"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."
- Mark Twain
Howard Zhu
Aspiring Quant, Developer, and Finance Professional
About Me
I am a final-year double-degree student completing a BBA in Accounting at Wilfrid Laurier University and a BSc in Computer Science at the University of Waterloo, graduating in April 2026. My work sits at the intersection of institutional investment analysis and quantitative systems development. Over the past three years of co-op rotations, I have worked on buy-side deliverables including fund attribution, manager research and selection, due diligence, and research infrastructure now used across UWaterloo. My current focus is macro: monetary policy, labor-market dynamics, and credit-cycle risk. I follow primary sources closely and write about markets regularly. I am looking for roles in investment analysis or quantitative research where analytical depth and technical execution both matter.
Work Experience
External Fund Management, Investment
- Worked directly with an AVP overseeing 50+ external funds with total AUM above $3B.
- Conducted 20+ attribution analyses across balanced, equity, and fixed-income funds to assess performance and mandate alignment.
- Co-designed and automated the fund management process with the Morningstar API and Power BI, reducing departmental manual work by 80%.
- Researched market trends, macroeconomic factors, and competitor strategies to support fund selection and optimization.
Research Assistant, Capital Markets
- At Laurier, worked with Darren Henderson on Non-GAAP reporting analysis, building tools to collect company disclosures and management justifications from annual and quarterly reports.
- At Waterloo, worked with Andrew Bauer to create a customizable SEC filings database similar to WRDS, deployed for faculty, researchers, and students across UWaterloo.
Business Systems Analyst, Data Governance
- Led automation initiatives aligning data governance workflows with OSFI compliance requirements.
- Designed a cross-team process used by CIBC Technology Operations to support roughly 120 Data Domain Admins, improving workflow efficiency by 70%.
- Implemented automated processes to streamline data reporting and vendor management.
Account Executive
- Conducted market research to identify trends and inform business strategies.
- Expanded the customer base through targeted outreach and industry networking.
Skills
Finance & Investment
Data & Analytics
Technology & Platforms
Quantitative Skills
Education
Wilfrid Laurier University
University of Waterloo
Projects
WLP4 Compiler
Achievements
Bloomberg Market Concepts Certificate
CIBC Exceptional Student Award
DataCamp Associate AI Engineer for Developers
Latest Research & Analysis
Deep dives into finance, markets, and quantitative strategy.
A trading note on shorting the CLU6-CLZ6 calendar spread, using backwardation, EFP signals, physical-market demand, refinery economics, and tail-risk monitoring to frame the thesis.
A ZQ-focused rates trade note on market protest pricing, contract selection, and risk-reward across the curve.
A market note on Federal Reserve expectations, rates positioning, and the tension between policy guidance and market pricing.
Contact Me
Contact Information
Location
Waterloo, ON, Canada