Prof. Leo U. Ukpong is a Professor of Financial Economics with the University of Uyo, in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria; where he is engaged with research, supervises graduate theses/dissertations, and teaches graduate and undergraduate Finance courses in the Department of Banking and Finance. Prior to joining The University of Uyo, Professor Ukpong was with The American University of Nigeria (AUN). At AUN, he held positions as the founding Dean, School of Graduate Studies (SGS); the Dean, School of Business and Entrepreneurship (SBE); The Chairperson, Department of Finance and Business Economics; the Director of Business Graduate programs; and as a Professor of Finance and Business Economics. In those capacities, he taught Finance and Economic courses, supervised students’ projects, and oversaw the academic and administrative functions of the Department, SBE, and the Graduate School.
Before joining the American University of Nigeria, he served for over fourteen years as a professor of Finance at the Graves School of Business, Morgan State University (MSU), in Baltimore Maryland (USA), where he taught graduate and undergraduate courses in Finance and Economics. At Morgan State University, Professor Ukpong held administrative offices – such as Director of Business Graduate programs (PhD and MBA); and chaired several committees at the school and university levels. Besides Morgan, Professor Ukpong served as a visiting Professor at other universities in Europe, Africa and Asia. On the practical side, Professor Ukpong has over two decades of consulting experiences on economic and financial issues, bank management, portfolio management, accounting, and energy-environmental management. He has consulted with organizations such as Bank of America (USA), State Employee Credit Union in Maryland (USA), First Monument Mortgage Corporation (USA), World Bank, Central Bank of Tanzania, Central Bank of Ghana; conducted business and financial seminars for business executives from Russia, Ukraine, Republic of Georgia, South Africa, Taiwan, and China. He worked with IBM (US) as a Financial Analyst, with City of Philadelphia (US) as an Economist, with The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia as a Financial Economist, and with Gateway Financial Services (US) as the Chief Executive Officer/Chief Financial Officer (CEO/CFO). Professor Ukpong’s research interest includes: the roles of monetary and fiscal policy towards sustainable economic growth; financial institutions’ risk management strategies; exchange rate policies for emerging economies; asset pricing models/analysis; derivative (futures & options) market analysis; and energy environmental resources management.
Professor Ukpong holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Economics from Alabama A&M University, MBA in Finance from State University of New York, M.Sc. in Petroleum & Energy Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in Financial Economics from (Wharton School of Business) the University of Pennsylvania.