About Our Team

Prior to being named the Executive Director of the J.P. Morgan Center for Commodities at the University of Colorado Denver Business School, Dr. Thomas Brady was the Chief Economist at Newmont Mining Corporation where he was responsible for generating key commodity price, foreign exchange and other financial assumptions used throughout the company. In this role, Dr. Brady also developed methods to effectively quantify and communicate the economic impact of Newmont’s operations to host communities and countries. Prior to this position, Dr. Brady led Newmont’s Strategic Planning function that developed and implemented portfolio modeling analytics.

 

Before Newmont, Dr. Brady was a Senior Manager at Risk Capital Management, a consultancy that advised energy and natural resource companies on financial risk, valuation and commodity hedging. He has also worked with CQG, Inc. where he developed a suite of automated trading systems for commodity futures contracts using the company’s short-term, price and volume charting methods. He holds a Ph.D. in Mineral Economics with research emphases in commodity markets from the Colorado School of Mines. In addition, Dr. Brady holds a Master’s degree in Mathematics, also from the Colorado School of Mines.

Jian Yang is the J.P. Morgan endowed chair and Research Director at the J.P. Morgan Center for Commodities as well as the discipline director of finance at University of Colorado Denver. Yang is recognized as one of most prolific authors in finance during past 50 years based on core finance journal publications, and one of 15 commodities-friendly professors in the world. In addition to his research in finance that is featured by New York Times, Reuters, The Washington Post and CNBC, and over 40 medial outlets in total, Yang’s research on commodities has been cited in policy publications by World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, OECD, and presented by invitation to government agencies and major commodity exchanges, including US EIA, China Futures Association, and Shanghai Futures Exchange, among others.

 

Yang’s expertise on commodities attracts extensive media attention. His media articles (about 120) feature JPMCC in several dozen countries in multiple languages, including prominent English media outlets such as Reuters, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Forbes, World Finance magazine (U.K.), China Daily (global and U.S. editions, its European Weekly in the U.K. and African Weekly in Kenya), Australian Financial Review, and RT (the Russian international television network). The media articles are also published in major Chinese-language media outlets: Economic Daily, China National Radio, and China Securities Journal, with some of them posted on the official websites of the Chinese Central Government and its national government agencies.

Michele has been with the Global Energy Management program since 2012 and currently works directly with all current GEM students and faculty to ensure student success and retention. In addition, she manages all professional education non-credit courses for the Center.

She has played an integral role in the vision, leadership, and strategic direction of student services. Michele is responsible for ensuring faculty, student, and alumni systems operate efficiently and effectively. She handles all course instructional design, AACSB data collection and reporting, student communications, and program marketing efforts. Michele leads innovative enrollment, retention, and course analytics projects for the program to make strategic data-driven decisions. 

Michele holds a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Central Florida and a Master of Arts in Leadership: Higher Education and Student Affairs from the University of Colorado. 

Erica joined the JPMCC team as Program Manager in February 2020. Erica is responsible for commodities course administration, marketing, and student outreach. Previously, Erica worked at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. She has a BA in English Literature and Spanish Language from the University of Michigan.