Education

  • Master of Science in Finance and Economics, West Texas A&M
  • Doctor of Business Administration, University of the Incarnate Word
  • Master of Business Administration, University of the Incarnate Word
  • Bachelor of Business Administration, University of the Incarnate Word

Courses

  • Principles of Finance
  • Financial Institutions
  • Financial Counseling
  • Intermediate Corporate Finance
  • Financial Management

Biography

Valerie Ballesteros, D.B.A, MSFE, is a career financial services professional and academic. She spent more than 25 years as a financial services professional in financial institutions. Ballesteros worked in banks, credit unions and wealth management firms including Bank of America Merrill Lynch where she was a Senior Financial Advisor and International Financial Advisor. Her practitioner experience includes securities operations, client and advisor support, financial advising and wealth management for both U.S. and international clients.

Ballesteros is currently an Instructor of Finance at St. Mary’s University Greehey School of Business. Her passion for finance led her to the academic community in 2011 as an instructor where she has taught economics, finance, and quantitative methods and statistics in globally-recognized graduate and undergraduate programs at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio Business School and the University of London’s London School of Economics. Over the past decade she was a faculty member at Texas State University’s School of Family and Consumer Science, University of the Incarnate Word’s H-E-B School of Business, Texas A&M-San Antonio’s School of Business and Leadership, and Our Lady of the Lake’s School of Business and Leadership. 

Ballesteros has a Doctor of Business Administration, a Master of Business Administration, and Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, and a Master of Science in Finance and Economics from West Texas A&M University. She is a wife and mother of three, an advocate and volunteer in the autism and special needs community, and for immigrant and refugee rights. Her research interests include first-generation and underrepresented groups (specifically women and ethnic minorities) in the finance and economic marketplace, and in business, entrepreneurship and higher education.

Research Interests

  • Wealth disparity
  • Financial literacy
  • Underserved markets and underrepresented professionals (women and Hispanics) in the financial industry
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