Melanie Petsch

Melanie Petsch is the Founder and Managing Partner of Petsch Analytics, LLC, petschanalytics.com, a financial services research consultancy. With over 20 years of experience as a quantitative researcher, Melanie has worked for several prestigious firms including Goldman, Sachs & Co., AllianceBernstein, TIAA-CREF, and Columbia Business School. Her areas of expertise include:

•       Financial research, alpha generation, portfolio management, portfolio construction, performance attribution, structured simulation, optimization

•       Equities, commodities, retirement advice, wealth management, asset allocation, advertising.

Melanie is widely published on financial topics, including "Beating Benchmarks," which won an award for "Outstanding Article" in the Journal of Portfolio Management and "Creating Shareholder Value," the lead article in the inaugural issue of The Journal of Risk Finance. Melanie has also written a book, Commodities as an Asset Class, and chapters of other books on commodities.

Melanie studied in the finance Ph.D. program at the University of Chicago and holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University.

Melanie is also active in the community, both in quantitative finance and more broadly. She is on the Research Committee of the Q Group and is the Co-Chair of the Prize Committee there, on the board of the Society of Quantitative Analysts, and a member of the Chicago Quantitative Alliance. Melanie was a member of the investment committee for the not-for-profit Organization of American Kodaly Educators from 2009-2011 and a Trustee for Woodbury College from 2006-2008.

Education

• PhD, University of Chicago
• MBA, University of Chicago
• BS in Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University