Cliff Asness

Cliff Asness has been a significant contributor to CFA Institute research content for more than 25 years, with numerous articles published in the Financial Analysts Journal, participating in forums and proceedings, and multimedia productions. In 2006, CFA Institute presented him with the James R. Vertin Award, which is periodically given to individuals who have produced a body of research notable for its relevance and enduring value to investment professionals. The FAJ twice awarded him the Graham and Dodd Award for the year’s best paper, and he has received the FAJ’s Graham and Dodd Excellence Award, the award for the best perspectives piece, and the Graham and Dodd Readers’ Choice Award.

Asness is founder, managing principal, and chief investment officer at AQR Capital Management. He is an active researcher and has authored articles on a variety of financial topics for many publications, including the Journal of Portfolio Management, Financial Analysts Journal, Journal of Finance, and Journal of Financial Economics. He has received five Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy Awards from the Journal of Portfolio Management, in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2014, and 2015. He won the second prize of the Fama/DFA Prize for Capital Markets and Asset Pricing in the 2020 Journal of Financial Economics.

Prior to co-founding AQR Capital Management, he was a managing director and director of quantitative research for the Asset Management Division of Goldman, Sachs & Co. He is on the ambassador board of the Journal of Portfolio Management and is a board member of the American Enterprise Institute and for Commentary Magazine.

Asness received a BS in economics from the Wharton School and a BS in engineering from the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating summa cum laude in both. He earned an MBA with high honors and a PhD in finance from the University of Chicago, where he was Eugene Fama’s student and teaching assistant for two years (so he still feels guilty when trying to beat the market).