Branko Urošević, President of SECCF's Board - holder of PhD in Physics and Finance at the head of South European Center for Contemporary Finance

Professor Branko Urošević is the co-founder and Chairman of the Administrative Board of the South European Center for Contemporary Finance – SECCF. He was born in Belgrade where he finished primary and secondary school. He studied physics at the Moscow State University Lomonosov in Russia and graduated from the Department of Theoretical Physics in 1989. He was interested in the issues related to the nature of creation of the universe and the theory of elementary particles. He continued dealing with the physics in the USA where he took the Ph.D. in Physics at the Brown University in 1995.

During the last few years of Ph.D. studies he got interested in economics and finance since he realized that the models he studied in physics were greatly applicable to these very interesting and practical disciplines. After he took the Ph. degree, he decided to try being a consultant. Just like many companies in Wall Street and London, famous consulting company McKinsey & Co was actively hiring the holders of Ph.D. in Physics, Mathematics and other natural sciences, primarily because of the proven ability of such people to resolve complex problems. He joined that company in 1995 in Chicago and worked as a consultant to various finance companies (American Express, Bank of America, Allstate Insurance). He also worked as a manager at KPMG Peat Marwick in Chicago.

After he spent few years in business, he decided to study finance more thoroughly. He was enrolled in the PhD program at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, SAD, one of the world's most prestigious PhD programs. That is where he met the majority of colleagues who later formed the South European Center for Contemporary Finance with him or became the members of SECCF's Academic Advisory Board. After he took the Ph.D. in Finance in 2002, he dedicated himself to development of top educational programs in finance in Serbia and the region.

Although he got many very attractive offers to work as a professor at the leading U.S. universities, he came back to Europe in order to develop education programs in finance in Serbia and the region. He was a professor in Financial Economics at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, one of the leading schools of economics in Europe, in the period 2002-2005.

He founded SECCF in 2002 and launched the International Masters in Quantitative Finance (IMQF) program at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade in 2003. He was also the first program director of the Master in Finance program at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra.

He and his family returned to Serbia in April 2005 to stay. He started working as a professor in Operational Research and Financial Economics at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade and continued working as a visiting professor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. He runs the work of SECCF and manages its regional expansion. In 2007, SECCF opened its office in Zagreb and launched the first top executive education program in the area of finance and banking in the region - the Dubrovnik Lectures in Banking and Finance (DBF), on Koločep island near Dubrovnik. DBF is the first program in east Europe that has the status of the Authorized Continuous Education Programs Provider of the CFA Institute.

His papers in the area of financial economics and quantitative finance were published in leading international journals such as Journal of Political Economy, Management Science, Economic Theory and Journal of Real Estate Finance and Investments. He published two books in the area of finance in Serbian language, as well as number of papers in the area of theoretical physics. He was the first economist in Serbia to lead a research project financed by the European Union. He is a member of the editorial staff of world-famous Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control and a reviewer in large number of leading international journals in the area of finance and economics.

He is the co-founder of consulting company Center for Investments and Finance (CIF) in Belgrade where he runs the department for financial risk management. He is a member of American Finance Association (AFA), American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association (AREUEA), European Finance Association (EFA), European Financial Management Association (EFMA), Spanish Finance Association (SFA) and Professional Risk Managers International Association (PRMIA).

SECCF - South European Center for Contemporary Finance Beograd

Ekonomski fakultet Beograd

Centar za investicije i finansije CIF Beograd

Branko Urošević

South European Center for Contemporary Finance

Lomonosov

Brown University

McKinsey & Co

Wall Street

London

Chicago

American Express

Bank of America

Allstate Insurance

KPMG Peat Marwick

Haas School of Business

University of California

Berkeley

Academic Advisory Board

Financial Economics

Universitat Pompe Fabra

Barcelona

International Masters in Quantitative Finance

IMQF

Master in Finance

Zagreb

Dubrovnik Lectures in Banking and Finance

DBF

Koločep

Dubrovnik

CFA Institut

Journal of Political Economy

Management Science

Economic Theory

Journal of Real Estate Finance and Investments

Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control

American Finance Association

AFA

American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association

AREUEA

European Finance Association

EFA

European Financial Management Association

EFMA

Spanish Finance Association

Professional Risk Managers International Association

PRMIA