Faculty Profile Luc Marest

Building Futures: Luc Marest

Teaching Hands-On Finance

In November 2017 three QC students placed first in TD Ameritrade’s annual virtual stock market challenge, turning their initial simulated investment into more than $2.6 million–a gain of 427 percent. They trounced 930 other teams, including second-place Columbia University, winning–in real money–$3,000 each and $30,000 for the college. The students had all been urged to participate by Professor Luc Marest (Economics).  

“Our good students are really good–at the Ivy League level–and some are brilliant,” says Marest, who wants to boost participation in national contests sponsored by TD, Bloomberg LP, and other financial firms and organizations. “Through these competitions, students apply theory to real life,” he says, explaining that participants have to learn how to use the news and organize and analyze complex data in order to make wise buy-sell trading decisions. “Making money is a very difficult task,” he says. “This hands-on experience is a huge advantage for students in a very competitive job market.”         

Marest himself has the kind of international experience favored by high-powered finance corporations, but he has happily changed career paths, teaching at QC since fall 2015.           

Raised in a small town 30 miles from Paris, Marest is the son of a French business executive-turned-senator. After earning a master’s degree in civil engineering, he worked for three years as project manager for the construction of two large residential buildings in Paris. “In time I realized that an MBA would open up my options,” says Marest. “And I was fascinated by the U.S.,” he adds, noting that its business schools were regarded as better than those in Europe. He applied to Yale School of Management, earning his master’s degree with a concentration in finance.          

Day trading for a Wall Street hedge fund provided him with four years of experience in the field but ultimately led to soul searching. “I evaluated what I really wanted to do in life. I knew I wanted to stay in New York, and I knew I loved teaching,” says Marest, who trained and developed explanatory materials for new traders and would later be named Instructor of the Year by Berlitz for his French language teaching in New York. Turning to academia, he went on to receive a fellowship from the CUNY Graduate Center to teach at QC while earning a PhD in economics. For extra income, he taught as an adjunct at Hunter.      

QC’s diverse student body is very appealing to Marest, who also teaches at a Shanghai university with ties to QC. “I see so many ethnicities, religions, and backgrounds here,” says Marest, whose students form their own teams for national competitions. “It’s very satisfying to see people with roots from anywhere in the world developing friendships and coming together to solve concrete problems. This is amazing to witness.” He also marvels at the energy and determination of students who manage to hold one or two jobs. “I had a student from Mali who drives a taxi at night and attended my class. When does he sleep?” he asks.       

Marest gladly shares his Wall Street experience and market insights with students who, not surprisingly, sometimes turn to him for advice before job interviews. “There is nothing more rewarding for a teacher than to see students learn, evolve, and establish themselves,” says Marest, who serves as faculty advisor to both the Economics & Business Club and the Trading & Investment Club.
Intermediate finance and investment analysis courses are Marest’s primary focus, but he also has taught in the risk management master’s program. Last year he co-taught a case study class in investment banking with QC alum Len Schutzman ’67, the former CFO of PepsiCo.        

In Marest’s opinion, a great challenge for all college teachers today is helping students develop critical thinking skills, which aren’t emphasized in prior schooling. “Participating in competitive activities makes students aware that they have to do their own thinking to succeed.”       

In spring 2016 the Economics Department and the Economics & Business Club created a trading competition for QC students that has taken place every semester. Marest’s goals are ambitious: to increase participation from 75-90 to 200-300 students, drawing from more majors. He also hopes to develop a course in trading; help to create “a community and culture of traders”; and build more relationships with QC grads on Wall Street who can offer internships to promising students.        

“I’m very fortunate to have strong support from the administration for my work and goals,” says Marest, who cites the president and provost, the Social Sciences Division, the Economics Department and the Center for Teaching and Learning, the latter embracing student trading activities as experiential education, key to the CTL mission.       

“I’ve liked Queens College since I taught here as an adjunct–the campus, the programs, the students. I am a U.S. citizen now and I will stay here all my life,” he says. At QC, Marest’s worldly background and personal desire for international experiences have found fertile ground.