Stockholm School of Economics in Riga Students' Magazine

“Nice! School MUST keep Kenneth as a teacher…” This is just one of many very similar comments from last years’ International Finance course evaluation form. There might be people who don’t like mathematics and finance, but it is hard to find a person with a negative opinion towards the lecturer of IF. Therefore, The Insider presents you Kenneth Hogholm: Work, Life and Values.

Friends call me: simply Kenneth

Age: Between 30 and 50

Family Status: Married and has 3 children

Favorite movie: A Swedish movie called Män som hatar kvinnor (English title: Millennium: Part 1- Men who hate women, 2009)

Favorite book: The trilogy Män som hatar kvinnor

Favorite Music: Pop and a little bit harder stuff

On Facebook: No

Crazy about: Wife and kids

Cannot spend a day without: Internet 

I have never lied...oops, just did :)

Country of dreams: Brazil

Languages spoken: English, Finnish, German, Swedish

Partying vs. Reading books: Reading

Blondes vs. Brunettes: Brunettes

Red wine vs. White wine: Red

A little about work

What is you educational background?

I have a Master's  degree and a PhD in finance.

Do you like teaching and is it your main occupation?

 Yes to both questions.

 The International Finance course at SSE Riga lasts only for three weeks. Where else are you teaching?

I have a full professorship in Finance at HANKEN School of Economics in Vaasa (a former Swedish School of Economics, which has recently changed its brand name). So it’s my main position, but I am also working quite a lot in management education and consulting within the finance industry.

Are SSE Riga students somewhat different in comparison to other universities’ students? What could you say about them? 

I would say that students here are more motivated and more willing to put the effort required to pass the course.

Do you see any difference between these Y2s and the ones you taught last year? 

No, I don’t. Being here only for three weeks and just lecturing lecturing lecturing I don’t have time to neither meet nor approach any of the students and thus it is hard to get a better feeling for them. So no, In this sense, there is nothing in particular that stands out in this year’s students and shows that they are somehow different from previous years. 

Some students call you the best lecturer at SSE Riga and IF is consider to be the best course. How do you feel about that?

I am glad, absolutely. It is always nice to get a good response to what you are doing, because we, the teachers, are here for the students, not vice versa. Therefore, it’s definitely more important that students like the stuff we are doing than that we like the students :). Of course, the best situation is if it goes both directions, so I am really glad if students appreciate what I am doing.

Life

What is your biggest achievement in life?  

My 3 kids, they are now 10, 15 and 18

What is your biggest dream and fear? 

The biggest dream is definitely taking a year off and taking my family for a trip around the world, before the kids are so old that they won’t join anymore. That is something that would be really really nice, but it might already be too late.

Do you have some funny memories from your childhood? 

Lots of sunny memories as well as funny ones. My parents are farmers, so basically I grew up with cows, horses and all that kind of stuff. And this was really fun thinking back of it. I think living in a country-side for a couple of weeks, or moths,  is something that every child should have an opportunity at least to try sometime.

So how did you fall into finance and economics taking into consideration the environment you grew up in? 

Yes, it is a bit besides my childhood environment.., absolutely. I actually don’t really know when exactly I got interested into more "theoretical stuff". It most probably gradually evolved during my education process, because my parents always pushed me to educate myself. The farm was too small "to survive on it", so my parents were telling me: “Educate yourself, don’t stick to this”. They gave me an absolute freedom and 100% support in the path I chose.

Who could you be if not a lecturer?

 It was very close so that I shifted to a company within the finance industry 15 years ago. I was consulting them in launching a hedge fund, and creating a trading strategy for it. Afterwards, they made an offer that was really hard to resist. So if not a lecturer, it would definitely be something within the finance industry, and hence, have an opportunity to test ones knowledge "in the real world".

What are your hobbies?

 I would say it is mostly sports related. Myself, I am into running and skiing, so the goal is to run a couple of marathons per year, and participate in some competitions in orienteering and cross country skiing. My oldest kid is pretty good in athletics (decathlon), so I am one of his coaches and that takes quite a lot of my time as well. My youngest son plays football, so he is also into sports. So it is pretty much sports related activities.

How do you usually spend your free time in Riga? 

Usually when I am here, I try to squeeze in an hour of running. Otherwise, it is work, get something to eat, preparing for next day. Thus unfortunately I have seen too little of Riga. I have been in Riga for quite many years now, but as I have my full time professorship in Vaasa and, being the head of departement there, I have to take care of a lot of administrative issues in Vaasa even when I am here. That is the reason why I am here only four days a week during the course. I need to have one day a week to take care of administrative stuff in Vaasa. Hopefully, I will sometimes be able to take an additional weekend or a week in Riga to get to know the city better.

What is your most favorite place to visit here? 

A huge park with really, really nice running paths, it is called Meza parks as I remember. It is a perfect place to run in.

Values

What are the main values of your life? 

Honesty, definitely. At least from my point of view, that is the value that personal relationships and society as a whole should build upon. It is important that you can trust each other and you have kind of honesty between each other both at a personal level and a higher – society level.

Recipe for a happy life. 

Oh, allow yourself to try new things and make mistakes. Humans make mistakes, but if you don't risk anything you don't gain anything either. Don’t be afraid to make them, because that hints that you experience a lot of things. I have been and still am too afraid to make a fool out of myself, so...

What would you like to say to SSE Riga students?

Again, believe in yourself. You have a lot of knowledge when you have gone through this education. Although you might have a kind of feeling: “What do I know when I come out from here?”, believe in me, you have an impressive package of  knowledge with you, so use that and everything will definitely turn out for the best.

by Ginvile Ramanauskaite