From building rockets at NASA to managing financial risk management at Coast Capital Savings, Eric Lanoix has enjoyed an unconventional and innovative career. After working at NASA for 15 years, Eric looked for opportunities to reinvent himself and embarked on a career in financial risk management. He was drawn to SFU Beedie for its focus on the practical application of knowledge and after graduating with a master of science in finance, Eric immediately began working as a senior analyst in portfolio risk management at Coast Capital Savings. Since then, he has been promoted to VP, Quantitative Risk at Coast Capital Savings.

My Journey

After earning his master’s in engineering, Eric set off to work in the International Space Station Program at NASA’s Johnson Space Centre, located in Houston, TX. Specializing in trajectory analysis systems engineering, Eric was specifically involved with two spacecraft, one of which was designed and built by SpaceX.

“Essentially, I made sure nothing was hitting the Space Station through the magic of math and problem solving,” says Eric.

In systems engineering, risk aversion was the norm. But switching gears into finance allowed Eric to embrace risk. He started exploring the idea of working in finance and became interested in the prospect of a career in risk management.

“By the time I turned 38, I felt like I’d done everything I wanted to do at NASA,” said Eric. “So I thought, what’s next? And that was when I started getting interested in finance.”

Eric knew he needed to retool to make himself competitive in the finance industry, and that’s when he enrolled in the MSc Finance program at SFU Beedie.

My experience at SFU Beedie

“It was intense,” says Eric of the MSc Finance program at SFU Beedie. “It’s like trying to learn calculus and English at the same time! It’s a condensed program, only 16 months long for a master’s degree. So, there’s a lot of work. But it was a really good experience.”

Eric served as the Chief Investment Officer on the SIAS fund, Canada’s largest student-run investment fund and one of the largest such funds in North America with a current market value of $23.7 million CAD. During his tenure, the fund management team was awarded first prize at the Redefining Investment Strategy Education (RISE) competition in the “Balanced Investment Style” category.

Eric also relished spending time at SFU Beedie’s gorgeous venues. As an architecture buff, he was drawn to the SFU Segal Graduate School of Business building where graduate lectures are held.

“It’s just a beautiful building,” says Eric. “It’s such a gorgeous setting for studying and I liked to just hang out there. It was also a very collaborative setting—there are small rooms where students could study, but also go back and forth and help each other with problem sets. Overall, it was an environment very conducive to learning.”

Highlights

Eric highly recommends students take part in learning opportunities that are unique to SFU Beedie, such as getting involved with the SIAS fund.

“SIAS is free learning,” says Eric. “It is a unique opportunity to gain instant experience in finance, especially for people who don’t have a finance background. It’s a tremendous opportunity and I think more students should take it.”

Eric also speaks highly of the networking opportunities available at SFU Beedie. His advice to students is to take advantage of the numerous supports at SFU Beedie for professional networking and career-building.

“The Career Management Centre (CMC) and the faculty at SFU Beedie do a very good job of bringing in local professionals for the students to meet,” says Eric. “So there are seminars, career fairs, mock interviews, and so on. These are tremendous opportunities that students should take advantage of.”

Where I am today

Eric is currently the Vice President, Quantitative Risk, at Coast Capital Savings.

“Coast Capital Savings offered me the chance to lead my own team and uphold a new strategic direction within the organization,” says Eric. “I’ve had the opportunity to do things I really love, which is to solve complicated problems relating to a complex field I enjoy. I’ve also had the chance to help other young leaders develop themselves and grow within the organization.”