Dr. Estelle Kone, Burkinabe
VP of Modeling, Goldman Sachs
Estelle Kone holds a PhD in Industrial Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where her research focused on stochastic processes, optimization and data fusion. Soon after, she joined Goldman Sachs & Co. as an associate and was quickly promoted to Vice President at the Market Risk Management and Analysis (MRMA) department. Growing up in Burkina Faso, many people told her not to choose the Science and Technology field because “it was too hard for girls.” Choosing to follow her dreams instead, she still applied and got admitted into the only program in the country that offered a combination of Science (Math, Physics) with Technology. She still finds herself a minority in the STEM field even in the US and France, where received a Masters in Engineering degree. Estelle Kone is engaged in fostering STEM education, in particular for girls and actively participates in outreach activities.
