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Leadership and Team (current)
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Leadership and Team

GSEFM Board

Professor Michael Binder, Ph.D.

Chairman of the Board

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Professor of Economics at Goethe University Frankfurt (Chair for International Macroeconomics and Macroeconometrics), is Chairman of the Graduate School of Economics, Finance, and Management's Board. Binder did his undergraduate coursework in economics, business administration and law at the University of Kiel, and received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1995. Upon completion of his Ph.D. he was a faculty member at the University of Maryland until 2003. Binder has been a Fulbright scholar, a Marie Curie research fellow, a scholar of the German National Scholarship Foundation, and has been the recipient of numerous teaching and advising awards. He has published on a variety of topics in macroeconomics and applied econometrics, and is/was an Associate Editor of the Journal of Applied Econometrics, the Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, and Empirical Economics. Binder has held visiting appointments inter alia at the University of Cambridge, the University of Munich, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Bank of Spain. Binder's current research in part examines the implications of financial and trade globalization for business cycle dynamics, output growth and exchange rate dynamics. This research involves the development of new econometric methods for macroeconomic panels, as well as the assembly of new cross-country panel data sets.

Professor Georg Duernecker, Ph.D.

Board Member

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Georg Dürnecker is Professor of Economics at Goethe University Frankfurt, where he also serves as Dean of Research at the Faculty of Economics and Business and Program Director of the MSc in International Economics and Economic Policy. He is a Research Fellow of the CEPR in the Macroeconomics and Growth program and a Research Professor at the ifo Institute in Munich. He studied Economics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna, and received his Ph.D. in Economics from the European University Institute. Prior to joining Goethe University Frankfurt, he held academic positions at the University of Mannheim and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, and was affiliated with institutions including the Institute for International Economic Studies in Stockholm and IZA Bonn. His research focuses on macroeconomics, economic growth, and labor market economics, with particular emphasis on how subjective expectations shape individuals’ decision-making processes and macroeconomic outcomes. His work has been published in leading academic journals such as the Review of Economic Studies, Journal of the European Economic Association, American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, Journal of Monetary Economics, Journal of Development Economics, and the Journal of Applied Econometrics.

Professor Dr. Andrea Lassmann

Board Member

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Andrea Lassmann is Professor of International Economic Policy (W3) at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. Her research focuses on international economics, in particular trade, migration, services trade, and international taxation. She received her PhD from ETH Zurich in 2013, followed by positions as a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich and as a Trade Policy Analyst in the Trade in Services Division at the OECD. Her research appears in international journals such as the Economic Journal and the European Economic Review. Her awards include the IIPF Peggy and Richard Musgrave Prize 2014. She is a member of the CESifo Research Network and is involved in various academic bodies, including as Equal Opportunities Officer of Department 03 at JGU Mainz and in the Standing Field Committee for Regional and Urban Economics of the German Economic Association.

Professor Dr. Volker Nitsch

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Professor of Economics at Darmstadt University of Technology, is Member of the GSEFM Board. He pursued his graduate education at Free University of Berlin and at Humboldt University of Berlin and obtained his doctoral degree in economics from Humboldt University Berlin in 2000. Before coming to Darmstadt in 2009, he was Senior Economist for Bankgesellschaft Berlin from 1995 to 2003, Junior Professor of Economics at Free University of Berlin until 2009, and Head of Division at KOF Swiss Economic Institute from 2007 to 2009. He currently is also affiliated as Research Professor with the KOF Swiss Economic Institute at ETH Zurich and as Research Fellow with the CESifo in Munich. His research focuses on international trade patterns, regional integration, institutional arrangements, currency unions, exchange rate regimes, central banks, and empirical economic geography.

Professor Loriana Pelizzon, Ph.D.

Board Member

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Professor Loriana Pelizzon is Member of the GSEFM Board, Full Professor at Goethe University Frankfurt, Chair of Law and Finance as well as SAFE Deputy Scientific Director, Department Director of "Financial Markets" and Coordinator of Gender Equality. She is also part-time Full Professor of Economics at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and Research Affiliate at MIT Sloan and WFA CFAR Affiliate, Olin Business School, Washington University, St. Louis, US. She graduated from the London Business School with a doctorate in Finance. Her research interests are on risk measurement and management, hedge funds, market microstructure, financial institutions, systemic risk, sovereign risk and financial crisis.

Program Directors

Professor Dr. Anna Rohlfing-Bastian

Program Director (Ph.D. Accounting and MSQ Quantitative Accounting)

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Anna Rohlfing-Bastian is Professor for Accounting at Goethe University Frankfurt since 2016. She studied International Business Administration at the Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen and at the Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi in Milan. She obtained her doctoral degree at the University of Mannheim in 2010. Between 2006 and 2016, she worked at the Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen, the University of Mannheim, and the WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in Vallendar.

Professor Daniel Gutknecht, Ph.D.

Program Director (Ph.D. Economics and MSQ Quantitative Economics)

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Daniel Gutknecht has been Professor in the Department of Economic Policy and Quantitative Methods at Goethe University Frankfurt since 2026. He previously held a tenure-track Associate Professorship at Goethe University Frankfurt from 2019 to 2025 and was Assistant Professor at the University of Mannheim from 2015 to 2019. Between 2012 and 2015, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Nuffield College, University of Oxford. He studied Economics at the University of Warwick, where he obtained his doctoral degree in 2012. Prior to that, he completed a Diploma in Economics at the University of Mannheim and studied Economics and Business Studies at the University of Passau. His research interests lie primarily in theoretical and applied econometrics, with a secondary focus on labor and health economics.

Professor Dr. Holger Kraft

Program Director (Ph.D. Finance and MSQ Quantitative Finance)

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Professor of Finance at Goethe University Frankfurt (UBS Endowed Chair of Asset Pricing), is Director of the Ph.D. Program in Finance and the MSQ Program in Quantitative Finance. He is also member of the Fraunhofer ITWM, Kaiserslautern. Kraft received his doctorate in Mathematical Finance from TU Kaiserslautern in 2002. His current research focuses on liquidity risk, credit risk, portfolio optimization over the life cycle, and contagion effects in capital markets.w and finance, law and economics, and antitrust issues.

Professor Dr. Simone Wies

Program Director (Ph.D. Marketing and MSQ Quantitative Marketing)

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Simone Wies received her M.Sc. in Marketing and Finance and Ph.D. in Finance from Maastricht University, and is Professor of Marketing at Goethe University Frankfurt. Prior to her appointment as professor , she held the SAFE Junior Professorship for Marketing and Finance at the Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE at Goethe University, and a post-doctoral research position in marketing at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University.

Administration

Claudia Rixecker

Managing Director

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Claudia studied politics, law and economics in Duisburg and Nottingham. After her studies, she worked for pwc Germany and at Goethe University Frankfurt. She is a communication trainer and mediator.

Fadila Madougou

Office of Academic Records

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Fadila holds a Master’s degree in Management and has worked in various roles. Her professional background includes Supply Chain Management and Corporate Social Responsibility, with a focus on procurement compliance in the textile industry. At GSEFM, she supports the Office of Academic Records and student advising.

Michaela Uhrhan

Head of Controlling

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Michaela joined Goethe University Frankfurt in 2020. Before that she worked for 27 years for an international mineral oil company in various Business Finance departments, where she held since 2013 the position of Planning and Performance Analyst in the Supply Chain.

Sarah Greifeld

Communications

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Sarah studied American Studies and Business Administration at Goethe University Frankfurt. During her studies, she held various positions in communication departments and now works for the Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE and GSEFM.