Denis Schweizer

Education

Doctorate (European Business School)

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. During this time he was awarded the titles of Financial Risk Manager (FRM) and Certified Financial Planner (CFP). In August 2008 he was appointed Assistant Professor of Alternative Investments at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management. From September 2011 until 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 was promoted to Full Professor in 2020 and is a Research Fellow at the Zeppelin University (Friedrichshafen, Germany).

Denis Schweizer is the Director of the Desjardins Centre for Innovation in Business Finance. From June 2016 to June 2019, he was appointed as director of the Van Berkom Small-Cap Investment Management Program (VBIMP). During his tenure, the $1m investment fund (invested in a North American small-cap stock portfolio) outperformed its benchmark by ~40% (simple alpha based on invested capital) for the 2017-2018 period. He held the Manulife Professorship in Financial Planning from 2015 to 2021.

Since 2011, he has published numerous articles in leading journals, such as Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, and Journal of Business Ethics, among others. He is an Associate Editor of Finance Research Letters, an editorial review board member of Small Business Economics and of Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, and has been a guest editor for numerous special issues (e.g., for Journal of Corporate Finance) as well. His research outputs have received a number of academic best paper and recognition awards, such as the 2021 Helena Yli-Renko Research Impact Award for the highest citations in the five years following publication, sponsored by the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the USC Marshall School of Business, and the Australian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association Research Price. 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. 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.

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

Research activities

Most important external research grants

CAD 52,085 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada, Insight Development Grant on “Real Estate Crowdfunding - Risk and Debt Financing” (co-investigator with Tingyu Zhou, 2016-2018)

CAD 148,500 Education and Good Governance Fund of Autoritédes Marchés Financiers on “Corporate Fraud and Illegal Insider Trading” (principal investigator with Juliane Proelss and Thomas Walker, 2016-2019)

CAD 196,225 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada, Insight Grant on „Equity Crowdfunding” (principal investigator with Douglas Cumming, 2015-2021)

Editorial board

• Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice
• Small Business Economics
• British Accounting Review
• Finance Research Letters
• Banking and Finance Review