Honoring Mark Mobius

Andrew Karolyi is the Charles Field Knight Dean of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. He is a Professor of Finance and International Business as well as holder of the Harold Bierman Jr. Distinguished Professorship in the Johnson Graduate School of Management. Dr. Karolyi is also a Professor of Economics in Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences.

A scholar in the area of investment management, with a specialization in the study of international financial markets, Dr. Karolyi has published extensively in journals in finance and economics, including the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, and Review of Financial Studies. He has also published several books and monographs, and his research is featured in print and electronic media such as the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Economist, Time, New York Times, Washington Post, Forbes, BusinessWeek, and CNBC. Dr. Karolyi recently completed a four-year term as executive editor of the Review of Financial Studies, one of the top-tier journals in finance. He has also served as an associate editor for a variety of journals, including the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Empirical Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, Review of Finance, and the Pacific Basin Finance Journal.

Dr. Karolyi is a recipient of the Michael Jensen Prize for Corporate Finance and Organizations (2017), the Fama/DFA Prize for Capital Markets and Asset Pricing (2005), the William F. Sharpe Award for Scholarship in Finance (2001), the Journal of Empirical Finance’s Biennial Best Paper Prize (2006), and Johnson School’s Prize for Excellence in Research (2010). Dr. Karolyi leads various executive education programs in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia, and he is actively involved in consulting with corporations, banks, investment firms, stock exchanges, and law firms. He is president-elect/program chair of the Western Finance Association, has served as a director of the American Finance Association, and is past chairperson of the board of trustees and past president of the Financial Management Association International. Dr. Karolyi received his B.A. (Honors) in Economics from McGill University and worked at the Bank of Canada for several years in its research department. He subsequently earned his MBA and Ph.D. degrees in Finance at the Graduate School of Business of the University of Chicago.

Lourdes Casanova is the Gail and Roberto Cañizares Director of the Cañizares Center for Emerging Markets and a Senior Lecturer at Cornell University’s Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management. Formerly of the strategy department at INSEAD, Dr. Casanova specializes in international business with a focus on Latin America and multinationals from emerging markets.

In 2014 and 2015, Dr. Casanova was named one of the 50 most influential Iberoamerican intellectuals by Esglobal. She is a member of the board of directors of Boyce Thompson Institute.

Dr. Casanova is a Fulbright Scholar who holds a Ph.D. from Universidad de Barcelona and an M.A. from the University of Southern California.

John Ninia is the co-founder, along with Mark Mobius, of Mobius Investments, a global investment firm specializing in emerging and frontier markets. Mr. Ninia plays a central role in shaping the firm’s macroeconomic outlook, investment strategy, and thematic research, with a particular focus on technology, energy, and financial systems in developing economies. He integrates deep fundamental analysis with the strategic use of derivatives to optimize portfolio performance, hedge risk, and capture high-conviction opportunities in complex market environments.

Mr. Ninia began his academic career as a Hunter R. Rawlings III Research Scholar at Cornell University. While conducting research at Cornell’s SC Johnson College of Business and the Emerging Markets Institute, he focused on the evolution of mobile payment platforms in Asia. His early work on China’s digital payment systems catalyzed his longstanding interest in the transformative potential of digital finance, including central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

Mr. Ninia’s decision to relocate to Dubai during the COVID-19 pandemic marked a turning point in his professional development, immersing him in one of the world’s most dynamic fintech ecosystems. From this global hub, he has led investment research across Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, examining how digital infrastructure, monetary innovation, and regulatory frameworks influence capital markets. These experiences have informed his nuanced perspective on how CBDCs can reinforce — or disrupt — financial inclusion, monetary sovereignty, and cross-border settlement systems.

Informed by both on-the-ground exposure and institutional investment experience, Mr. Ninia’s work continues to explore how central banks, investors, and innovators navigate the complex trade-offs at the core of digital monetary transformation.

Gustavo Stenzel is an executive vice president, the managing director of Brazil, and Director of Latin America Strategy for Templeton Global Investments. Prior to joining Franklin Templeton in 1998, Mr. Stenzel was a business analyst for Incotel and Exxon in Brazil.

Mr. Stenzel holds an MBA from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and exchange at Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Austria, as well as a B.S. in production engineering from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.