About Us
Our Story
The mission of the Clausen Center is to promote path-breaking scholarly research, enhance teaching in the area of international economics and finance, and contribute to the policy dialogue on these issues. Berkeley researchers have a long tradition of combining outstanding academic work with a commitment to public service.
The Clausen Center follows this tradition by engaging in continued dialogue with policy makers and pursuing work that is rigorous, insightful and firmly anchored in reality. The Clausen Center complements Berkeley’s wide net of centers and institutes devoted to the study of international issues and community engagement.
The Center offers an array of activities to accomplish its objectives, including:
- Research conferences to boost the quality and relevance as well as disseminate widely Center-sponsored research.
- Visitors / Speakers to enrich the intellectual climate on campus and inform participants about innovative research, policy considerations, and market developments.
- PhD funding to stimulate new areas of inquiry in international economics
- Grants to promote research exhibiting great promise of appearing in top disciplinary journals, shaping scholarship, informing policy debates, and attracting outside funding.
- Speakers and roundtable conferences with policymakers and global business leaders to examine current events, complement classroom learning, and stimulate new topics of research
- Student-run conferences that address business issues in different geographical areas
- Case writing competition on international business issues as another avenue to link research and teaching
- Training of executives and foreign government officials
Our Founder
The Clausen Center was founded in 1995 by a generous gift from the former World Bank President and Bank of America President and CEO, Mr. Tom Clausen (1923-2003). Mr. Clausen’s childhood dream was to become a “transnational citizen”. He achieved this by visiting over 100 countries in his life, by serving as President of the World Bank between 1981 and 1986, and by maintaining a life-long commitment to international development and education. In 2004, Tom Clausen was given a “Lifetime Achievement Award” by the Haas School in recognition of his private- and public-sector leadership in domestic economic affairs and the global economy. An article on his career and involvement with the Clausen Center appeared in Haas Alumni magazine in its Winter 2005 edition:
Tom Clausen’s global citizenship was reflected in his participation on the boards of the World Affairs Council of Northern California, the UC San Francisco Foundation, the Haas Business School at UC Berkeley, and Carthage College in Wisconsin, his alma mater. He also served as a trustee of the Asia Foundation and the International Center for Economic Growth, and was a member of the Bretton Woods Committee, the Brookings Institution, the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership, the California Business-Higher Education Forum, and Korea-U.S. Wisemen’s Council. He received awards from the governments of Italy, Japan, Senegal, South Korea, Spain, and Venezuela.
For more on Tom Clausen’s period at the World Bank, please see – here
Advisory Board
Christian Broda
Managing Director, Duquesne Capital Management.
Dr. Broda served as a Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, prior to joining Duquesne. He has written numerous articles and books on international finance and trade and has published in top economic journals including the American Economic Review and the Quarterly Journal of Economics. Dr. Broda also had appointments at Lehman Brothers as Chief International Economist, Barclays Capital as Head of International Research, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He also served as an associate editor of the Journal of Development Economics, faculty fellow for the National Bureau of Economic Research, co-editor of the IMF Economic Review, and a member of the Latin American Association Economia journal.
Dr. Broda graduated from the University of San Andres (Argentina) and earned a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2001.
Russ Kalmacoff
President and CEO, Rockmount Financial Corporation.
An accomplished leader in corporate finance, investing, and commercial real estate development, Russell Kalmacoff presently heads operations at Rockmount Financial Corporation (RFC), a Calgary, Alberta-based firm that provides origination, negotiation, and advisory services to an expansive portfolio of client companies. Mr. Kalmacoff holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Manitoba and a Masters of Business Administration degree in Finance from the University of Berkeley. His career started on Wall Street with Salomon Brothers, later joining A.E. LePage Ltd. in Toronto. Mr. Kalmacoff went on to design financing models, develop land, and author/co-author numerous books before acquiring Rockmount Financial Corporation. He has supported multiple government initiatives and continues to serve on several boards. In June 2017, Mr. Kalmacoff was named the Inaugural Executive in Residence of Athabasca University Faculty of Business.
Jean Marc Torre
Senior Executive VP, Commercial Banking Group Head at Bank of the West, San Francisco.
Since 2011, Jean-Marc Torre has been Head of the Commercial Banking Group (CBG) at Bank of the West, a subsidiary of BNP Paribas (BNPP), responsible for the lines of business serving the Bank’s commercial clients and wholesale banking, and member of the Bank’s Executive Management Committee.
CBG delivers banking solutions to agriculture, real estate industries, governments, capital markets and cash management, as well as commercial cards, syndications and asset-based lending. Before joining Bank of the West, Mr. Torre served as Chief Executive Officer of Arval UK, the London based fleet and operational leasing subsidiary of BNPP, for five years. Prior to that he was head of the BNPP Group in Egypt (2003-2006), deputy head of the Hong Kong based BNPP presence in East and North Asia (2001-2003), and head of the BNPP operations in Brazil (1996-2001).
Mr. Torre is an engineering graduate of the École Supérieure d’Electricité in Paris also studied advanced mathematics at Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris.
Jeff Shen
Managing Director, Co-CIO of Active Equity and Co-Head of Systematic Active Equity (SAE) of BlackRock.
Dr. Shen is responsible for Asia Pacific and Emerging Market Active Equity Strategies. He is BlackRock’s Head of Emerging Market and a member of the Global Operating Committee. His service with BlackRock dates back to 2004, including his years with Barclays Global Investors (BGI), which merged with BlackRock in 2009. At BGI, he was the Head of Investment for Asia Pacific and Emerging Market active equities. Prior to joining BGI, he began his career in 1997 with JP Morgan where he held numerous positions in global macro investment and asset allocation research in both New York and London.
Dr. Shen earned a BA degree in Economics from Hobart College, a MA degree in Economics from University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and a PhD degree in Finance from New York University. Dr. Shen is an adjunct professor at NYU teaching a MBA class on international investment.