Our Team

LENOS TRIGEORGIS, PhD

Dr. Trigeorgis is President of the Real Options Group and has been The Bank of Cyprus Chair Professor of Finance at the University of Cyprus. He has taught at Boston University, Columbia University, the University of Chicago, MIT Sloan School, and Berkeley. He holds a Ph.D. (DBA) from Harvard University. He published widely in numerous journals on corporate finance, competition and strategy, and has written a number of books on real options with The MIT Press, Oxford University Press, Princeton U. Press and others. He is internationally known as the author of Real Options (translated in Japanese and Chinese), which is considered path-breaking for the field, and co-author of Strategic Investment. His consulting experiences include British Petroleum, the Fiat Group, Cable & Wireless, Swisscom, Andersen Consulting, Ernst & Young, Morgan Stanley, and the US government.

THOMAS MURPHY, PhD, JD

Dr. Murphy is Managing Director of ROG’s Management Consulting Services in North America, and is based in Houston, Texas. He heads the Corporate Risk Management & Valuation practice, with emphasis on Energy and Technology. He has over 15 years of experience providing valuation and risk management solutions to clients in the energy, petrochemical, chemical, and advanced technology industries. He has Big 4 experience with Ernst & Young’s valuation practice, and Deloitte & Touche’s global energy markets practice. Dr. Murphy began his career as a chemical engineer with the DuPont Company before earning his Ph.D. in Finance and Juris Doctor and MBA degrees from Syracuse University. His hands-on experience in engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and research helps develop correct valuation and risk models for clients. His modeling experience includes forward curves; complex contracts and other structured transactions; physical and intangible assets, including power plants, transmission, natural gas storage, patents and technology licenses; chemical processes; oil refineries; transportation; employee stock options; and energy procurement strategies. Dr. Murphy published in journals and book chapters, and has consulted with over 50 firms world-wide.

ARSIA AMIR-ASLANI, PhD

Dr. Amir-Aslani is Managing Director of European Operations at the Real Options Group, and is based in Paris, France. He is responsible for ROG’s Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals practice. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Paris and an M.S. in International Management from University of Paris, Sorbonne.  He specializes in strategic and capital market applications of Real Options in Healthcare. Dr. Amir-Aslani is a former investment banker and was a senior marketing and communications executive at a healthcare consultancy firm, where he provided consulting services to leading US and European life sciences companies. As an investment banker he was heading the life science practice at the corporate finance department of Oddo Pinatton, concentrating on M&A and business development activities. Previously he was Vice-President for Corporate Development & Strategy at Crucell. He has more than 8 years experience in the biotech sector from a capital markets, consulting, and industry perspectives. Dr Amir-Aslani also has numerous publications in both academic and practitioner journals related to pharmacology and the biotechnology industry.

VLADIMIR ANTIKAROV, MBA

Mr. Antikarov is Director of Corporate Strategy and Technology for the Real Options Group, and is based in Boston and New York. He has an MBA (and has been working toward a DBA) in Finance from Boston University. Mr. Antikarov has been a senior adviser to the CFO of the Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc.  focusing on  strategy, risk management and corporate finance. Previously he worked as a senior member of the corporate finance practice at the Monitor Group. He is coauthor (with Tom Copeland) of Real Options: A Practitioner’s Guide. Mr. Antikarov brings extensive expertise in applying real options to the development, evaluation and implementation of business and corporate strategy. He has particularly used real options to illuminate strategic decisions in R&D and technology adoption. Mr. Antikarov has worked with major companies in North America, South America and Europe.

ROGER VARDAN, PhD

Dr. Vardan heads Management Consulting and Strategy at the Real Options Group, based in the US. He holds a Ph.D. in management science from Michigan State University. He specializes in the strategic aspects of Real Options and their use within Value Chain Strategy (Strategic Sourcing & Investment) and with Business Scenario Planning.  Most recently, Dr. Vardan managed the Strategy Group at General Motors where he was responsible for developing global strategies for the company’s Senior Management Team. He led the development of its successful Value Chain Strategy for the Global Powertrain Division and played a key role in formulating various Strategic Alliances and strategies for the Future of Automotive Propulsion. Earlier he worked as the Manager of Systems Analysis & Strategy at Battelle, the world’s largest “think-tank,” and as an international management consultant.  Dr. Vardan has been a frequent speaker in various international conferences, and has collaborated with renowned strategic thinkers. His most recent article appeared in the Sloan Management Review. 

HARRIS ANTONIADES, PhD

Dr. Antoniades heads Corporate Finance and Valuation Advisory Services at the Real Options Group. He has a degree in management and holds a PhD from UCLA. He has been a management consultant for many years with experience in 13 US states, 9 countries and 4 continents. Most recently, Dr. Antoniades has worked with the Standard & Poors Corporate Value Consulting group (S&P CVC) in Los Angeles, where he consulted and advised corporate clients regarding business and asset valuation issues related to mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructuring, and financial and tax reporting requirements. Previously he was part of the Applied Decision Analysis (ADA) group of PricewaterhouseCoopers in California, where he worked on Market Strategy Advisor projects and Real Options Valuation. 

NURHAN TOGUC, PhD

Dr. Toguc is Director of Equity Research and Market Analysis at the Real Options Group, based in London, UK. She has a Ph.D. from CUNY Graduate Center in New York and taught corporate finance, portfolio management and security analysis at New York University. She has also worked as financial auditor for New York City Government and as Head of Research in security analysis and Vice President in various investment banks. She has also recently set up and managed several hedge funds.

JAWANTH VYTHEESWARAN, MBA

Mr. Vytheeswaran is Director of the Performance and Incentives practice, with particular focus on Energy/Natural Resources. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago. For the previous 6 years he has been a management consultant helping Fortune 500 clients maximize shareholder value in all aspects of their business.  He was Vice-President with Stern Stewart & Co. responsible for their real options and energy practice, and was also instrumental in the development, refinement and implementation of the Economic Value Added (EVA) framework for performance measurement and managerial incentives particularly in the oil/energy business. He also consulted on strategic initiatives with a finance specialty.  Most recently he was in charge of the energy practice for Arthur Andersen in Dallas. He has worked with a multitude of clients in oil/energy, ranging from Montana Power to Shell.

FOTIOS HARMANTZIS, PhD

Dr. Harmantzis is Director of Telecom and Media at the Real Options Group, and is based in New York. He has been an Assistant Professor of Telecommunications Management at Stevens Institute of Technology in NJ. Dr. Harmantzis holds an M.Sc. in management science from the University of Pennsylvania, an MBA in finance from the University of Toronto and New York University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. His interests are in the telecommunications, IT and financial/banking industries. More specifically he specializes on applications of real options in telecom and network decisions, as well as on quantitiative research for equity valuation and portfolio management.  Dr. Harmantzis is author of several articles and has been a frequent speaker in international conferences. His consulting experiences include organizations, financial institutions and hedge funds in North America.

MARIOS STELLAKIS, MBA, CFA

Mr. Stellakis is Director of Online Services and heads Software Development at the Real Options Group in Nicosia, Cyprus. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and B.Eng in computer science from Imperial College. A Chartered Financial Analyst, Mr Stellakis has been a licensed broker on several exchanges and has previously been head of the trading desk of Parma Brokerage. Besides his extensive trading floor experience in equity trading and financial modeling, he has worked as project manager developing software and IT solutions for the finance industry.

MARK  MCNASBY, B.A.

Mr. McNasby heads Product Development and Marketing of ROG services in the US. He has been co-founder and President of Morning Meeting, a financial software firm specializing in equity valuation. Mr. McNasby holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has more than ten years of professional experience in equity valuation, quantitative modeling and financial consulting.  Mr. McNasby worked on valuation and corporate development projects for Dunning Capital Investment Bank and SilverDeer Private Equity.  He has been Vice President for Tatra Capital, responsible for marketing and due diligence efforts for the Carpathian Fund. Mr. McNasby spent six years at Baseline Financial Services building custom financial applications for analysts and portfolio managers at major banks, hedge funds, and investment companies. Earlier he was financial analyst at The Washington Post and GE Capital. 

FRANCESCO BALDI, PhD

Dr. Baldi is an Associate of ROG supporting the Intangible Assets Valuation practice. He earned his Ph.D. in Business Economics from the University of Rome III. Dr. Baldi has a ten-year professional experience, having started his career as a dealer in the City of London. He subsequently worked as a management consultant with Deloitte & Touche and with the debt capital markets division of MCC SpA. As an investment banker, he participated in the structuring and placement of some major asset-backed securities issues in the Italian market. Most recently, he has been a Vice President with Capitalia SpA, where he advised the European Commission on the use of real options techniques for the valuation of breakthrough technology projects in the European energy sector. Dr. Baldi is a Chazen Visiting Scholar at Columbia Graduate School of Business, having received the 2006 “Fondazione IRI” scholarship in Italy. His current focus is on real options valuation of corporate intangible assets. He is a frequent presenter at international conferences and has published in The Journal of Private Equity and other journals.

MICHAEL BRENNAN, PhD

Dr. Brennan has been a founding partner and director of the Real Options Group since its inception and has been a Professor of Banking and Finance at UCLA. A former President of the American Finance Association, he also served as Editor for the Journal of Finance and was Founding Editor of the Review of Financial Studies. He has published extensively on real options and asset pricing, corporate finance, derivative securities, market microstructure, the role of information in capital markets, and risk management. He has served as consultant to businesses and governments in the USA and Canada.