Howard Zhu
Board Director · 2025
MSCI Managing Director, Head of Analytics, Americas
Biography
Howard Zhu is a Managing Director and Head of Analytics for the Americas at MSCI, where he leads commercial strategy and business development for MSCI’s analytics business across its largest market. Prior to his current role, Howard served as Head of APAC Analytics Products, based in Hong Kong. He has also served on MSCI’s Regional Operating Committee for both the Americas and APAC.
Before joining MSCI, Howard was a Client Portfolio Manager at ING Investment Management in Hong Kong, driving growth in systematic investment strategies. Earlier in his career, he was a Research Analyst at Investment Technology Group (ITG) in Boston, developing portfolio analytics solutions spanning risk models, transaction cost analysis, and valuation frameworks. His research on the capacity of liquidity-demanding equity strategies was published in the Journal of Portfolio Management.
Howard holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science with a concentration in Artificial Intelligence from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s degree in Biophysics from Fudan University. He pursued doctoral studies in statistics at the University of Washington and holds a patent on constructing a turnover-efficient frontier for investment portfolios.