Center for Risk Management Continues to “Bloom”

The Center for Risk Management is experiencing a renaissance thanks to the efforts of some faculty and students in the School of Management. Central to this is an enhanced relationship with Bloomberg L.P., the financial, software, data, and media company headquartered in New York City. The growing relationship is not only paying dividends for School of Management students, but offers potential benefits to all New York Tech students, faculty, and staff in the form of enhanced financial literacy. 

The School of Management has long offered students training and access to Bloomberg terminals, allowing investors access to real-time market data, investing analytics, and proprietary trading platforms. There is one terminal each on the Long Island and Vancouver campuses; there are 10 terminals in the Bloomberg lab on the New York City campus. 

In the last several months, the relationship with Bloomberg has blossomed under the leadership of Professor Joshua Bienstock, J.D., LLM, who is also program director of the Center for Risk Management. Now, thanks to Bienstock, dozens of School of Management undergraduate and graduate students have toured the Bloomberg campus and participated in a workshop; another hundred or so have expressed interest in upcoming visits. He also is working to have Bloomberg executives speak to students on cutting-edge issues concerning risk management. But one of the greatest aspects of the Bloomberg relationship is its certification program, according to Bienstock. “It’s invaluable to everybody,” he says. 

Bloomberg offers training and certification in two primary areas: Bloomberg Market Concepts, which offers a library of e-learning courses, providing an introduction to the financial markets and Environmental Social Governance (ESG), an interactive e-learning course that provides an introduction to ESG strategies and reporting. Both training programs are available at no cost to members of the New York Tech community under the School of Management’s licensing agreement with Bloomberg. Otherwise, it would cost $150 per person to access the training. Learn more and register.  

“Certainly, this training enhances the education of students pursuing finance and related degrees, but all New York Tech students—and faculty and staff for that matter—can benefit significantly from a greater degree of financial literacy and understanding of risk management when it comes to their finances,” Bienstock said.  

Reinvigorated Focus; Wide-open Potential

The School of Management recently introduced a  master’s in Risk Management program, which enrolled its first students in the spring 2022 semester. To build on that, Interim Dean Deborah Y. Cohn, Ph.D., wanted to reinvigorate the school’s Center for Risk Management. As such, she asked Bienstock, an expert in conflict resolution and who teaches a course on risk management, to take the helm to breathe new life into the underutilized asset. 

Bienstock is doing just that, in collaboration with faculty Kevin O’Sullivan, D.Sc., director of the risk management degree program; Peter Harris, professor of accounting and finance and faculty advisor to the Finance Club; and Adjunct Instructor Eleanor Schwartz, among others. They held a grand re-opening of the Bloomberg lab on the New York City campus last month, demonstrating the terminals, which were updated with the latest software and functionality. The event was well attended, for which Bienstick credits first-year B.S.B.A. student Aditya Kailash Choudhari, and second-year B.S.B.A. student Eylul Efsun Seferoglu, who rallied many of their 70+ fellow members of the Finance Club to attend. Additionally, the Center for Risk Management encourages all School of Management students to complete the Bloomberg certification program by May 21. All who do so are eligible to win cash prizes in a raffle funded by the Center. 

Cohn and Bienstock say the Center’s potential is wide open. They’d like to see it become and be recognized as a think tank, among other reputational attributes that would benefit the School of Management. “My core passion is exploring the universe of conflict management and resolution, and it is my intent to make that initiative a component of our Center,” Bienstock added.