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“If I can somehow make the finance world a little better and more responsible, then I’m happy.”

Coming of age during the 2008 financial crisis, Peter Grypma set a target of increasing responsibility and transparency in the financial industry. Thanks to the SFU Beedie School of Business Master of Science in Finance (MSc Finance) program, he gained an understanding of financial analytics as well as hands-on investment fund management experience.

My experience at SFU Beedie

With a background in mathematics and computer science, Peter came to SFU Beedie to gain insight into quantitative finance and risk management. While serving as Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of the Student Investment Advisory Service (SIAS) Fund, and participating in case competitions and networking events, opened doors for Peter in investment banking, in the end, he opted to focus on derivative analysis.

“I wanted to do something a little trickier than investment banking, where I could use my computational and mathematical skills. My SFU Beedie education gave me the quantitative skills, but also instilled in me the soft skills like working collaboratively in teams and networking.”

My Journey

As CIO of the SIAS Fund, Peter managed $15 million of SFU’s endowment fund. His role was to research and decide where and how much to invest in Global and Canadian stocks or bonds, including incorporate environmental and social investments.

“Because it was a new direction for SFU, there weren’t any specific rules developed for which industries we should invest, so we had to work with SFU to develop a framework for security selection that kept these issues in mind. It was an invaluable learning experience.”

Highlights

While with SIAS, Peter developed a program for students to simulate the potential return and risk of an investment based on the recent performance of the asset, with the intention of minimizing the risk while maximizing the return.

“The program gave me a guideline I could use in addition to analyzing economic data like unemployment numbers, GDP growth, interest rates, or manufacturing to make more judgment-based decisions. Apart from some parameters, I was pretty much encouraged to follow any ideas that could add value to the fund.”

Where I am today

Thanks in part to connections made at SFU Beedie, Peter secured a position as a Financial Engineer at FINCAD in 2016, where he built risk management software tools that allow investors to assess the value of derivatives. After gaining this experience, he spent two years as a Senior Consultant at KPMG before moving to MNP in 2018.

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