Introducing Professor Steven Slezak

Professor Steven Slezak has his MBA from John Hopkins University. He joined Cal Poly September 2006 and consults with health centers and clinics providing financial analysis for capital projects.

• What would you like our Finance students to know about the Finance Concentration?
  Many students don’t realize it, but finance is a very intuitive area. Finance is mostly about thinking and acting, not calculating. This is not evident because of the heavy reliance on theories and equations in financial texts, which tend to give the subject an intimidating air of scientific rigor and precision. But finance is as much an art as it is a science, and it is important for students to understand this. Traders in the pits at the Chicago Board Options Exchange aren’t doing algorithms in their heads; they are reacting to the traders and markets around them on a very intuitive, gut level.
  It is important for students to learn early in their academic lives the quantitative and technological tools of finance. I try to introduce students not simply to the abstract theories and equations that lie at the heart of fixed income securities; theory has its limits and can take you only so far. I want students to be familiar with the application of the practical tools and techniques used every day in the professional financial world.

• I understand Cal Poly has a Bloomberg Terminal.
  At Cal Poly, students have an opportunity to perfect their technological skills and obtain new ones with great value in the business environment. Besides working with financial or graphic calculators, students need to master Excel spreadsheets and financial functions to solve common and complex problems. Since it is valuable to know how to operate a Bloomberg terminal, I assign a project each quarter that involves a substantial amount of research into fixed income markets and securities, most of which can be done quickly and efficiently on the Bloomberg. A student with a working knowledge of the Bloomberg has a real edge in the job market. Cal Poly students are fortunate to have a Bloomberg terminal available.

• What is important besides technical tools?
  Most importantly, finance students need to develop sound, independent judgement. They need to think in dynamic terms and be flexible and open-minded in their approach to finance. They need to be able to adapt their tools and knowledge to an ever-changing situation if they are to keep up with markets trading 24-7 all around the world. It is no easy task, but students learn quickly that rigidity in thought and action is a dead end in finance. If I am successful, students learn there is an awful lot more they need to learn. I try to give them the tools they need to make a start.