Dr. Somnath Basu
Dr. Basu is a Professor of Finance at California Lutheran University and the Director of its California Institute of Finance.
Dr. Basu is also a Professor of the Helsinki School of Economics Executive MBA Program. He earned his B.A. in Economics, University of Delhi, MBA (Finance), Marquette University and a Ph.D. (Finance), University of Arizona.
Dr. Basu is extensively published in the field of investments and financial planning and is an award winning teacher. He has significant consulting experience with US Fortune 100 companies and advising institutional money managers. Dr. Basu is actively involved with financial planning organizations including the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE), the CFP Board of Standards, International CFP Board and the FPA. His book (with Dr. Geoffrey Hirt and Stanley Block)), "Investment Planning for Financial Professionals" McGraw Hill, May 2006 is widely used by financial planning education programs nationwide.
Jeff Firmin
Jeff Firmin graduated from California Lutheran University in May 1998, earning a Bachelors of Science degree in Business Administration.
In July of that year he began a 10 year career in the Mortgage Backed Securities industry, with nine of those years spent working for Countrywide Financial Corporation. In his time spent in the Operations department, Jeff helped established the procedures and guidelines for a rapidly growing whole loan securitization process.
In May 2003, he completed his MBA with an emphasis in Finance from California Lutheran University under the tutelage of Dr. Somnath Basu and began a trading career for Countrywide Capital Markets. Trading the short end of the yield curve with a concentration on Agency backed Collateralized Mortgage Obligations; in addition he was also responsible for monitoring the hedge and coordinating all new issue underwritings for the desk.
The experiences and advancement from Operations to the Trading Floor provided him with the ability to adapt to new challenges and has given him a foundation to excel at whichever task he is faced with. Most recently Jeff served as Vice-President of Operations at EJ De La Rosa, an investment banking firm in Westwood.