Sacramento Business Review

Sanjay Varshney, Ph.D., CFA

Sanjay Varshney is Professor of Finance and Dean of the College of Business Administration at California State University, Sacramento. He previously served as the Dean of the Business School at State University of New York in Utica for five years. At age 31 he became one of the youngest deans in the country to lead a business school. His prior experience includes working at University of San Francisco, Citigroup, Arthur Anderson, and as a portfolio manager. He earned an undergraduate degree in Accounting and Financial Management from Bombay University, a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Cincinnati, and a Ph.D. in Finance from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. Dr. Varshney serves as the chief economist for the Sacramento Business Review.

Jason Bell, CFA

Jason Bell is a Vice President and Senior Investment Manager for Wells Fargo Private Bank. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and holds a business degree from the University of the Pacific, as well as an MBA from the University of California at Davis. He has previously served as President of the CFA Society of Sacramento. 

Brian Leu, CFA
Brian Leu is an Investment Officer at CalPERS and a member of the team responsible for trading the global internal equity and futures portfolio. Prior to joining CalPERS, he worked at Roseville-based DCA Partners supporting the firm's investment banking business and private equity investments. Prior to joining DCA, Mr. Leu was a member of the Equity Research team at Deutsche Bank Securities. He was previously an investment analyst at a long-short hedge fund in NYC and earlier began his career at AT&T within Corporate Finance. Mr. Leu earned his MBA from NYU's Stern School of Business and holds an Economics degree from Duke University.

Marc Ross, CFA
Marc Ross is a real estate investment broker at CB Richard Ellis, specializing in the sale of multi-family properties in the greater Sacramento region.  Marc graduated with his MBA in Real Estate and Finance from the University at California, Davis in 2001 and has been a CFA charter holder since 2001.  He received his BA in economics and business administration from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee.

Sudhir Thakur, Ph.D.
Sudhir Thakur received a doctorate degree from the Ohio State University (2004). He is currently an Assistant Professor in the College of Business Administration at Sacramento State. His research interests are in the areas of: regional economic systems, location and land use, technological change and regional development, geographical information systems and spatial statistics.