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Iris Mack
Born:
place: New Orleans
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.education.gif) Vassar College,
B.S., Mathematics and Mathematical Physics ; M.S. Mathematics
UCLA; M. B. A. London Business School, London, England Executive
M.B.A., Sloan Fellows Program
 Harvard University
(1986)
thesis: ; advisor:
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 CEO, Phat Math,
Inc.
Address: Iris Mack, MBA/PhD; Phat Math, Inc.; 801 Brickell
Avenue Suite 900; Miami, FL 33131
telephone: 305.789.6758
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From the web site of Dr.
Mack's company:
Iris Mack, MBA/PhD has been an astronaut semifinalist,
one of Glamour Magazine's "Top 10" college students
and working women, an investment banker, an Enron Energy Trader
and an MIT professor.
Several years ago Dr. Mack moved to Europe
and did an Executive MBA at the London Business School before
working as an investment banker in London. See the brief
biography below.
These days, Dr. Mack plans to educate children
about the wonders of math. Her new book, Mama says, "Money Doesn´t Grow on Trees!",
is designed to help kids fall in love with numbers through the
use of hip multicultural characters. video
trailer of the book.
Dr. Mack's Career
- Phat Math, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts/Miami,
Florida Founder, CEO, 2002-present:
Developed a mathematics edutainment book series. The first book
in the series, which uses animated characters to show kids how
math is used in the financial world, was released to the market
January 14, 2004.
- Harvard Management Company, Boston, Massachusetts
Quantitative Analyst/Financial Engineer, 2002: Held responsibility for developing credit derivatives
trading models, credit default swap models, and capital structure
arbitrage trading models. Investigated and resolved risk management
issues and worked with various risk managers on derivatives trading-related
issues. Served as a liaison with Wall Street investment banks.
· Purchased and installed Moody's default and recovery
rates database of corporate bond issuers from 1970 to 2001.
· Researched and developed capital structure arbitrage
models.
· Prepared real options valuation for commodity portfolio.
· Represented firm at Global Derivatives and Risk Management
Conference in Barcelona, Spain.
- Enron, Houston, Texas/London, England
Manager, 2001: Initially served as
a manager in the corporate research group, working on Enron broadband
services projects, credit derivatives pricing models for Enron
Credit, financial engineering, and an options trading model for
Enron power traders. Subsequently held responsibility as Manager
of Power Options Trading Desk, trading and managing a book in
long-term structured exotic options trades/structures. Taught
the marketing group about the complexities of options and other
derivatives. Worked on trades and structured financial transactions
that involved power, gas, crude oil, weather derivatives, and
metals.
· Developed trading models for Enron broadband services.
· Researched and developed credit derivatives pricing
and trading models involving the estimation of the probability
of companies defaulting on loan payments or going completely
bankrupt for Enron credit in the London office.
· Researched and developed electricity derivatives trading
models for Enron power group.
· Served as a member of the research group's financial
engineering division.
· Managed a book of long-term structured options trades
and deals, which involved the commodities power, gas, crude oil,
weather derivatives, and metals.
- Dealcomposer.com, Seoul, Korea/Concord,
California Vice President, 2000: Led
the derivatives structured products group, which included the
following product categories: real options, weather derivatives,
energy derivatives, insurance derivatives, and exotic options.
Worked out of the offices in Seoul, Korea; London, England; and
Concord, California.
· Developed a business plan for the derivatives structured
products group and supported the Internet start-up business that
was designed to create an "investment bank in a box."
· Oversaw and directed colleagues in Seoul, Korea, and
Concord, California.
- Investment Banque BNP Paribas, London,
England Executive in Derivatives Structured Product Group, 1999-2000: Worked with derivatives product categories including
insurance derivatives, fund of funds derivatives, real options
valuations applied to various industries (aircraft, internet,
media, high tech, R&D, energy), and risk management. Supported
the development of an Internet website for weather derivatives
and global risk management solutions. Obtained my securities
licenses in financial derivatives, regulations and securities.
- Associated Technologists, Inc., San Francisco,
California/Atlanta, Georgia Founder, CEO, 1991-1998: Founded and established high tech and management
consulting firm in San Francisco, California, obtained private
and federal contract work with a diverse array of clients.
· Applied real options valuation and derivatives analysis
for Boeing to determine the optimal number of aircraft to build
in any given year.
· ATI was selected as a participant in the U.S. Department
of Defense mentor protégé program.
· Successfully applied for and received SBA 8(a) certification
in record time, allowing the firm to compete for government contracts.
· Performed technology transfer analysis for Lockheed
Martin Energy Systems, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
· Collaborated on a team of consultants to perform options
risk management for Charles Schwab.
· Delivered expert witness and litigation consulting for
Neilson, Elggren, and Durkin law firm.
· Provided marketing consulting services for the Youth
Entrepreneurship Program.
- Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia,
Associate Professor, 1995-1998: Provided
instruction and conducted research in applied mathematics (including
linear algebra, partial differential equations, and calculus),
risk management, financial engineering, and statistics while
simultaneously running Associated Technologists, Inc. During
this time I was also selected as a Boeing A. D. Welliver Fellow
in 1997, which involved working at Boeing for three months during
the summer of 1997.
- Conducted research in applied mathematics and financial engineering.
- Oversaw students' research and thesis projects.
- University of San Francisco, McLaren School
of Management, San Francisco, California Adjunct Professor, 1993-1994: Lectured in various management science courses,
including statistics, operations research, and related disciplines.
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology's
Alfred P. Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, Massachusetts,
Lecturer, 1988-1991.: Held responsibility
for teaching courses in statistics, operations research, financial
engineering, and related disciplines. Conducted academic research,
supervised student theses, and performed industrial consulting.
Developed a new course entitled "Financial Engineering."
MIT Visiting Assistant Professor, 1986-1988. Taught courses
in applied mathematics and financial engineering. Conducted research
and developed a course: "Pricing of Contingent Corporate
Securities."
- AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel, Murray Hill
and Crawford Hill, New Jersey, Graduate Research Fellow, 1978-1986.: Served as one of the few individuals selected nationwide
to participate in AT&T Bell Labs cooperative research fellowship
program. Received doctorate from Harvard in Applied Mathematics
while participating in this program. Worked during the summers
at the various Bell Labs with very renowned research scientists
and engineers, and obtained a patent entitled "Coupled Modes
with Random Propagation Constants," while researching optical
fibers.
a brief
biography:
Iris Mack grew up in New Orleans in a family
of 10, all "competitive in a fun way." As a teenager
she was inspired by a statement that Mary Baker Eddy had written
a hundred years before: "The astronomer will no longer look
up to the stars, he will look out from them upon the universe."
Dr. Mack was initiated into the space community
as a high-school summer intern at NASA's Michoud Operations in
New Orleans. As an undergraduate at Vassar she interned at the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, working on the Physical
Properties Team for NASA's Viking Space Program to Mars. "The
thrill of being involved in this new frontier was dazzling,"
she remembers today. Also as a Vassar undergraduate she visited
the physics department at MIT and met the late astronaut Ronald McNair. Over
the years he became a friend and a mentor.
She received dual bachelor's degrees in mathematics
and mathematical physics and then earned the master's degree in
mathematics at the University of California as a research fellow
for Bell Laboratories, where she received a patent for her work
in fiber optics. In 1983, Dr. Mack joined MIT's Academic and Research
Consulting Services as a consultant. Two years later the Johnson
Space Center invited her to interview for a position as a NASA
scientist. Dr. McNair was her host, and introduced her to many
of the other astronauts. His death in the Challenger explosion
shortly after her visit affected her deeply. This coupled with
the consequent delay in space shuttle missions redirected her
career. In 1986 Dr. Mack became the second black woman to receive
a doctorate in applied mathematics at Harvard. That summer she
worked at Salomon Brothers Inc. as a research analyst and consultant
in mortgage and equity research, and in the fall she joined the
applied mathematics faculty at MIT as an assistant professor.
In 1988 she joined the Sloan faculty as a lecturer in management
science.
Iris Mack briefly taught at M.I.T. after earning
her doctorate in mathematics at Harvard in 1986. Apparently teaching
and research did not suit her and she eventually started her own
consulting firm called Associated Technologists in Atlanta while
teaching at Clark-Atlanta University.
Dr. Mack has always kept herself in top
physical condition. She used to run with the MIT and the Cambridge
Sports Union track clubs and is serious about her weight training.
When she does break from her schedule she visits places like the
Ashram in California, a spa that she says is more like boot campÑ
yoga, hiking, aerobics, weight lifting, water games, and very
little food. Last summer she trained with professional body builders
at the Muscle and Fitness Body Building Camp in Venice Beach,
Calif. She also has managed to fit in flying lessons. She was
named one of Glamour Magazine's "Top 10" college students
and working women. Selected as one of the Top 50 Minority Women
in Science and Engineering by the National Technical Association
of Scientists and Engineers.
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Space shuttle or Sloan School? That was the question Lecturer Iris Mack asked herself
November 1989 when NASA called to tell her that of 1,945 qualified
applicants, she was one of 106 chosen to interview for the astronaut
candidate program.
What makes Dr. Mack, who taught Mathematical
Modeling in Finance, an aspiring candidate for mission specialist
on a space shuttle? She's always been a candidate. As a teenager
growing up in New Orleans in a family of 10, all "competitive
in a fun way," she was inspired by a statement that Mary
Baker Eddy had written a hundred years before: "The astronomer
will no longer look up to the stars, he will look out from them
upon the universe."
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In 1983, Dr. Mack joined MIT's Academic and
Research Consulting Services as a consultant. Two years later
the Johnson Space Center invited her to interview for a position
as a NASA scientist. Dr. McNair was her host, and introduced her
to many of the other astronauts. His death in the Challenger explosion
shortly after her visit affected her deeply. This coupled with
the consequent delay in space shuttle missions redirected her
career.
references: Dr. Mack's Associated Technologies web page; Dr.
Mack's Phatmath, Inc web page; assorted other sources.
back to Black
Women in the Mathematical Sciences
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