About the Founder
Art Auction Analytics was created by Morgan Baird, whose background blends Art History with sophisticated financial and portfolio modeling. The tool reflects his 20 years of experience in both art and business.
A graduate of Lawrence University, Morgan also holds an M.A. in Art History from Boston University and an M.B.A. in finance and corporate accounting from the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester. His arts organization/museum consulting engagements have enlightened him on virtually all facets of the art trade. While a college student, he curated a retrospective for a notable regional artist, and as a graduate student he modeled financial impacts on planned gifts at a mid-tier museum.
More recently, Morgan has focused on providing financial and operational consulting to companies ranging from start-ups to mid-market firms. In these roles, he often develops customized models to simplify and clarify corporate decision-making.
The principles of Art Auction Analytics are based on analytics, termed Affordable Debt Options, that Morgan developed with two partner boutique investment banks in 2009. This model uses a similar comparative-based approach for valuing bank loans and loan portfolios to bring key drivers of that performance, actual and expected, into sharper focus. When applied to art auctions, the underlying methodology of Affordable Debt Options provides new, enhanced levels of analysis.