Christopher Holt

Associate Director, MBET
Christopher Holt

Email:  christopher.holt@uwaterloo.ca

Phone: (519) 888-4567 x40267

Location: E7 2312

Christopher Holt is a former consultant and entrepreneur with experience in the technology, media and finance industries. He completed a PhD at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto where his research focused on entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial identity construction among students. His consulting clients include the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association and the Global Absolute Return Congress, both educational organizations focusing on global finance and economics. In addition to several Fortune 500 clients, Chris has also consulted to the World Economic Forum, World Bank and Earth Council Institute, an NGO in San Jose, Costa Rica. He supervises the MBET Corporate Innovation Project and teaches entrepreneurship, management consulting, and organizational behaviour courses to undergraduate and graduate students.

Expertise:

  • Entrepreneurship
  • Entrepreneurship Education
  • Alternative and Institutional Investments
  • Consulting

Teaching

Education

  • PhD, University of Toronto
  • MBA, Duke University
  • BComm, Queen's University

Professional Certifications 

  • Certified Management Consultant
  • Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst

Academic positions

  • Sessional Instructor, MBA Program, McMaster University, DeGroote School of Business, 2017
  • Professor, Seneca College, 2015-2016

Ventures

Industry experience

  • Senior Advisor, Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association, 2015-Present
  • Senior Advisor, Global Absolute Return Congress, 2015-Present
  • Managing Director, Global Absolute Return Congress, 2011-2015
  • Director of Industry Relations, CAIA, 2009-2011
  • Founder, AllAboutAlpha.com, 2006-2008 (Acquired by CAIA, 2009)
  • Director of Business Development, JC Clark Ltd., 2002-2006
  • Analyst & Director of Research Operations, Digital 4Sight, 2000-2002
  • Director, Strategic Advisory Services, Immersant, 1998-2000
  • Consultant, Ernst & Young Management Consultants, 1996-1998
  • Manager, Professional Services, Quantum Information Resources, 1992-1994

Research interests

  • Entrepreneurship
  • Entrepreneurial Identity
  • Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy

Selected publications

  • Sá, C., Holt, C. (2019). Profiles of entrepreneurship students: implications for policy and practice.Education + Training, 61(2), 122-135.
  • Sá, C., Holt, C., Heslin, D., Kim, C. & Mitchell, C. (2018). Entrepreneurship students: Different profiles and motivations. Toronto: Centre for the Study of Canadian and International Higher Education, OISE-University of Toronto. (Commissioned by the Government of Ontario).
  • Holt, C. (2014). The Future of the Welfare State - An interview with Julia Gillard, former Prime Minister of Australia. Global ARC Quarterly (Fall), 22-30. 
  • Holt, C. (2014). A Blueprint for Rebuilding Productivity Growth – An interview with Edmund Phelps, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Economics. Global ARC Quarterly (Spring), 4-8.

  • Holt, C. (2014). Still Swinging - An interview with Barney Frank, former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, U.S. Congress. Global ARC Quarterly (Spring), 22-28.

  • Holt, C. (2013). From the Ashes: How Canada’s Paul Martin turned around the Canadian economy and established one of the world’s strongest national pension plans in the process – An interview with Paul Martin, former Prime Minister of Canada. Global ARC Quarterly (Fall), 18-27.    

  • Holt, C.  (2013). Are Labour Markets Broken? - An interview with Christopher Pissarides, winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize for economics. Global ARC Quarterly (Fall), 38-44.

  • Holt, C. (2013). The West in the Asian Century – An interview with Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia. Global ARC Quarterly (Spring), 24-27.   

  • Holt, C. (2013). Greece, the Eurozone and the Global Financial System - An interview with George Papandreou, former Prime Minister of Greece. Global ARC Quarterly (Winter), 14-21.   

  • Holt, C. (2012). Inequality: Benign or Malignant? An interview with Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize for Economics. Global ARC Quarterly (Fall), 6-9.  

  • Holt, C. (2010). Pardon the Disruption [Guest Editorial]. Institutional Investor (January), p. 113.

  • Holt, C. (2009). When Form Follows Function: How Core-Satellite Investing Has Sparked an Era of Convergence. In Swarup, A. (Ed.), QFinance: The Ultimate Resource (pp. 386-389). London: Bloomsbury.

  • Holt, C. (2008). The Geometry of Portable Alpha and 130/30. In Euromoney Portable Alpha Handbook. (pp. 5-11). London: Euromoney.

  • Lett, T. & Holt, C. (2007). Two Solitudes: Replication and short extension bridge the pension and hedge fund gap. Canadian Investment Review (Fall), 22-27.