When the MS and PhD candidates of Columbia Business School gather for their graduation ceremony next month, they will be addressed by a business leader whose journey reflects a classic narrative of global ambition.
Deepak Narula, the founder and managing partner of Metacapital Management, has been selected as the distinguished speaker for the school’s graduation ceremony on May 16, 2026.
For Narula, returning to the Morningside Heights campus at 8:00 AM is more than a professional honor, it is a homecoming to the institution where he earned his PhD in Management Science in 1989.
Narula’s story is deeply intertwined with his Indian roots. Long before he became a titan of mortgage-backed securities, he was a student at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur.
Graduating in 1985 with a BTech. in Electrical Engineering, he belongs to a cadre of Indian scholars who leveraged rigorous technical training to redefine Western finance.
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His ties to his home country remain strong; he was recently honored with the 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award by IIT Kanpur for his contributions to investment management.
His rise in the American financial sector was propelled by a formative decade at Lehman Brothers, where he led mortgage strategy and trading. In 2001, he founded Metacapital, a firm that later gained international acclaim for navigating the 2008 housing crisis with precision. By 2012, Bloomberg ranked his flagship fund as the top-performing hedge fund in its category.
Beyond his professional success, Narula’s return to Columbia bridges his dual identities. Having served as an adjunct professor at the Business School, he represents the “brain gain” of the Indian diaspora, bringing specialized expertise from India’s top institutions to the heart of New York’s financial district.
As Columbia prepares for its 2026 commencement, Narula stands as a symbol of the enduring link between India’s academic excellence and the American dream. His address is expected to provide a roadmap for graduates looking to navigate an increasingly complex and interconnected global economy.