James Noel Ward
- Department(s) : Economics and Management
- Graduate Program(s) : International Management
- Office :
- Office hours :

Biography
A Mississippi native, Professor Ward joined The American University of Paris in 2001. After a first degree in Philosophy at Boston University (1985), he continued at Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München before working as a financial aid officer, then a commercial fisherman in Sitka, Alaska. He served as Youth Minister at Christ Church, Greenwich, then tested a vocation as a Benedictine monk. He afterward worked in futures markets at the Chicago Board of Trade focusing on trading and research. After a decade as an analyst, database manager, statistician, and economist, he completed a Master of Science in Finance at The George Washington University (1999). He founded the credit hedge fund Andres, McKenzie & Ward which was acquired by Alternative and Derivative Investments (ADI) of Paris. He served as manager of high yield bond portfolios for ADI, and began part-time teaching at AUP to distract himself from market stress. Professor Ward joined AXA Investment Managers as Head of High Yield Investments, then joined AUP full-time as Assistant Professor of Finance in 2013, and currently is completing a doctoral thesis in Finance at L’Université Paris. In 2012 Ward resided and advised The Security and Exchange Commision and the Royal Bank of the Kingdom of Cambodia on fixed income and security regulation. Ward currently researches hedge funds, the persistence of excess returns, fixed income & credit markets, corporate capital structure, and exotic derivatives. In 2014 he was Visiting Professor of Economics at Deep Springs College where he taught computational and behavioral finance, and currently serves as Professor of Mathematical Finance at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology teaching courses on derivatives and applied financial economics.
Education/Degrees
- Bachelor of Arts, 1985, Philosophy and Religion, Boston University.
- Master of Science in Finance, 1999, The George Washington University.
- Chartered Financial Risk Manager (FRM®), The Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP).
- Chartered International Professional Risk Manager (PRM®), The Professional Risk Managers' International Association (PRMIA)
News
Professor Ward is quoted in the Bloomberg Article:"B. Riley’s Rout Forces Reckoning for a Founder’s ‘Labor of Love’ "
By Donal Griffin, David Voreacos, and Todd Gillespie
August 20, 2024 at 12:07PM EDT
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/2024/08/20/b-rileys-rout-forces-rec...
In April 2016, Professor James Ward had an article published on the USA election process and prediction markets where you can bet on outcomes.
Publications
Affiliations
Guest Lecturer: 2021-2022. Pyongyang University of Science
Technology (PUST), Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). http://www.pust.co/
The Professional Risk Managers' International Association
The Global Association of Risk Professionals
The CFA Institute
Deep Springs College
The American Finance Association
The Financial Management Association
European Financial Management Association
l’Institut Louis Bachelier
The Bachelier Finance Society
International Association for Quantitative Finance
Association of Behavioral Economics and Finance
Association pour le développement de l'histoire économique
Association d'Études Sociales de la Finance
Association Française de Finance
Association Française de Gestion Financière
Association Française de Sciences Économiques
European Economics and Finance Society
The Ludwig von Mises Institute
The Mont Pelerin Society
Awards, Fellowships & Grants
2021-2021, Distingushed Lecturer Fellowship, the YUST PUST Foundation (YPF) http://www.yustpust.org/ypf.php