Jasmin Gider

Jasmin Gider, Assistant Professor in Finance

Jasmin Gider (36) is a globetrotter. Bonn, Bayreuth, London, Singapore, and Toronto feature on the resume of this child of a Turkish father and a German mother. And now, for a year, Tilburg does as well. That is where the Finance lecturer feels like a fish in water. “I have colleagues from Italy, Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands, but also from Turkey and Iran. I’m learning new things here every day in an ambitious environment. What more could you want?” As a child she already had an enquiring mind. Laughing, she says: “My parents say I asked too many questions, and I was never satisfied with the answers.” At university, she studied economics and philosophy. “They go well together. Philosophy taught me to tackle problems in a structured way.” On the table is the book White Collar Crime by Edwin H. Sutherland from 1949. “I’m very attached to it. Sutherland describes the financial crimes of the 1930s and 1940s in a powerful way. He also coined the term ‘white-collar crime’.” Our conversation touches on one of her specialties, insider trading. We discuss the world of CEOs, lawyers, and tax specialists involved in large (exchange) transactions. Anecdotes fly across the table. For example, about the CFO who complained at a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous about the stress he was under from an upcoming takeover of the company. Another AA member then bought shares and became rich. “Who is wrong in this case? The CFO who pours out his troubles, his fellow sufferer, or both? It’s a gray area that leads to notorious cases. A hedge fund manager made seventy million dollars through insider trading, but also received an eleven-year jail sentence.” She sees a parallel with science. “Sometimes research resembles a thriller – you never know how it’s going to end up.” –PdJ