FAP – Instructors

Rainford M. Knight, Ph.D.

Dr. Knight’s experience spans both academia and industry. His academic career started as an Assistant Professor of Finance at Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) in Madison, New Jersey and then as a Senior Associate/Senior Manager in mergers and acquisitions in the financial services industry.

Dr. Knight has more than 15 years practical experience in financial/investment analysis including: mortgage analytics, mergers and acquisitions, strategic planning, asset allocation and investment portfolio strategy development, budgeting/forecasting and hedge fund due diligence and manger selection.

Dr. Knight has held M&A positions performing valuations on a range of companies including banks, mortgage companies, hospitality companies and real estate technology companies. He has been a valuation consultant to the venture capital industry working with individual start-ups, as well as an incubator/accelerator. As a consultant, he was a lead member of the advisory team assisting a government – after a financial sector crisis – to help price and sell troubled non-performing banking assets. The size of the portfolio sold (consisting mostly of performing and sub-performing assets) was about $1 billion.

As an entrepreneur, Dr. Knight has co-founded/acquired or has been a partner in several companies in industries as diverse as software development, real estate distressed debt, hospitality and educational training. He is the co-founder of the Florida Institute of Finance – a finance training and consulting think tank. As an advisor, Dr. Knight has advised CEOs of small to mid-sized companies (public and private) on a range of financial issues. He has been a consultant Chief Investment Officer (CIO) for a hedge fund. Also, he has been a panel speaker/presenter at a Hedge Fund Association event.

Academically, Dr. Knight teaches finance in the FAU Executive MBA program and he is the Director of the FAU Trading room. He has also taught the Fixed Income Securities section for the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Dr. Knight holds a Ph.D. in Finance from Florida Atlantic University with a doctoral thesis in the area of initial public offerings (IPOs). He is a member of the Financial Management Association.