Gail Dudack ’70, former president of the Skidmore College Alumni Association and parent of Ross Columbo ’11,is the managing director of Dudack Research Group, an independent institutional research firm that provides economic, fundamental, quantitative and technical strategy and tools to mutual funds, hedge funds and private money managers. Dudack Research Group is a division of Wellington Shields & Co. LLC., a NYSE member firm that provides full service brokerage to institutions and high net worth and family accounts. Prior to setting up her own firm, Dudack was the Chief U.S. Investment Strategist for UBS AG and its predecessor firms, beginning with S.G. Warburg PLC. She began her Wall Street career at the Pershing division of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Inc. (now Credit Suisse First Boston Corporation).
In addition to her full time role as strategist, Dudack was a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts Board of Directors from 1989-1991 and currently serves on the NYSSA Advisory Council. She is a founding member of the International Federation of Technical Analysts and a past member of the Department of Labor’s Business Research Advisory Council for consumer and producer price indices. She is a current trustee and past chair (2003-2005) of the Securities Industry Institute, the professional education body of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. A panelist on Wall $treet Week with Louis Rukeyser for over 20 years, Dudack also appeared on PBS’sWall Street Week with Fortune. She has been a guest on CNBC, PBS’s Nightly Business Report, and Bloomberg TV and radio. She is a popular speaker at a variety of business and investment forums both domestically and abroad.
In 1990, she attained the Chartered Market Technician designation awarded by the Market Technicians Association and in early 1997, received the MTA’s “Best of the Best Award” for her price analysis and market forecasting for the previous five-year period. In May 2007 she received the MTA’s Annual Award honoring both her career and her contribution to the professional organization. She has contributed to several documentaries and books on the stock market and is featured in Bull! A History of the Boom, 1982-1999 by Maggie Mahar (Harper Business 2003)and as the subject of a chapter in The Heretics of Financeby Andrew W. Lo and Jasmina Hasanhodzic (Bloomberg Press 2009).
A Skidmore economics major, Dudack received the Wall Street Journal Award for the most promising student in finance in 1970. The Skidmore College Alumni Association presented her with a Distinguished Achievement Award in 2001 and she was honored with its Outstanding Service Award in 2010. In addition to her role as past president of the Skidmore Alumni Association and its Board of Directors, Dudack has served as co-chair of Skidmore’s Parents Council from 2009 to 2011.