Jan
Simon

Professor of the Practice of Management of Entrepreneurship

• Ph.D. in Finance, University of Essex
• MBA, IESE Business School, University of Navarra
• LL.M., Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
• LL.B., Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

Jan Simon is Professor of the Practice of Management in the Entrepreneurship Department and the academic director of its International Search Fund Center. He holds an LL.B. and LL.M. from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, an MBA from IESE Business School, University of Navarra, earned his Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Essex, holds the ICD.D Designation for corporate directors from the Rotman School of Management and earned his AMP at Harvard Business School.

Professor Simon worked over two decades in the investment industry. He co-headed the Emerging Markets Trading Desk at Salomon Brothers, set up the Continental Sales-Trading Desk at Goldman Sachs and was a member of Merrill Lynch’s Hedge Fund Advisory Group. He has been a Special Advisor to Pacific Lake Partners and is the Managing Partner of Vonzeo Capital, a global institutional investor in search funds.

His expertise is in the areas of investment strategies, mergers and acquisitions and entrepreneurial acquisitions. He has managed money in equities, fixed income, search funds and advised hedge funds in a variety of strategies. His research has been published in academic journals such as the Journal of Network Theory in Finance and the British Journal of Management.

He served the 1st Battalion of Parachutists and Commandos -Special Operations Regiment-, as well as NATO’s Special Intervention Forces -ACE Mobile Force. He holds both the green and red beret.

Areas of interest.

• Search Funds
• Entrepreneurial Acquisitions
• Mergers and Acquisitions

Publications

Journal Articles (refereed)

KELLARD, N., MILLO, Y., SIMON, J., ENGEL, O. (2017). Close communications. Hedge funds, brokers and the emergence of herding. British Journal of Management, 28 (1), 84-101. doi:10.1111/1467-8551.12158. SIMON, J., MILLO, Y., KELLARD, N., ENGEL, O. (2016). Close communications. Hedge funds, brokers and the emergence of a consensus trade. Journal of Network Theory in Finance, 2 (1), 1-31. doi:10.21314/JNTF.2016.017.

Books

SIMON, J. (2021). Search funds & entrepreneurial acquisitions. The Roadmap for buying a business and leading it to the next level. Victoria, BC: Tellwell Talent.

Book Chapters

RAHNEMA ALAVI, A., SIMON, J., SEAGER, P. (2017). Corporate and Entrepreneurial Finance: Moving Your Business from Back of the Envelope to Front of the Class. In Mike Rosenberg and Philip H. Seager (Ed.), Managing Media Businesses: A Game Plan to Navigate Disruption and Uncertainty (pp. 183 - 204).

Non-refereed articles

KOLAROVA, L., KELLY, P., SIMON, J., JOHNSON R., R. (2023). The Big Picture: The search fund wave. IESE Business School Insight (163), pp. 34-35. KOLAROVA, L., KELLY, P., SIMON, J., JOHNSON R., R. (2023). The Big Picture: Oleada de fondos de búsqueda. IESE Business School Insight (163), pp. 34-35. DÁVILA, A., SIMON, J. (2007). El futuro del deporte rey. La liga inglesa, la más atractiva para los inversores. Revista de Antiguos Alumnos (105), pp. 20 - 25.

Studies

SIMON, J., ROSENTHAL, S. (2024). Search fund transformations: A path to excellence. IESE. KOWALEWSKI, A.-S., KELLY, P., SIMON, J., JOHNSON, R. (2024). International Search Funds - 2024. Selected Observations. IESE. SIMON, J., ANN-SOPHIE KOWALEWSKI (2023). Nurturing Leadership in Search Funds. IESE.

Cases

SIMON, J. (2025). To sell or not to sell? IESE, E-241-E. SIMON J., J. (2020). AB inBev, Valuation. IESE, F-958-E. SIMON, J. (2019). Santa's Workshop (B). Forecasting and Diagnosis. IESE, F-949-E.

Technical Notes

SIMON, J. (2020). Letter to a Young Operator on Managing During a Crisis. IESE, EN-34-E. SIMON, J. (2019). Bootstrapping and the Zero-Coupon Yield Curve. IESE, FN-642-E. SIMON, J. (2019). Hedge Funds and Portfolio Management Applications. IESE, FN-641-E.

Outputs in other media

SIMON, J. (2009). Financial firefighters must beware the economic backdrop. The Times, UK. SIMON, J. (2009). Solutions, not sutures. Financial News, UK.