Quent Research Collaborative

The Quent Research Collaborative is an interdisciplinary research initiative that brings together faculty and students from business management, finance, data science, engineering and economics to conduct cutting-edge research projects in partnership with the asset management firm, Quent Capital.

Sponsored by Quent Capital in collaboration with the UB School of Management, the initiative is supported by a gift from alumnus Gregg S. Fisher, BS ’92, Quent Capital’s founder.

Research projects explore a wide range of topics, including founder-led businesses, the rising importance of intangible assets in small companies, and the use of natural language processing and AI to extract and interpret unique information from documents. Other areas of focus include evaluating leadership teams and their capital allocation decisions, the role of family ownership in business and the critical importance of human capital in driving business outcomes and stock price performance.

The collaborative also investigates key characteristics that influence business and stock performance, such as the value of customer relationships, business location and its connection to attracting and retaining talent, and the impact of personal and professional networks. In addition, the initiative examines the social dimensions of business, including organizational commitments to clients and issues such as wage inequality. It also produces the UB School of Management’s Job Quality Index.

Within the School of Management, the initiative is led by Cristian I. Tiu, who serves as director of the collaborative.

The collaborative is positioned to align with broader regional efforts, including participation in Empire AI, Governor Kathy Hochul’s recently announced $400 million consortium to advance AI leadership in New York State.

Ultimately, the Quent Research Collaborative serves as a dynamic bridge between academia and applied finance. It fosters valuable research opportunities that benefit both students and investors while integrating academic inquiry into the classroom, giving students exposure to projects that are both multidisciplinary and directly applicable to real-world investment practice.