Maria Yifan Zhang

Maria Yifan Zhang has a diverse work experience. Maria Yifan started their career as an Intern at the Fixed Income Credit Desk in Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan in 2015. Maria Yifan then worked as an Investment Analyst in the Portfolio Strategy for Public Equities at the same company from September 2015 to November 2017. Maria then transitioned to the role of Investment Associate in the Thematic and Quantitative Equities team, where they played a pivotal role in building a new macro thematic investing framework and led the research on Chinese Consumers. From January to November 2019, they worked as an Investment Associate in the Rotation in Capital Markets team, initially in the Equity Products Group where they conducted research and backtesting on cross asset short vol residuals, and mean reversion sentiment signals. Later they moved to the External Managers Group, where they performed due diligence on new prospect systematic managers and initiated re-underwriting of existing systematic managers. From December 2019 to October 2020, Maria held the position of Investment Associate in the Quantitative Strategies & Research, Capital Markets team, where they assisted the portfolio manager in managing a multi-billion global equity L/S portfolio and conducted research on new alpha signal and sector specific models. Finally, in November 2020, they were promoted to the role of Principal in the Quantitative Strategies & Research, Capital Markets team at Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. Maria also gained teaching and research experience as a Teaching Assistant and Research Assistant at the University of Toronto from 2013 to 2014.

Maria Yifan Zhang began their education at the University of Toronto in 2011, where they pursued a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree. Their area of specialization was in Mathematical Applications in Economics and Finance, with a major in Statistics. Maria Yifan completed their undergraduate studies in 2014.

Following their bachelor's degree, Maria Yifan Zhang continued their education at the University of Toronto and enrolled in the Master of Mathematical Finance program in 2014. This program did not specify their field of study. Maria Yifan completed their master's degree in 2015.

In addition to their formal education, Maria Yifan Zhang obtained the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certification from the CFA Institute in April 2020.