Kevin Mak

Lecturer in Management
Academic Area:
Finance
Kevin Mak

Bio

Kevin is the director of Stanford’s Real-time Analysis and Investment Lab. His primary role at the Stanford GSB is to facilitate learning in the RAIL facility by teaching, guest-lecturing and coordinating the use of the educational resources in the facility. Kevin teaches FIN362, Financial Trading Strategies, as well as guest-lectures for various accounting and finance courses in the MBA curriculum. Kevin earned his Bachelor’s of Commerce followed by his Master’s of Finance degrees at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. While at Rotman, he was the Manager of the Financial Research and Trading Lab where he co-invented two trading and portfolio management simulation platforms.

Kevin’s primary interest is in marketplaces and their function- from equity markets to online sports betting and e-commerce markets. He strives to understand the microstructure, liquidity formation, pricing, and network effects in each of these unique but similar markets.

Kevin’s teaching interests revolve around experiential learning and he has designed and built over 50 case studies that illustrate different asset pricing, behavioral finance, market microstructure, and portfolio management principles.  Kevin is currently involved with overseeing the student-managed fund at Stanford.

Kevin is actively involved in the investment industry, providing investment consulting and training to various regulatory bodies and investment management firms. Kevin was awarded his CFA charter in 2008. Kevin is an adviser to Massdrop.com, a community commerce startup founded by his former students.

 
Show More

Research Interests

  • Market microstructure
  • Marketplaces
  • Arbitrage
  • Asset pricing
  • Hedge funds
  • Trading lab
  • Finance lab
  • RAIL
Show More

Administrative Titles

Director, Real-Time Analysis and Investment Lab (RAIL)

Stanford GSB Affiliations

Academic Degrees

  • Master of Finance, University of Toronto, 2010
  • Bachelor of Commerce, University of Toronto, 2005

Academic Appointments

  • Director of RAIL, Lecturer in Management, Stanford Graduate School of Business, 2012–Present
  • Manager, Rotman School of Management, 2005–2012

Awards and Honors

  • MBA Class of 1978 Lecturer for 2019–2020

Professional Experience

  • Advisor, MassDrop, 2012–present
  • Principle, 306W Inc, 2011–present

Research Statement

Kevin is interested in the nature of financial markets. Specifically, he focuses on the structure of stock markets, the network effects in marketplaces, the pricing of investments undergoing special situations, and experiential learning in the classroom.
Show More

Teaching Statement

Kevin Mak is the Director of the Real-time Analysis and Investment Lab (RAIL) at the Graduate School of Business. The RAIL facility has been built to integrate experiential learning components into GSB classes and motivate students to learn by actively making decisions and analyzing outcomes. The lab is equipped with industry standard financial data applications used by practitioners on a day to day basis. In addition, it is host to a suite of trading and portfolio management simulations that allow students to ‘paper trade’ scenarios with real or simulated market data. Kevin teaches GSB students about decision making given uncertainty and how to identify and quantify various types of risks. In addition, Kevin guest-lectures in other related courses that utilize the RAIL facility.
Show More

Degree Courses

Show More

In the Media

Show More
  • RIT and RPM Users Conference

    Speaker - The RIT and RPM Users’ Conference is a two-day workshop designed to expand knowledge of the Rotman Interactive Trader and Portfolio Manager applications. The Users’ Conference emphasizes a collaborative environment that invites faculty members and instructors from a variety of educational institutions to share ideas about the use of RIT and RPM in the classroom.

  • Experiential Learning in Finance - Financial Management Association

    Speaker - The Experiential Learning in Finance Discussion was a presentation for faculty and university administrators that are interested in building or developing a trading lab at their home institution.

  • Innovations in Investment Management Education, GAME Forum

    Speaker - The Global Asset Management Education (GAME) Forum is a symposium for students and educators that teach investment management in the classroom. The focus of the conference is on how student-managed funds are structured and administered in the classroom setting.