For GCARD readers who are unfamiliar with either the University of Colorado Denver Business School or the university’s J.P. Morgan Center for Commodities (JPMCC), we would like to take the opportunity to introduce these entrepreneurial institutions to you.
As a major hub for agriculture, energy, metals, and minerals, Colorado is already an undisputed national leader in commodities. It is natural then for the University of Colorado Denver Business School to aspire to become a leader in commodities education and applied research. As a result, the JPMCC was launched in 2012 with the generous support of multiple donors, including J.P. Morgan, CoBank, George Solich (of FourPoint Energy, LLC), and major commodity firms.
The J.P. Morgan Center for Commodities is the first of its kind covering the broad range of commodities. The Center provides research insights, student educational programs, and professional education offerings in the business of physical commodities, commodity markets, regulation, trading, risk management and policy.
The JPMCC’s leadership team is as follows. Dr. Thomas Brady, Ph.D., is the CoBank Executive Director of the JPMCC. The JPMCC’s Research Director is Dr. Jian Yang, Ph.D., CFA, who is also the J.P. Morgan Endowed Research Chair and Discipline Director & Professor of Finance and Risk Management at the University of Colorado Denver Business School. The JPMCC’s Assistant Director, in turn, is Erica Hyman.
The JPMCC’s scholars are as follows. Hilary Till is the JPMCC’s Solich Scholar, and Robert Greer is the Center’s Scholar in Residence.
The JPMCC is supported by an Advisory Council consisting of members of the business community who provide guidance and financial support for the activities of the JPMCC, including unique opportunities for students. The Chairman of the JPMCC’s Advisory Council is Chris Calger, Managing Director, Global Commodities, J.P. Morgan.
The Center aims to become the focal point of highly relevant commodities thought-leadership. The GCARD, together with its accomplished Editorial Advisory Board, is just one element of this strategy; other efforts are as follows:
- The selection of Dr. Jian Yang, Ph.D., CFA, as both the J.P. Morgan Endowed Research Chair and the JPMCC’s Research Director, whom in turn strengthens the JPMCC’s global ties, particularly in Asia;
- The Center’s prestigious Research Council, which is made up of eminent academics and successful industry professionals, who ensure the research carried out through the Center has both academic rigor and practical relevance and whose Co-Chairs include Dr. Lutz Killian, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and Dr. K. Geert Rouwenhorst, Yale University; and
- The Center’s international commodities symposia, which were inaugurated in 2017.
If you would like more information on the J.P. Morgan Center for Commodities, please send an email to commodities.center@ucdenver.edu.
