Elyas Fermand is an Assistant Professor of Finance at Colorado State University. His research broadly focuses on private capital finance and household finance. His private capital agenda focuses on institutional investors and their investment processes. For instance, one study analyzes the the agency costs related to using investment consultants to benchmark institutional PE portfolios. Another paper estimates real economic impacts (e.g. on employment) of commercial real estate investments by institutional investors with differing incentives. His household finance research studies the drivers and consequences of households’ belief formation regarding economic and financial objects (e.g. inflation, house prices, and stock prices). Elyas' research has been published in top-tier journals such as Management Science.

Elyas joined Colorado State in the Fall of 2026. Prior to that he was an Assistant Professor of Finance at Santa Clara University where he also served as the Faculty Director for the SCU Real Estate Institute.

Elyas earned his PhD in Finance from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Kenan-Flagler Business School. He also earned an MA in Economics from Duke University and a BSc in Biotechnology and Economics from the University of Waterloo. Prior to his PhD, Elyas worked as Senior Quantitative Analyst in Residential Mortgage Credit Risk for Citizens Financial Group where he helped to manage a $30+ billion asset portfolio of mortgages held on the bank's balance sheet.