A SHARED BRAIN FOR PEOPLE AND SOCIETY
Front row of Carowinds 325 Fury Rollercoaster

Dr. Victor Zitian Chen is a Director of Data Analytics and Insights, Experimental Design, and Causal Inference at Fidelity Investments. He leads cross-business efforts in causal science, including experimentation methodology and causal inference. In this capacity, he was peer-voted as among the World's Top 50 Data and Analytics Professionals (ONCON) and nominated by the editor as a finalist for the World's Top 40 under 40 Data Leaders (CDO Magazine) in 2023.


He joined the industry after a decade's long academic career, with his recent post as an Associate Professor of International Business at Copenhagen Business School (2022-2022). Before that, he was an Associate Professor (with tenure) in Management at The Belk College of Business, and an Affiliate Faculty at the School of Data Science and the Doctoral Program on Organizational Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (2012-2022). At UNC Charlotte, he spearheaded the Global Tech Launch (GTL) courses, an incubator-style program to help born-global tech innovators accelerate their new product/business launch into the global market. He was named Charlotte Chamber Young Professional Educator of the Year in 2015.


Funded by a hybrid model from the National Science Foundation, private gifts, and commercialization among others, he founded the Global OpenLabs for Performance-Enhancement Analytics and Knowledge System (GoPeaks), a collection of research and technology development to accelerate and scale knowledge synthesis into real-world decision solutions.


He was a thought and action leader in knowledge synthesis for decision analytics. With researchers in business meta-science, open science, information systems, applied machine learning, software engineering, and collective intelligence, he co-founded the Knowledge Integration, Synthesis, and Engineering (KnISE) working group at the Academy of Management, seeking to curate and synthesize fragmented knowledge in business research into decision tools.


Between December 2011 and August 2018, he as the Global Coordinator for the Emerging Market Global Players (EMGP) Program at Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, where he led the development of a research network of emerging market researchers, consultants, and policy advisors to analyze emerging market ESG investments abroad. During his tenure, the project has built a global research network in 17 major emerging markets and produced three dozen research reports, including a special issue published by UNCTAD.


Victor’s research has been published or forthcoming in the Journal of Management, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Corporate Finance, and Global Strategy Journal, amongst others. He received the Academy of Management Meeting Best Paper Award in International Corporate Governance, Academy of International Business Meeting Best Paper Finalist in Emerging Economies (twice), and the Asia Pacific Journal of Management 2014 Best Paper Award. His research has been quoted by Financial Times (UK), CNBC (USA), The Globe and Mail (Canada), Valor Econômico (Brazil), RT (Russia), and Shanghai Daily (China), among others.


Victor completed a Ph.D. in Strategy (Business Economics) with High Distinction from Segal Graduate School of Business, Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, where he was a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada Doctoral Scholar. While a Ph.D. student, he was also a Research Fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, where he provided consulting and research support to some of the nation’s senior policymakers and business executives on international business. 


In addition, he finished a Master's in Information and Data Science at the UC Berkeley School of Information and has taken courses on Neuroscience at Harvard. He is interested in leveraging the breakthroughs from computer/data science and brain science to improve knowledge synthesis and decision tools. Before his academic career, he completed Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).


In addition to his academic career, Victor was active in both the international economic and commercial arenas, including serving as an economic officer at the central coordination directorate for the Asia Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative (APGCI) in 2010-2011, where his role included preparing Minister Stockwell Day for his Asian business missions. During 2008-2009, he was part of a global team to help the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) design China Goes Global surveys. In 2006, he co-founded Transco Global LLC–a Canada-based global investment knowledge platform, whose publication and intelligence arm was spun off to Taylor & Francis.


Victor served as an Inaugural Advisory Board Member for the Microsoft Azure for Research Community. He served on the 58th Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts’s Charlotte-China Business Advisory Council from 2016 to 2017. He was a member of the inaugural advisory council of Telra Institute (a charter school for gifted education) and a member of the Rotary Club of Charlotte.


Victor firmly believes in the ideal of a Renaissance (wo)man. Since he was a child, he has maintained wide-ranging interests. While a child growing up in China, he won top prizes in national contests in physics, mathematics, foreign language, watercolor painting, and novel writing among others. 

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    Victor organized a symposium on “Time is ripe for knowledge synthesis: (Re)inventing technologies, outlets, and incentives” with five former Academy of Management presidents, Michael Hitt, Denise Rousseau, Jim Walsh, Susan Jackson, and Duane Ireland (Hyatt Regency Atlanta, August 6, 2017).

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    Victor organized a symposium on Global social evolution with Jared Diamond (1998 Pulitzer Prize recipient) and John Cantwell at 2016 Academy of Management Meeting (Anaheim Convention Center, August 9, 2016).

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    Victor was awarded Charlotte Chamber of Commerce Young Professional of the Year 2015 (Educator category). With winners in other categories (from left), Tiffani Teachey, Senator Jeff Jackson, Nepherterra Estrada, Amanda Pickens, Brooke Mize, and Omari Sealy (NASCAR Hall of Fame, Charlotte, April 8, 2015).

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    Victor with his PhD dissertation committee: from left, Tom Lawrence (PhD program chair), Jing Li (dissertation supervisor), Lulu Zhou (family representative), Rajneesh Narula (external examiner), Daniel M. Shapiro (dissertation senior supervisor), and Steven Globerman (dissertation supervisor) after dissertation defense (Segal Grad School of Business, Feb 27, 2012

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    Victor served at the central coordination office of Asia Pacific Gateway and Coordinator Initiative (APGCI) at the Government of Canada, between 2009 and 2010 (Sutton Hotel Vancouver, Nov 17, 2010).

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    Victor was a research fellow at Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada (APFC) between 2008 and 2009. Here is him after a meeting with David T. Fung (past Chair of National Board of Manufacturers and Exporters Associations of Canada), Victor Gao (高志凯) (former Interpreter for Deng Xiaoping, then retiring SVP of CNOOC), and Kenny Zhang (Research Director at APFC) (APFC boardroom, Feb, 2009).

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    Victor served as the global coordinator of Emerging Market Global Players (EMGP) between 2011 and 2018 (Columbia University, March 17, 2017).

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    Victor worked with Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment on the launch of TNC-Online platform. From left, with Joseph Stiglitz (Columbia University; 2001 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences), Karl Sauvant (Columbia Law School) (Columbia Law School, New York, Oct 24, 2006).

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    Victor in a roundtable with senior economists at the Department of Industry (IC) and Department of International Trade and Foreign Affairs (DFAIT) of the Government of Canada, on the creation of a digital knowledge platform on transnational corporations (IC boardroom, Ottawa, 2006).

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    Victor and 70th NC Governor “Catalyst” Jim Martin (Charlotte Rotary Club, September 4, 2018)

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    Victor and 70th NC Governor “Catalyst” Jim Martin (Charlotte Rotary Club, September 4, 2018)

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