, mergers and acquisitions and, entrepreneurial acquisitions. He has managed money in equities, fixed income, search funds, and advised hedge funds in a variety of strategies. His research has been published in academic journals such as the Journal of Network Theory in Finance and the British Journal of Management.

Jan holds an LL.B. and LL.M. from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, an MBA from IESE Business School, earned his Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Essex, holds the ICD.D Designation for corporate directors from the Rotman School of Management, and earned his AMP at Harvard Business School.

He served the 1st Battalion of Parachutists and Commandos -Special Operations Regiment-, as well as NATO’s Special Intervention Forces -ACE Mobile Force. He holds both the green and red beret.

Areas of interest

• Search Funds
• Entrepreneurial Acquisitions
• Mergers and Acquisitions

Education

• PhD in Finance, University of Essex
• MBA, IESE Business School
• LLM, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
• LLB, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium