By Sophia Yodice

Despite artificial intelligence’s current popularity, Wall Street analyst Dan Ives said the most significant changes are ahead—a message he delivered on Nov. 11 at the University of Maryland’s Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Series.

Ives, managing director and senior equity research analyst at Wedbush Securities, joined Robert H. Smith School of Business Dean Prabhudev Konana for a conversation on the future of AI, the stock market and the role of emotional intelligence in finance.

Voted the Best Dressed Man on Wall Street, Ives encouraged embracing the haters and acknowledging AI’s emerging potential in the business market. 

The event drew about 250 students, faculty and alumni, all eager to hear one of Wall Street’s most recognizable tech voices discuss what he described as a once-in-a-generation market transformation.

“Those who invest will never miss this person,” Konana said. 

A UMD Master of Business Administration graduate and Penn State alumnus, Ives has spent over 20 years analyzing enterprise technology, including cybersecurity, cloud computing, electric vehicles and disruptive software. His insights were featured in major outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg News and CNBC, where he is known for his energetic and accessible commentary.

During the discussion, Ives compared the current AI surge to an early-stage party, suggesting that while excitement is building, the biggest gains are still ahead. He said that the world is only in the early stages of a long-term buildout for AI.

“This party is going to continue to play on, and the bears will continue to watch through the windows,” Ives said.

Utilizing a bear market versus bull market outlook, he said that while bears often sound cautious and analytical, it is the bulls who ultimately drive progress and profit.

“Bears sound smart, bulls make money,” Ives said.

Ives also discussed Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI, describing it as a turning point that accelerated the industry’s growth. He emphasized that while some fear AI-related job losses, the technology will ultimately create new opportunities and drive innovation across sectors.

“I knew a lot about AI and OpenAI just in a general business sense and education sense, but I didn’t really think of it in a stock perspective,” Sarah Gold, a junior public policy major and general business minor, said. 

Ives said that data centers remain the backbone of the AI boom and predicted that many private AI firms will eventually go public as demand for data and computing power increases, adding that more global data centers are under construction than are currently active.

He also touched on the growing importance of quantum computing, an algorithm equipped to solve complex equations, describing it as a developing part of the technology ecosystem.

Throughout the talk, Ives encouraged students to find their own paths in business and finance, emphasizing intuition and adaptability over traditional measures of intelligence. He said that self-awareness and communication are essential traits for success in the modern market.

Featured Image: Van Munching Hall on Nov. 12, home of the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, where Dan Ives’ lecture was hosted in its Frank Auditorium. Photo By Miller Rogers-Tetrick.