Paul B. Fjeldsted
Managing Director
Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
Dean’s Convocation – Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Paul B. Fjeldsted is a managing director of Citigroup Global Markets Inc. where he is responsible for structuring and trading credit derivatives on the emerging markets of Central and South America.
He started his career in 1986 as an analyst at Citibank in New York City, where he worked two years prior to attending Harvard Business School. He rejoined Citibank in 1990 in New York City and became a founding member of the emerging markets derivatives desk in 1991. In 1993, he was hired by Salomon Brothers as a vice president-trader, and, along with two other colleagues, was responsible for developing the emerging markets business.
Since that time he has contributed to the desk's establishment as a core business franchise for Citigroup with 25 traders globally. He has traded bonds, swaps and structured notes on the local fixed-income markets of most Latin American countries as well as Russia and Turkey.
He successfully managed large derivatives trading positions throughout a number of severe emerging markets crises including the Mexican Peso crisis, the Russia devaluation and default, the Brazil devaluation, the Argentina devaluation and default and the current global credit crisis.
Paul has been active in recruiting for Citigroup at Harvard and retains a major role in training and mentoring new traders. In 2007, he and his family relocated from New York to Cache Valley, and Paul pioneered a remote work arrangement allowing him to retain his trading responsibilities from his Utah home while travelling frequently to New York City and various Latin American countries.
Paul served a full-time mission in the Taiwan Taipei mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1981 to 1983. He graduated from Utah State University, Magna Cum Laude, with a bachelor's degree in liberal arts in 1986 and from Harvard Business School in 1990. He met his wife and fellow USU graduate, Patricia, at USU. They have three children. Their oldest daughter Hannah started at USU in fall 2007.