From becoming the first person in her family to graduate from university, Ranjini Jha now educates students as a professor at the School of Accounting and Finance (SAF).
Jha grew up in Jamshedpur, India and was always top of her class. After graduating from her undergraduate and master’s degree in physics, she wanted to try something different and began working in the banking sector. A few years later, she decided to pursue a formal education in business and finance, which ultimately led her to immigrate to Canada.
She started her academic career at the University of Waterloo in 1998, and in that time has grown the SAF's finance program and collaborated with colleagues to introduce experiential initiatives to get students interested in finance. Initiatives like the Student Investment Fund provide students with hands-on experience in equity valuation and portfolio management of publicly traded stocks. She is also a faculty mentor for Women in Finance, a student-run initiative that works to bridge the gender gap within the finance industry.