Ben Doehr

Ben is currently head of Cloud Economics Tooling with Amazon Web Services (AWS), based out of Seattle, WA. Prior to this position, he was a Financial Institution Specialist with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). He is a graduate of Grinnell College, having earned a double major in Economics (with honors) and Chemistry (with honors), as well as having completed numerous independent studies.

Past employment includes work with the FDIC, research at the London Business School, and numerous jobs at Grinnell College, including managing Lyle's Pub for three years.

Original research that he conducted at Grinnell College led to the publication of a paper in the Undergraduate Economic Review titled The Effect of Terminating Enforcement Actions on the Nation's Problem Banks. (download a PDF here).

Throughout his study, Ben has also explored all facets of theatrical design, including both traditional design work and pushing the limits of interactive art. All of the images on this website are taken from his past design work. A theatrical portfolio can be found here.

Email

ben.doehr@gmail.com

Work

In May 2014, I began working for the FDIC as a Financial Management Scholar. As part of supporting the FDIC's mission to "maintain stability and public confidence in the nation's financial system", I worked with teams of bank examiners to prepare memoranda detailing examination findings for the Report of Examination. Additionally, I worked with smaller teams to conduct assessments of bank operations and to completely understand and evaluate our assigned areas of bank conditions. I returned to the FDIC in the summer of 2015 as a Financial Institution Specialist, where I am currently working towards becoming a commissioned bank examiner.

From fall 2012 to spring 2015, I served as the manager of Lyle's Pub, the campus bar at Grinnell College. I was responsible for both the day-to-day operations of the Pub and for ensuring long-term survival and profitability. Among other initiatives that I took, I spearheaded the digitization of most of the Pub's operations, including sales invoices, employee scheduling, and other financial records. By combining a more efficient overhead system with efforts to increase the Pub's appeal to both faculty and staff with events like PUBTalks, I helped to ensure the financial and cultural viability of the Pub for years into the future.

In the fall of 2013, I spent four months completing an internship at the London Business School under the guidance of Nicholas Hirschey, PhD, Assistant Professor of Finance. I taught myself the basics of R and used it to create momentum portfolios based on the work of Jegadeesh & Titman, including the application of Sharpe ratios and evaluating the momentum investment strategy over differing time horizons. The results of my work are stored here.

Publications

In the fall of 2014 under the guidance of Caleb Stroup, I undertook a research project exploring what happens to bank profits when the FDIC terminates a regulatory action against a previously unsound bank. I found that during the three-year period following the termination of a supervisory action, return on assets (a key measure of bank profitability) rises by 10 to 20 basis points. The reaction of capital markets to the termination results in a 1.7 basis point increase in return on assets, while management actions post-termination result in a 1.6 basis point decrease in return on assets.

My paper was published in March 2015 in the Undergraduate Economic Review, an online, peer-reviewed journal published by Illinois Wesleyan University. The paper can be downloaded directly here.

Design

Beginning in early high school and continuing throughout college and the professional world, I have been active in the design and production of live theatre. My areas of specialty in traditional theatre are lighting and projection design; galleries of some of the highlights of my work can be seen here, including productions at Grinnell College, The Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C., and The Bishop's School.

One piece of work in particular stands out from the rest. In the spring of 2014, Caleb Sponheim and I created a series of large-scale, immersive, interactive art installations. To view galleries and descriptions of the work, click here.