Cliff Asness

Cliff Asness is a founder, managing principal, and Chief Investment Officer at AQR Capital Management, applying quantitative research to financial markets. After providing empirical evidence that brought momentum trading into the academic financial mainstream through his doctoral dissertation, Cliff Asness leveraged his quantitative insights to join Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) in 1990 as a manager for their new quantitative research desk. During his time at GSAM, Asness, who earned his MBA with high honors in 1991 and a PhD in finance in 1994 from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, developed models for risk evaluation across currencies, bonds, and economies, building upon the factor models established by Nobel laureate Eugene Fama and Kenneth French. In 1995, Asness secured an initial $10 million investment from Goldman, which led to the creation of the Goldman Sachs Global Alpha Fund once the investment reached $100 million.

He is also the recipient of five Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy Awards and the distinguished Graham and Dodd Award. His impact on the financial landscape was further highlighted when Bloomberg Markets magazine named him one of the 50 Most-Influential People in Global Finance in 2012. Most recently, Cliff Asness was awarded the second prize of the Fama/DFA Prize for Capital Markets and Asset Pricing in 2020, affirming his continued relevance and pioneering influence in the field. As Chief Investment Officer at AQR Capital Management, he continues to lead the firm in applying rigorous quantitative research to financial markets, driving innovation and shaping investment strategies for a global client base.