This bio is current as of 2020.
After graduation, Stephen Cray began working at J.P. Morgan in Chicago, where he spent 3 years as an analyst. While at J.P. Morgan he worked on the Leveraged Finance team and was responsible for underwriting and syndicating large debt facilities for big corporations, including Winnebago, Cardinal Health, and more. His role consisted of in-depth credit analysis on these companies in addition to conversing directly with potential investors in the prospective debt facilities.
Following J.P. Morgan, Cray began working for Kayne Anderson, where he is currently employed. Kayne Anderson is a large multi-strategy investment firm and he is an associate on their Private Credit team. At Kayne, he is responsible for underwriting direct debt investments in middle-market companies. His job entails performing detailed due diligence on companies they are looking to invest in and maintaining a portfolio of their current investments to track their ongoing financial performance.
While in the International Scholars Program, Cray worked with Professor Bergstrand on updating and refining his database of international trade agreements. They researched old and new agreements in order to accurately categorize the trade links between countries and rate their openness. He learned how trade connects economies and what role this plays in shaping the global market. His senior year, he wrote a thesis with Professor Bergstrand dealing with the gravity equation of international trade, which loosely applied the concept of Newton’s gravity equation to predicting the trade flows between two countries.
At Notre Dame, Cray was involved in organizations such as Student Government, Student Union Board and SIBC in addition to Kellogg. His Freshman and Sophomore year summers, he worked with Professor Cosimano researching financial mathematics as he was co-authoring a textbook for the Mathematical Methods in Finance and Economics course. His Junior year summer, he worked as a Summer Analyst with J.P. Morgan in Chicago with the Leveraged Finance group before accepting a full time offer.
This profile was current as of 2016, when he was part of the on-campus Kellogg community.
Thesis Title: The Gravity Equation of International Trade
I have worked with Professor Bergstrand on updating and refining his database of international trade agreements. We research old and new agreements in order to accurately categorize the trade links between countries and rate their openness. I am interested in how trade connects economies and what role this plays in shaping the global market. This year I will be writing a thesis with Professor Bergstrand dealing with the gravity equation of international trade, which loosely applies the concept of Newton’s gravity equation to predicting the trade flows between two countries.
I have been involved in organizations such as Student Government, Student Union Board and SIBC in addition to Kellogg at Notre Dame. My Freshman and Sophomore year summers I worked with Professor Cosimano researching financial mathematics as he was co-authoring a textbook for the Mathematical Methods in Finance and Economics course. This past summer I worked as a Summer Analyst with J.P. Morgan in Chicago with the Syndicated Leveraged Finance group.