A Life of Finance

For Assistant Professor Krisztina Buti, the field of corporate finance is her natural habitat.  Her impressive academic background includes a Ph.D., a chartered financial analyst, a master’s in economics and an MBA, while her experience comes from over eight years in financial advisory positions.  

A native Hungarian, Buti’s career in corporate finance began with management positions at Creditanstalt Investment Bank and Concorde Aquila Corporate Finance, a venture capital firm based in Budapest. She participated in the privatization of formerly state-owned enterprises via private placements, initial public offerings and seasoned offerings.  “Corporations and banks needed capital injections to become competitive,” Buti said. “The new owners brought managerial know-how, technological expertise, and marketing skills. The stock market allowed investors to profit from this growth.”

 Buti would then shift her career toward an academic role, in part, because of family. “Investment banking is incredibly challenging,” Buti said. “You gain enormous experience, but you work long hours under high pressure. I changed to a field where I can use my expertise, but allow a life outside of work.”

She decided to take a position as senior lecturer at Central European University, a premier academic institution in Europe. She was responsible for coordinating the finance area and teaching courses for MBA students. “I adopted a case study based approach,” she said. “Students appreciated the depth of knowledge gained from analyzing problems from multiple angles.”

Inspired by the world of academia, Buti decided to pursue a new challenge by enrolling in the financial economics Ph.D. program at the University of Utah.  She credits this experience for gaining an invaluable understanding of theory and methodology that allows her to conduct research. Her research focuses on corporate finance, particularly major corporate transformations, like acquisitions and restructurings.

Buti’s recent papers examine how the market learns about a firm’s internal investment opportunities from the acquisition announcement and how market frictions influence the price response. She chose to come to Rady because of its excellent finance department, the emerging entrepreneurial environment and the tight-knit community.

“There is more opportunity for meaningful interaction in the faculty and with the students,” she said. “I appreciate the opportunity to work in such a dynamic department.  Also, who wouldn’t want to come to San Diego? This city is amazing.”