Elyas is a second-year PhD student in the Finance Department at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. He holds the Leonard W. Wood Center Fellowship in Real Estate Research and his research focuses on real estate, household finance and behavioral economics.

Prior to his PhD studies, Elyas worked in industry for 2 years at RBS.  He was on the Portfolio Management team that was responsible for managing a $32 Bn portfolio of residential lending assets held on the Bank’s balance sheet. Other work experience includes time at Microsoft Canada, RIM (Blackberry), and Ontario’s IESO energy company.

Elyas earned his B.Sc. in Biotechnology and Economics, with Dean’s Honors, from the University of Waterloo in 2011 and graduated from Duke University with an M.A. in Economics in 2013.