Sara Fatima Farooqi
My name is Sara Farooqi and I have been at IE University for the last decade, since the start of the Master in Finance and Bachelor in Business Administration programs. I grew up in the UK and Pakistan, then spent three years at Vassar College in New York, studying economics and math.
Upon returning to London, I decided to specialize further and studied at the London School of Economics, where I obtained my master’s degree in Decision Sciences (Operational Research). I felt grateful for my liberal arts education, as it allowed me to explore my interest in art and literature while focusing on economics and math. In my free time, I enjoy sports and art, as well as spending time with my family outside Madrid.
“I find IE University to have a positive, vibrant environment where the students have enquiring, engaging minds—and it is a pleasure to have them.”
From investment banking to academia: bringing real-world knowledge to the classroom
Sara Farooqi’s professional background is in investment banking—she’s worked in the London offices of top banks Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase & Co.—but she also has a keen interest in financial markets. In fact, after completing her undergraduate degree in the US, she was offered a role at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), but turned it down as she wanted to move back to Europe to pursue further study.
During her career in investment banking, Sara had the opportunity to work with several Fortune 500 companies, as well as a number of unlisted companies in many esoteric jurisdictions, exotic derivatives and commodities. She describes the environment at Goldman Sachs as “privileged in terms of learning”, as she was exposed to a vast number of products, volumes and deal flows. “You pretty much felt you were part of creating and shaping the news long before it hit the market,” Sara explains. Her role involved working across a broad range of sectors, but her background and interests led to her developing a specialization in natural resources.
Sara’s teaching career at IE University has been equally varied: she’s taught across a wide range of the online and in-person master’s programs, including the Master in Finance, the Master in Management, IE Corporate Education and a number of MBA programs, as well as the Bachelor in Data & Business Analytics and the Bachelor in Business Administration and its associated dual degrees. She teaches a number of courses related to corporate, advanced corporate and derivative finance, as well as quantitative finance.
In her research projects, Sara focuses on issues related to forecasting time series with structural discontinuities, as well as the application of behavioral finance to contexts involving low probability/high impact events. In addition, she was previously on the board of a UK-based fund focusing on real estate in northern Europe.
The Master in Finance, says Sara, enables students to take away technical frameworks which are broadly applicable across various sectors. “Even if you don’t remain in finance, the frameworks should allow for an easy transition,” she emphasizes. She notes that the Master in Finance provides “the knowledge equivalent to a first-year analyst in investment banking.” This, of course, makes Master in Finance students more marketable to employers.
Sara describes IE University as “a positive, vibrant environment where the students have enquiring, engaging minds.” And it’s clear that this appreciation is mutual: she’s received more than 50 recognitions for outstanding teaching performance over her time at IE University, being voted “best professor of the program” on several occasions.
