Jan Annaert earned his Ph.D. from the University of Antwerp in 1993. Currently, he is full professor of finance at the Faculty of Applied Economics of the University of Antwerp. He also has teaching responsibilities at the Antwerp Management School. Between 1994 and 1997, he was post-doctoral research fellow of the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO), he then became assistant professor at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, and associate professor of investments at Ghent University. He also taught at the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School from 1999 to 2006.

He participates as external expert to the Pricing and Valuation Committee of KBC Asset Management. Since January 2010 he is an independent director of Europabank and since November 2010 also of Crelan Fund. At the university he is member of the Investment Committee.

His research interests include portfolio theory, asset pricing, financial history and financial risk management. His research has been published in academic journals such as European Journal of Finance, European Journal of Operational Research, Explorations in Economic History, Financial History Review, Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, International Review of Economics & Finance, International Review of Financial Analysis, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, Journal of International Money and Finance, Journal of Multinational Financial Management, and Review of Finance. In 2008-9 he spent a research internship at the Financial Stability Department of the National Bank of Belgium. Together with Marc De Ceuster he supervises the KBC Chair in Financial Risk Management at the University of Antwerp. He is also president of the research institute SCOB (StudieCentrum voor Onderneming en Beurs), that focuses on historical financial research pertaining to Belgian financial markets.

In addition, he was editor of Kwartaalschrift Economie and is member of the board of editors of Bank- en Financiewezen/Revue Bancaire et Financière.