Stephen Foerster

Steve Foerster is a Professor of Finance at Ivey Business School, where he has taught since 1987. He received a BA (Honors Business Administration) from Western University, and an MA and PhD from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He obtained the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 1997 and has taught Financial Management, Investments, and Portfolio Management courses in the HBA, MBA, and Executive MBA Programs. He has won numerous teaching and research awards.

Foerster’s most recent book is In Pursuit of the Perfect Portfolio: The Stories, Voices, and Key Insights of the Pioneers Who Shaped the Way We Invest (with Andrew Lo, MIT Sloan School), Princeton University Press, 2021. Foerster has also written two textbooks: Financial Management: A Primer, and Financial Management: Concepts and Applications. Foerster has written over 100 cases and technical notes in the areas of investments and financial management. He has over 50 publications including empirical studies in leading academic journals such as the Journal of Financial Economics, the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, as well as practitioner-oriented publications such as Canadian Investment Review. He has also co-authored Cases in Financial Management and is editor of Finance and Money Market Cases.

Foerster has been a consultant and executive training course designer and facilitator in portfolio management, finance for non-financial executives, value-based management, risk management and other investment areas. Foerster is a member of the Advisory Board of Financial Economics Network (FEN) Courses, Cases and Teaching Abstracts Journal and is a former member of the Editorial Board of Financial Analysts Journal and Pacific-Basin Finance Journal. Foerster is currently a member of Western's joint pension board and was formerly a director and chair of the Investment Committee of Foundation Western (Western's alumni endowment fund) and was on the Advisory Board of Tremont Capital Opportunity Trust.

Teaching

• Managing Financial Resources, EMBA
• J.D. Irving Finance for Leaders, Executive Education

Education

• BA, Hons Bus - Western
• MA, Pennsylvania
• PhD, Pennsylvania
• Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)

Honours & Awards

• Ivey’s “Best Selling Cases” Award, “Time Value of Money: The Buy Versus Rent Decision” (S. Cleary and S. Foerster), 2018-19 and 2019-20
• 2017 Amundi Smith Breeden Prize Distinguished Paper “Retail Financial Advice: Does One Size Fit All?” (Stephen Foerster, Juhani Linnainmaa, Brian Melzer, Alessandro Previtero)
• Dean Stephenson Excellence in EMBA Teaching Award, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Agricultural Bank of China Class 2011, Fall 2016
• 2015 CFA Society Toronto & Hillside Canadian Investment Research Award, “Retail Financial Advice: Does One Size Fit All?” (S. Foerster, J. Linnainmaa, B. Melzer, A. Previtero)
• Ivey Teaching Innovation Award, MBA Program, 2007

Experience

• Previous Teaching: The Wharton School (1984-86)
• Western Pension Plan: Joint Pension Board Member (2008-present)
• Foundation Western (Endowment): Director and Investment Committee Member, Chair (1995-2007)
• Tremont Capital Opportunity Trust: Advisory Board (2003-2007)
• Northwest Mutual Fund: Advisory Board (2001-2003)
• Management Consultant
• Expert Witness: Federal Court qualified to opine on investment management and strategies, investment evaluation, portfolio management, corporate finance (managing financial resources), the evaluation of time value of money, the evaluation of interest rates and the evaluation of economic and financial data to determine the lost opportunity cost related to the deprivation from the ability to use funds.

Research/Course Development

• Portfolio Management
• Stock Investments
• Behavioural Finance
• Wealth Management
• Initial Public Offerings