MA Alumni Profiles
Samvel Atayan (Russia, MA 2002)
Samvel Atayan earned his Baccalaureate degree from Novosibirsk State University in his native Russia before starting his graduate studies at CERGE-EI in 2000. His elective courses were in the fields of advanced macroeconomics and industrial organization. He currently works as a Statistical/Quantitative Analyst for Apple Inc. in the San Francisco Bay area of California. Previous to that position, he worked as a Forecasting Analyst for Sales Planning at Warner Bros. Studios, in Hollywood, California.
Aelita Belyaeva (Russia, MA 2004)
Aelita Belyaeva works as a Senior Credit Risk Analyst at Československá obchodní banka, a.s. (ČSOB) in Prague. She entered the CERGE-EI program in 2002. Her areas of specialization were industrial organization and econometrics. Before coming to Prague, she had already earned a PhD in Mathematics and Statistics from Saint-Petersburg State University in Russia.
Olga Cook (née Borissova) (Kazakhstan, MA 2006)
Olga Cook currently works as a Business Development Specialist & Business Analyst at SAP in Prague, an international business software corporation. She previously worked as a Senior eBusiness Analyst at Monster Worldwide, a global recruiting group. She was initially admitted at CERGE-EI in 2003, specializing in advanced Macroeconomics theory and financial markets. Her previous academic work was done at the Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research.
Alexei Kapkin (Russia, MA equiv. 1995)
Alexei Kapkin is Global Equity Analyst and Partner at River and Mercantile Asset Management in London, a position he has held since 2009. Before entering CERGE-EI in 1992, Alexei graduated from Moscow Mining Institute with an Msc in Electronics. He pursued his PhD research in the field of Corporate Finance until at CERGE-EI in Prague until 1997, when he accepted a position at Dresdner Kleinwort Wassertein as a research analyst based in London and Moscow covering Banks, other Financials Mining and Engineering Stocks.
Yuriy Kapys (Ukraine, MA 2001)
Yuriy Kapys works as Road Network Optimization Manager at DHL Express's headquarters in Köln, Germany. Before taking that position, he worked as Network Development Manager, DHL Supply Chain. He moved into the logistics field after finishing his MA at CERGE-EI in 2001, where he focused on Industrial Organization and Financial Markets. After working in logistics for a few years, he completed a postgraduate engineering degree from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in Netherlands.
Natalia Kovrijnykh (Russia, MA 2001)
Natalia Kovrijnykh completed her MA at CERGE-EI and was awarded a full scholarship at the University of Chicago's Department of Economics. She entered the PhD program there in 2002, graduating in 2008. Since then she has worked as Assistant Professor of Economics at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. Her research interests are dynamic contract theory, applied game theory, macroeconomics and financial economics.
Sofiya Kuzyak (Ukraine, MA 2007)
Sofiya Kuzyak works as a Basel II Specialist at Komerční banka, a.s. in Prague. She entered the CERGE-EI program in 2004, having earned a Bachelor's (Economics and Entrepreneurship) and Master's degree (International Economics) from Ternopil Academy of National Economy in Ukraine. Before working at Komerční banka, she worked as a Research Consultant, Drill B.S. (Business Services).
Viorel Roscovan (Moldova, MA 2004)
Viorel Roscovan enrolled in the PhD program at Tilburg University after finishing his MA at CERGE-EI in 2004. He completed his PhD at Tilburg's CentER program in 2008, and became Assistant Professor of Finance at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University in the Netherlands that same year. His primary research interests are Asset Pricing, Fixed Income Markets and Banking.
Anastasia Semykina (Russia, MA 2001)
Anastasia Semykina is Assistant Professor of Economics at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, USA. After finishing her MA at CERGE-EI, she earned a PhD from Michigan State University. Her research interests are theoretical and applied econometrics, labor economics, economics and psychology and the economics of education. Recent academic publications include "Estimating panel data models in the presence of endogeneity and selection" in Journal of Econometrics (with Jeffrey M. Wooldridge) and "Perceptions of economic insecurity: Evidence from Russia" in Economic Systems (with Susan J. Linz).
Peter Tuchyňa (Slovakia, MA 2008)
Peter Tuchyňa works as a Credit Scoring Analyst at Česká Spořitelna, a.s. in Prague. He completed his Bachelor's degree at Charles University in Prague before entering CERGE-EI in 2005. At CERGE-EI he specialized in Advanced Macroeconomics and Financial Markets. He is a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Level 3 Candidate.
Mária Valachyová (Slovakia, MA 2002)
Mária Valachyová works as a Senior Macro Analyst at Slovenská sporiteľňa in Bratislava. She entered the CERGE-EI program in 2000 and focused on the areas of Monetary Economics and the Economics of Transition. Prior to her position at Slovenská sporiteľňa, she worked at Všeobecná úverová banka as an Analyst.
Maksim Yemelyanau (Belarus, MA 2007)
Maksim Yemelyanau works as Chief Economist at the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Belarus in Minsk. He entered the CERGE-EI program in 2004 after earning a Master's degree in International Business from University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Prior to his position at the Ministry, he worked at the Belarusian Economic Research and Outreach Center as a senior researcher. He expects to defend his dissertation at CERGE-EI in 2011 or 2012.
