Luis Seco has been awarded the Order of Isabel la Católica, a prestigious Spanish civil honor recognizing exceptional service to Spain and outstanding contributions to international relations and cooperation. The Order is one of Spain’s three highest orders of merit, alongside the Order of Charles III and the Order of Civil Merit. It is open to both Spanish citizens and distinguished individuals from abroad, particularly from the Spanish-speaking world.
Luis is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Toronto and Director of the Mathematical Finance Program. He is also the founding director of RiskLab, a university research laboratory established in 1996, dedicated to research in quantitative finance and asset management. His current work focuses on sustainability and climate risk, where he applies artificial intelligence and machine learning to challenges such as environmental scoring, CO₂ emissions, and carbon markets. He serves as Chair of the Centre for Sustainable Development at the Fields Institute and is an affiliate faculty member at the Vector Institute.
He has extensive experience building university–industry partnerships and received the NSERC Synergy Award for Innovation in 2007. In 2011, he was appointed Caballero de la Orden del Mérito Civil by the Government of Spain for his contributions to applying mathematics to the forecasting of economic cycles. He is a co-founder and former CEO of Sigma Analysis & Management Ltd., an asset management firm that served institutional investors for two decades, and a co-founder of Feishu, a partner of the Fields Institute in China.
Luis began his academic career at Princeton University, followed by appointments at Caltech and the University of Toronto, where he has been based since 1992. He currently holds adjunct appointments at several international universities and continues to advance a global vision for innovation at the intersection of finance, technology, sustainability, and education.
Reflecting on the honor, Luis said:
When the country you live in and work in recognizes your contributions, the feeling is great. When a country you don’t live or work in recognizes your work, you realize the international impact your work has, and it gives you a tremendous sense of accomplishment.