Keynote Speakers

Professor Zacharias SAUTNER

University of Zurich & Swiss Finance Institute, Switzerland

Zacharias SAUTNER is Professor of Sustainable Finance at University of Zurich, where he heads the Initiative in Sustainable Finance, one of the world’s leading clusters for research on sustainable finance. Zacharias is also Senior Chair at the Swiss Finance Institute, and works on sustainable finance, ESG, climate finance, and biodiversity finance. Through his research, he provides insights on how finance can contribute to a more sustainable future. His research was published in top journals, such as the Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies, and Journal of Financial Economics. His paper “Firm-level Climate Change Exposure” is the most cited paper published in the Journal of Finance in the past 5 years and his paper “The Importance of Climate Risks for Institutional Investors” the second most cited paper published in the Review of Financial Studies over the past 5 years.

He is an Associate Editor at the Review of Financial Studies, Management Science, and Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and an advisor of asset management companies on sustainable finance issues. He serves as a Director of the European Finance Association and on the judging panel for the PRI Awards. He was a Regular Research Visitor at the ECB, and a visiting professor at The  University of Hong Kong, University of California San Diego, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, among others. Before moving to Zurich, he was a Professor at Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, where he headed the Department of Finance for several years.

Professor Constantine YANNELIS

Janeway Professor of Financial Economics, University of Cambridge, UK

Constantine YANNELIS is the Janeway Professor of Financial Economics. He joined the University of Cambridge Faculty of Economics in 2024. He is also a fellow at Pembroke College, Deputy Director of the Janeway Institute, and a J.M. Keynes Fellow. Yannelis is an Associate Editor at the Review of Economics and Statistics, the Review of Corporate Finance Studies and the Review of Financial Studies. His research focuses on household finance, corporate finance, human capital, private equity, small business and student loans. His recent research primarily explores repayment, information asymmetries and strategic behavior in the student loan market and consumer credit markets.

Yannelis has won numerous academic awards including the 2021 AQR Young Researcher Award, recognizing talented new academics producing innovative and impactful research and the 2025 Philip Leverhulme Prize awarded for the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising. His research has been published in leading academic journals such as the Journal of Financial Economics, the Journal of Finance, the Review of Financial Studies and the American Economic Review, and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, Bloomberg, Forbes and other media outlets.

Before joining Cambridge, Yannelis was an Assistant and Associate Professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and an Assistant Professor of Finance at NYU Stern School of Business. Prior to his time at Cambridge, he worked at the US Department of the Treasury, the Congressional Budget Office, the OECD, the United Nations and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago as an Associate Economist.