Finance at SMU Cox

Understanding finance is essential for making business decisions and increasingly important as global competitiveness rises. Firms and their capital providers must understand how to allocate resources to maximize value and improve the efficiency of their operations. If resources are not put to the best possible use, they risk competition driving them out of business. Understanding how financial markets work is also crucially important for public policy, including consequences (intended and unintended) of regulation, tax policy and other governmental activities.

At SMU Cox, we ensure an education in finance is a real-world, 360-degree experience for our students. Not only are we intent on providing outstanding academics that serve as a solid knowledge base for understanding complex financial markets, but we also put our students to work. While still in school, our finance majors are getting hands-on experience on dozens of Bloomberg terminals. They’re managing real assets in a portfolio practicum, while also being exposed to alternative assets such as energy, real estate trusts, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), private equity and others. Students graduate as qualified leaders ready to take on the challenges of tomorrow’s financial leadership.

Finance at SMU Cox

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Professor James Linck Professor of Finance Distinguished Chair in Finance

At the SMU Cox School of Business, our faculty are leading scholars in finance, publishing cutting-edge research in financial market design, corporate governance, tax policy, asset pricing, mergers and acquisitions, institutional investors and many other areas. They participate in national and international conferences, collaborate with scholars across the globe, and inform policy debates on topics such as market design and corporate governance.

The SMU Cox Finance Department serves a number of highly qualified students across our undergraduate (BBA) and master’s programs. Our honors undergraduate Alternative Asset Management Program is among the best in the country. At the graduate level, we offer a unique STEM-certified Master’s in Finance (MSF). Our finance students manage real university endowment dollars in student-managed portfolios and work with

professionals on a wide variety of projects. Students learn first-hand from some of the world’s top business leaders, both in the classroom and in our executive speaker series.

SMU Cox ensures our finance students learn practical applications and skills without sacrificing the theoretical rigor necessary for them to apply their skills in a variety of situations. Our holistic approach allows them to graduate with the knowledge and skills necessary to become effective financial and business professionals.

I hope this brochure gives you an idea of what SMU Cox has to offer you in finance, whether as a BBA, full-time MBA, Professional MBA, Executive MBA or MSF student. Please feel free to contact us if you have further questions.

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For a number of years, there has been a lapse in knowledge about the composition of “the market,” according to SMU Cox Finance Professor Mehrdad Samadi. A major development in modern trading is automation, notes Samadi. To shed light on the eco-system of trading, he and his research co-authors parsed second-by-second trading before and during the infamous Flash Crash of 2010. Their findings are helping inform policymakers to prevent future crashes and better design market structures. “Market dislocations and trading are happening faster than the speed of human cognition,” notes Samadi. On May 6, 2010, a large automated sell program was rapidly executed in the E-mini S&P 500 index futures market. This trade, executed by a mutual fund complex, was worth approximately $4.1 billion, a large trade by any standard. The selling pressure then spread to the larger S&P 500 index funds and stocks. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange stopped trading for a brief period.

Theory suggests that market crashes can occur if there

are large and temporary selling pressures. If a small imbalance exists, then market intermediaries are supposed to provide a liquidity function to smooth the imbalance. If this capacity is overwhelmed, then liquidity crashes can occur, resulting in wild fluctuations in prices in the absence of big news on the fundamentals.

Samadi’s research also helped dispel a misconception about high-frequency traders, who were thought to be the same as the traditional market makers on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The research suggests that certain high-frequency traders in the futures market use their speed advantage to anticipate price changes rather than passively providing liquidity.

The research has sparked policy discussion about alternative market designs in order to promote competition on price rather than speed. With regard to crashes, “policies and trading rules need to be better designed to stop crashes before they happen,’’ Samadi concludes. “This indicates the need for well-designed automated pre-trade functionalities.”

Parsing a Flash Crash: Who is Moving Modern Markets

RESEARCH

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In testimony before the U.S. Senate, Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, used SMU Cox research to support his insights about the trends in fixed-income markets. Fixed-income markets, he stated, “perform important functions in our economy and it is imperative that we understand the significant changes they are currently undergoing.” As Powell discussed the factors driving these changes, he cited a research paper forthcoming in the Journal of Finance by SMU Cox finance professors William (Bill) Maxwell, Stacey Jacobsen and Kumar Venkataraman.

In the aftermath of the financial crisis, concerns were growing that trading activities in the corporate bond market by banks were curtailed by Dodd-Frank regulations and others. In their study, the Cox authors show that banking-related regulation negatively impacted the ability, or willingness, of bank dealers to supply capital for market-making in bond markets. “Non-bank dealers have stepped in, but they tend to be smaller than bank dealers and unable to fully offset the reduction in capital,” says Venkataraman. An implication is that it might be more difficult for a mutual fund to complete a large buy or sell trade in the corporate bond market today.

While equity market liquidity recovered after the financial crisis, concerns regarding corporate bond market

liquidity have become more widespread. “Collectively, the evidence indicates that the roles of corporate bond dealers have changed in recent years,” the Cox authors say. The authors analyzed liquidity and key aspects of dealer behavior in the corporate bond market from 2006 to 2016. “We were particularly interested in assessing market quality in the years following the financial crisis,” they say.

“Regulations need to be carefully designed as they offer benefits but also impose costs on markets,” says Venkataraman. “Although larger than stock markets, bond markets continue to be dominated by old methods that do not exploit trading technology.” Recently, Venkataraman was appointed to a Securities and Exchange Commission advisory group charged with identifying regulatory improvements in bond markets.

In the field of finance, researchers typically examine issues that are topical and important to regulators and markets. To obtain “color,” they frequently reach out to stakeholders such as regulators, investment bankers, investment professionals and traders. “These conversations help us design better experiments and learn about institutional arrangements in financial markets, which I share with students,” Venkatarman says. “Explaining complex ideas to students and industry professionals forces me to step out of the ivory tower.”

The Changing Face of Bond Markets

Bill Maxwell

RESEARCH

Stacey Jacobsen Kumar Venkataraman

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RESEARCH

Professor Darius Miller conducts research in financial market regulation, corporate governance and financial disclosure. Premier finance, accounting and economics journals, including the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Accounting Research and the Journal of Accounting and Economics, among others, have featured his research. Widely cited with over 6,100 Google Scholar citations, Miller has won numerous awards, including the Journal of Financial Economics “All Star Paper Award” for research impact.

Miller has a unique strategy to impart working wisdom. He brings the study of finance to life for students by telling them the back story of the research and the debates that took place behind the textbook answers they study. So when Miller asks his international finance class, “Why do foreign firms list their stock on the New York Stock Exchange?” he shares the paragraph in the textbook that features his JFE article as the “answer.” Then, he reviews the 40-page journal article that took him four years to complete, which resulted in that one paragraph “answer.” Miller continues to describe the competing theories and their authors who were arguing for a different answer at the time. By sharing his and others’ research, the textbook comes alive and teaches students how the conventional wisdom became the conventional wisdom, and demonstrates the value of primary research enthusiastically conducted by their professors.

Active beyond SMU Cox, Miller has been invited to give more than 100 research presentations for universities, governments and conferences worldwide. He has been elected three times to the board of directors of the Financial Management Association, a global leader in developing and disseminating knowledge about financial decision-making. Recently, he was an associate editor of Financial Management magazine. Miller’s published Journal of Accounting Research paper on auditor tenure, co-authored with Bill Maxwell, was chosen by the U.S. General Accounting Office to form the basis of

its report commissioned by Congress to investigate the consequences of requiring mandatory auditor rotation as part of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Miller has received the SMU Cox MBA Outstanding Teaching Award six times. Other teaching accolades include the SMU Cox Executive MBA Teacher of the Year Award, the Boghetich Family Distinguished Teaching Award, and the President’s Associates Outstanding Faculty Award, an honor annually bestowed by SMU to tenured faculty for teaching and learning. In 2015, Miller was inducted into SMU’s Academy of Distinguished Teachers.

Miller has taught classes for undergraduates, MBAs, Ph.D.s, and executives in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. He earned his Ph.D. in finance at the University of California, Irvine; his MBA at Loyola University; and his BS in electrical engineering at Tulane University.

Prolific in Research, Unique in the Classroom

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COX ALUMNI

Kyle Miller

Left to right: SMU Cox Dean Matthew B. Myers, Kyle Miller, Bruce Bullock, Kumar Venkataraman

At just 38, Kyle Miller (BBA '01) has made a name for himself in the energy industry. Miller’s success comes from a deep understanding of energy finance — an understanding that led to a $2.4 billion M&A deal in the Permian Basin and a new program and scholarship for the SMU Cox School of Business.

Miller graduated SMU Cox with a degree in finance and began his career with Wells Fargo Bank and Wells Fargo Energy Advisors in Houston. From there his career took off. He served as a vice president of Energy Spectrum Advisors Inc., and then as a principal and senior vice president of Energy Trust Partners.

Ten years after graduating from SMU Cox, Miller launched Silver Hill Energy Partners. Within five years, he had grown the firm to over $725 million and more than 50 wells in the largest contiguous acreage in the Delaware Basin. When it was time to sell, Miller negotiated an M&A that not only recognized immediate returns for his investors but gave them long-term equity ownership in the acquiring company. Oil & Gas Investor called it the “M&A Deal of the Year.”

Miller’s investors were pleased, too. Several investors pooled together to donate $5 million to SMU in

recognition of Miller’s success. The tribute gift, announced in early 2018, established the Kyle D. Miller Energy Management Program and the Kyle D. Miller Energy Scholarship Fund at SMU Cox.

“The opportunity to have a focused energy management program at the Cox School where we’re situated in the Southwest and the center of the domestic energy industry, makes all the sense in the world,” Miller told The Dallas Morning News.

Kumar Venkataraman, James M. Collins Chair of Finance, will oversee the academic management of the program, for which he was appointed to the Cary M. Maguire Chair of Oil and Gas Management. Venkataraman will work closely with the director of the Maguire Energy Institute, Bruce Bullock, to provide modern and relevant curricula.

The Kyle D. Miller Energy Management Program expands SMU Cox’s existing MBA concentration in energy finance. Courses will also be developed for SMU Cox’s undergraduate energy curriculum, as well as in executive education. The Kyle D. Miller Endowed Scholarship Fund provide funds for both BBA Scholars and MBA scholarships.

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Melanie White

As a student athlete, Melanie White (BBA '14) was intentional when deciding which school and city would be most beneficial to her future. When offered an opportunity to play for the SMU women’s golf team, she knew of the university’s reputation for strong academics. But what she appreciated most was the Cox School’s reputation as a world-class business school, its strong network and its location in the heart of a global business city.

“The DFW area was and still is growing rapidly. I thought it would be a great place to start and enjoy a long career with a strong network of alumni,” she explains.

As a BBA student, White received a rigorous education that taught her the ins and outs of the business world. She was accepted into the Cox Finance Department’s Alternative Asset Management Program, a highly selective honors program that prepares students for careers in finance, and graduated in 2014 with a BBA in finance. Upon graduation, she joined the investment banking group at J.P. Morgan Chase in New York City. Her career has been on a steady upward trajectory ever since.

“It was very apparent that SMU and the Cox Alternative Asset Management Center had set me up for a successful transition from academia to the ‘real world.’ I was able to move up the learning curve quicker than my peers,” she says.

Recently, White returned to Texas and landed a private equity position at LKCM Headwater Investments in Fort Worth. The Cox network was not only an excellent resource that helped White understand the private equity landscape in the DFW area, it also helped her make an informed decision when it came to her career move.

“The faculty and students have been a vital part of my success post-graduation. Alumni assisted with reviewing resumés, conducting mock interviews, providing advice on different career paths and connected me with future employers — the list goes on and on. Without SMU and the network it provided me, I would not be where I am today,” she says.

COX ALUMNI

“It was very apparent that SMU and the Cox Alternative Asset Management Center had set me up for a successful transition from academia to the ‘real world.’ I was able to move up the learning curve quicker than my peers.”

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Alternative assets have become a mainstay of the investor portfolio. In fact, a recent investor survey found that at the start of 2018, 52 percent of investors allocated resources to three or more alternative asset classes – most commonly real estate, private equity and hedge funds. This fact underscores what Scott Luttrell (BBA '77) and David Miller (BBA '72 and MBA '73) foresaw 10 years ago.

In 2008, Luttrell and Miller donated $3 million to create what was then a growing subset of finance – alternative asset management. Their donation funded The EnCap Investments & LCM Group Alternative Asset Management Center (AAMC) at the Cox School of Business, a center at the forefront of training students for careers in finance.

“This program gives students the tools they need to pursue careers in alternative asset management, along with the opportunity to learn from some of the leading practitioners in the field today,” Luttrell says.

AAMC students earn internships in Dallas, Houston, New York, San Francisco, London and Shanghai. They

graduate with offers from the world’s top financial firms, including Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and UBS.

“The knowledge and exposure gained by students who participate in the program puts them in a much better position to land these careers,” Miller says.

Thanks to influencers like Luttrell and Miller, Cox offers innovative programs that take the lead in finance education.

Luttrell is founder, chairman and chief investment officer of LCM Group Inc., an investment firm specializing in alternative asset funds management, wealth advisory and financial market consulting services. He serves on the SMU Cox Executive Board and the Alternative Asset Management Center Board of Advisors.

Miller is a co-founder and partner at EnCap Investments. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Cox School of Business. Miller is an SMU trustee and chairman of the SMU Cox Executive Board.

Alumni Gift Launches Cox Alternative Asset Education

COX INFLUENCERSScott Luttrell, David Miller

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EVENTS

Women in FinanceLast fall, Invesco hosted an event focusing on careers in asset management. Speakers shared their personal career journeys and what it took to become successful in the financial industry. Cox regularly hosts events for women in finance to bring students, alumni and faculty together.

Energy TrekCox takes learning on the road to Houston, where students learn first-hand about the energy industry. Each trip includes company visits with potential employers such as ExxonMobil, Guggenheim Securities, and others.

Speaker Series• Finance Department Seminar Series• Don Jackson Speakers Series• Practicum Speaker Series• CFO Speaker Series

Cox Finance Beyond the Classroom

Whether a student’s interests are in real estate, energy, or beyond, SMU Cox offers a suite of resources and hands-on experiences that connect finance students with the corporate community. Practicums, speaker series, special events and seminars bring the financial world to campus to provide a fully engaged learning experience.

Centers and InstitutesThe Kitt Investing and Trading Center is a cutting-edge facility that integrates financial data and technology into the finance curriculum, enhances innovative faculty research and teaches students practical finance and investment applications.

The Don Jackson Center for Financial Studies provides enrichment programs and research opportunities for students and faculty in the Cox Finance Department.

Encap Investments & LCM Group Alternative Asset Management Center provides students with hands-on training regarding nontraditional asset classes, including hedge funds and private equity funds.

Maguire Energy Institute and Kyle D. Miller Energy Management Program promotes the study of policy, marketing and management issues related to oil, natural gas, electricity and renewables.

The Portfolio Management Practicum gives students real money management experience via the management of real SMU Cox endowment dollars.

Kitt Investing and Trading Center

Matt Devito (MBA '18) began his journey at Cox with a graduate degree in engineering management from Duke University. “As an engineer, I developed strong analytical and problem-solving skills, but my goal was always to pursue an MBA,” he says. Early in his career as a power engineer, Devito observed that several of his company’s new customers were the result of transactions where power plants were recently sold or acquired. “Seeing these transactions from a distance sparked my interest in pursuing an MBA so that I could be involved on the finance side.”

After his on-campus interview, his decision to join Cox was solidified. “The whole process was much more personal than at other schools.” The global alumni network was also an important factor.

In the classroom, Devito noticed how engaged both the faculty and students were. “The professors are passionate about the courses they teach and take a personal interest in the success of their students,” he says. He also enjoyed the small class sizes. “You have the opportunity to get to know everyone in the class, and I made many lifelong friends.” Devito also served as vice president of the Student Advisory Board.

The finance classes are challenging and relevant to the real world. “There’s a good mix of in-depth technical analysis as well as bigger picture thinking,” he says. Finance Professor William Maxwell made a particular impression. “Professor Maxwell is someone who I looked to for career advice,” Devito says. “He really went out of his way to help and was instrumental in helping me reach my goals.”

While at Cox, Devito worked as an investment banking summer associate at Wells Fargo and interned at Trinity Hunt Partners, a private equity firm. For potential students considering finance, Devito notes that preparation for the recruiting process is as important as the finance classes themselves: “In finance, positions can be highly competitive, so you have to take your own initiative to be well-prepared.” Devito is now an associate with Houlihan Lokey.

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Engineer Turns to Finance MBA for Career Path Transition

COX STUDENTS

“The professors are passionate about the courses they teach and take a personal interest in the success of their students.”

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A Scholar’s Path in Alternative Assets Leads to New York City

When making the decision to attend the Cox School, Taylor Walden (BBA '18) visited numerous top business schools. “Immediately, I was impressed with the opportunity to take classes in the Kitt Center filled with Bloomberg terminals,” Walden, a BBA Scholar, says. “I loved the way the three business school buildings created a smaller community within the greater SMU community.” The small class sizes and Alternative Asset Management Program also drew her to Cox.

As a BBA scholar, Walden was able to attend business school classes as a freshman and receive guidance on her four-year plan at Cox, her internships and how to study abroad. Finance Professor Bill Maxwell was particularly helpful, according to Walden. “Not only did he teach a very tough course on modeling and valuation, but also he prepared us for the next chapter in our lives,” she says. “He made sure our resumes were up to par and advocated to employers on our behalf.” Walden, a Don Jackson Fellow, notes that “hundreds of tough mock interviews” made her investment banking interviews seamless.

Walden landed an internship at Goldman Sachs, thanks to the Cox network. Two recent SMU Cox graduates from the “Alts program” called Walden about working with Goldman Sachs in Houston. “During training, I was surrounded by people from the top schools in the nation and I felt like I was just as prepared, or even more prepared, than everyone else because of the Alternative Asset program.” SMU graduates were in the office at almost every level — from analyst to associate to vice president — she says. “The same SMU Cox graduates connected me with the New York office when I decided that I would like to transfer there for a full-time position.”

Walden’s on-campus student experience ran deep and broad. She was an SMU ambassador, an active member of Relay for Life and held leadership roles in her sorority while participating in the Alternative Asset program. “Take advantage of everything SMU has to offer, not only at Cox, but all around campus,” advises Walden. “Find organizations you are passionate about, ways to make a difference, and what it takes to be successful.”

COX STUDENTS

“I felt like I was just as prepared, or even more prepared, than everyone else because of the Alternative Asset Program.”

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PROGRAM DETAILS

Sound financial knowledge is critical to business success. Today’s fast-paced business environment demands a dynamic blend of finance expertise, strategic thinking and a highly practical approach.

Led by world-renowned faculty and top practitioners, SMU Cox makes the latest finance research and techniques available to all undergraduate, graduate and non-degree students.

Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance

The Cox Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance program offers students immersive experiences and specialized skills that take them to the top of their fields. The Finance BBA curriculum includes 33 hours of core classes and 18 to 25 hours of electives. Top students may apply for the highly selective Alternative Asset Management Program.

Master in Business Administration

What makes Cox School of Business one of the top-ranked MBA programs in the country? A curriculum that prepares graduate students for success and a wealth of educational and career resources available throughout their careers. In addition to MBA core classes, students can choose to minor or concentrate in finance via additional coursework that goes deeper into areas such as financial accounting, managerial finance, investments, valuation and analysis, international finance, among others, as well as participate in the hands-on Practicum in Portfolio Management.

Master of Science in Finance 

With an MS in Finance from SMU Cox, graduates are prepared to pursue a finance career. This STEM-designated program covers everything from financial accounting and statistics to international markets and monetary policy. Students gain real-world experience in the Kitt Investing and Trading Center and make professional connections that last a lifetime. MSF students can choose from full-time or part-time schedules. They’ll benefit from MBA-level courses and get prepared to take the CFA exam, if that is their chosen career path.

Graduate Finance Certificate Program

The SMU Cox Graduate Finance Certificate Program is designed for people who want to increase their financial competency skills. This noncredit program presents a unique blend of contemporary financial paradigms and perspectives. Offered one night a week over seven months, the curriculum is broken in to three modules:

• Fundamentals of Finance and Accounting• Financing the Business• Investing in the Future

Classes start each fall.

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A CAREER IN FINANCE

Who Hires Cox Finance

The Cox Finance BBA and MBA programs are versatile degrees that provide our graduates with challenging career opportunities in leading companies and a variety of positions such as:

• Financial Advisor• Financial Analyst• Investment Banking Analyst

• Credit Underwriter• Project Manager

• Wealth Manager• Vice President of Operations

SMU Cox ringing the NYSE closing bell on January 8, 2018.

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Alternative Asset Management

As investors seek new means of returns beyond traditional investment vehicles, alternative assets have become increasingly important to the portfolios of institutions as well as individuals. Projected to reach approximately $15 trillion by 2020, capital investment in alternative assets has practically tripled over the past ten years. With such explosive growth, the demand for qualified managers is high.

Only a handful of business schools offered BBAs the option of majoring in this specialized niche of finance when the EnCap Investments & LCM Group Alternative Asset Management Center (AAMC) was established in 2008. Now, this Cox Finance program is one of the preeminent alternative asset management programs in the world. Professor Bill Maxwell, academic director of the AAMC, says, “The goal of the program is simple: produce the best trained and prepared undergraduate students in finance.”

Admission is based on exceptional academic performance (average GPA: 3.85), demonstrated work ethic, recommendation letters and interviews. The curriculum is a strategic mix of theory and practice. Coursework begins in the spring semester of the student’s junior year in a case-based class that provides basic, yet critical, skills for private equity and investment banking. Students then complete a summer internship –typically at an investment bank, hedge fund, consulting or money management firm. In the fall semester of their senior year, students select a second class from a list of recommended options. Finally, in the last semester of their senior year, the finance department funds a voluntary CFA review course for students choosing to take the CFA Level 1 exam upon graduation.

Learning is not confined to the classroom. Throughout the program, students absorb working knowledge from industry leaders who actively engage as speakers and real-time experts in managing alternative assets. In addition to conquering this challenging program, soon-to-be graduates prepare for success via intense mock interview training and Wall Street prep workshops.

As testament to the program’s rigor, hands-on training and experiential learning, job placement is outstanding. Graduates are often hired by the world’s elite firms and command the highest salaries, exceeding the average BBA graduate salary by as much as 50 percent. And the Finance Department’s work does not stop at the job offer. It continually strengthens the program by asking AAMC board members and employers to assess the Center and its graduates’ performance, as well as discuss areas for improvement.

Long after graduation, the AAMC alumni remain an elite and close-knit group, thanks to their seminal shared experience at SMU Cox. They are committed to helping each other, and new graduates, succeed. Maxwell encourages this effort. “One of our greatest strengths is our close tie to the alumni of the program,” he says.

AAMC alumni may be trained to be brutally competitive on Wall Street, but at the Cox School, and throughout their careers, they enjoy a lifelong camaraderie with each other and actively collaborate to continually promote a win-win success story.

“The goal of the program is simple: produce the best trained and prepared undergraduate students in finance.”

CENTERS

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For undergraduate and graduate finance students, SMU Cox offers the unique opportunity to actively manage two of the largest and oldest student-managed portfolios in the United States. In the Portfolio Management Practicum program, students garner skills in hands-on money management of equity and fixed-income investments as well as the survey and application of asset allocation. Students apply their portfolio management learning in real time as they manage two SMU Cox university endowments: the Ann Rife Cox (undergraduate) and Nancy Chambers Underwood (graduate) investment funds. With combined assets of approximately $9 million, both are managed solely by Cox students.

By overseeing two real-world investment funds, students gain experience in active investment management. The program also entails student investment presentations, case studies, discussions of current investment topics, the study and applied analysis of different asset classes, and the management of multi-asset portfolios.

Don Shelly, professor of practice of finance and director of the SMU Cox Portfolio Practicum, says the primary objective of the course is to give students hands-on money management experience in six areas of fund management: the client interface, an investment outlook for the coming year, asset allocation, the equity and fixed-income portfolio profile, individual security transactions and performance evaluation.

The second objective is to provide in-depth examination and analysis of the portfolio asset selection, allocation, risk management and performance measurement. Emphasis is placed on alternative asset classes and their role in portfolios. Much of this portion of the course

focuses upon endowments and private wealth, including family offices. The practicum program culminates at the end of the year in an annual report describing the entire management process of the Cox Endowment Funds.

Practicum classes are held in the Kitt Investing and Trading Center, a 36-seat state-of-the-art instructional and research facility at SMU Cox made possible by a significant gift from Beth and Barry Kitt in 2011. The center is designed to integrate finance curriculum, enhance innovative faculty research, and teach students practical finance and investment applications. An impressive array of student resources in the center includes: Bloomberg Professional, Morningstar Direct, PANARARY, S&P Capital IQ and Thomson One Analytics.

Another core component to the Portfolio Management Practicum is a full schedule of industry leader speakers. Each year, alumni and other finance professionals in equity and fixed-income portfolio management, sales and trading, private equity, private wealth and family office management visit campus to share their knowledge and expertise.

With SMU Cox located in the heart of the Dallas investment community, ambitious Cox practicum students can find internships with local buy-side investment managers, hedge funds, private equity firms, real estate investors, and private wealth and family office managers. As a result, students graduate with formidable resumés featuring hands-on fund management experience before they ever leave campus – a definite strategic advantage when interviewing for careers in this dynamic and competitive industry.

Portfolio Practicum and the Kitt Investing and Trading Center

The Kitt Investing and Trading Center

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Anna CororatonInstructor of FinancePh.D., University of Pennsylvania

Amar GandeAssociate Professor of FinancePh.D., New York University

Nickolay GantchevAssociate Professor of FinancePh.D., University of Pennsylvania

Stacey JacobsenAssociate Professor of Finance Fabacher Endowed Professor of Alternative Asset ManagementPh.D., Indiana University

Chotibhak (Pab) JotikasthiraAssociate Professor of Finance Ph.D., Indiana University

Mattia LandoniAssistant Professor of FinancePh.D., Columbia Business School

James LinckProfessor of FinanceDistinguished Chair in FinanceDepartment ChairPh.D, Arizona State University

William MaxwellProfessor of Finance Mary Jo Vaughn Rauscher Chair in Financial Investments Academic Director, The EnCap Investments & LCM Group Alternative Asset Management Center Academic Director, The Don Jackson Center for Financial Studies Ph.D., George Washington University

Erik MayerInstructor of Finance Ph.D., Rice University

Darius MillerCaruth Chair of Financial Management Academic Director, Kitt Investing and Trading CenterPh.D., University of California, Irvine

Jayoung NamAssistant Professor of FinancePh.D., Indiana University

Mehrdad SamadiAssistant Professor of FinancePh.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Mukunthan SanthanakrishnanClinical Professor of Finance Associate Director, MSF ProgramPh.D., Arizona State University

Art SelenderClinical Professor of FInancePh.D., University of Chicago

Don ShellyProfessor of Practice of FinanceMBA, Finance, University of Michigan

Kumar VenkataramanProfessor of FinanceJames M. Collins Chair in Finance Academic Director, Maguire Energy Institute & Kyle Miller Energy ProgramPh.D., Arizona State University

Michel VetsuypensProfessor of FinancePh.D., University of Rochester

Nathan WalcottClinical Professor of Finance Ph.D., University of Washington

ADVISORY BOARDS

Lackland BloomJohn ClarkPaul DaggettMike FabacherHeather GilkerDavid Haley

Trevor HeinzingerStephen HippZac HirzelAndy HullJeff JonesScott Luttrell

David MillerJohn PhelanMark PlunkettKirk RimerBrian RoseMark Schachter

Scott R. SmetkoChad WhitneyAmir Yoffe

Kirk RimerKevin Dunleavy Corey HenegarBarry Kitt

Scott LuttrellMike McGillGreg McGowan Frank McGrew

Kevin McGuire Jason McMahonChristopher Miller David Miller

Joel Schubert Michael Skillman Shawn Taylor Mark Yassin

Alternative Asset Management Center

Don Jackson Center for Financial Studies

FINANCE DEPARTMENT FACULTY

Shane GoodwinAdjunct Professor of FinanceAssociate Dean for Executive Education and Graduate ProgramsPh.D., Oklahoma State University

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DEPARTMENT NEWS

New FacultyThe finance department added three new tenure-track faculty members this fall.

Anna Cororaton earned her Ph.D. in finance at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests are in empirical banking and corporate finance, particularly how the behavior and structure of financial institutions affect real economic outcomes. Prior to joining Cox, she worked as an assistant economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. She received her bachelor’s degree in economics and mathematics, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania. She is originally from Manila, the Philippines.

Jayoung Nam joins us from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. Her research focuses on exchange-traded funds, fund management, market microstructure, and household finance. She is originally from South Korea and lives in Lakewood with her family. She enjoys playing squash.

Erik Mayer earned his Ph.D. in finance from Rice University. Erik’s research interests include financial institutions, household finance, and empirical corporate finance. His recent work studies financial institutions’ interactions with households, and their influence on inequality and economic mobility in the United States.

Faculty Awarded TenureThe finance department congratulates two faculty members who were awarded tenure this past spring.

Associate Professor Stacey Jacobsen earned her Ph.D. from Indiana’s Kelley School of Business and has spent her entire career at SMU. Prior to her Ph.D. studies, she served as an investment banking analyst and strategy associate. Her research interests lie in the areas of empirical corporate finance and market microstructure, and she has successfully published her work in top finance journals.

Chotibhak (Pab) Jotikasthira received his Ph.D. from Indiana’s Kelley School of Business and started his academic career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before joining Cox in 2016. His research interests include financial intermediation, international finance, and fixed income, with a particular focus on trading behaviors of institutional investors and their impact on asset prices. He has written extensively on the effects of institutional frictions, including regulatory capital and accounting rules, on financial intermediaries’ investment and trading incentives, which in turn shape the overall risk and interconnectedness of asset markets.

Two Faculty Named Co-Chairs of Major International ConferencesProfessor Darius Miller, Caruth Chair of Financial Management and academic director, Kitt Investing and Trading Center, is co-chairing the 2019 Global Conference in Latin America, which will be held in May in Bogota, Colombia. Professor James S. Linck, Distinguished Chair in Finance and Chair of the Finance Department, is co-chairing the 2019 European Conference, which will be held in Glasgow, Scotland. These are major international conferences that involve hundreds of paper submissions and presentations by academics and practitioners from around the world.

Professor Appointed to SEC Market Structure Advisory Committee Professor Kumar Venkataraman, James M. Collins Chair in Finance, has been appointed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to serve on its newly formed Fixed Income Market Structure Advisory Committee. The committee, with an initial focus on the corporate bond and municipal securities markets, will advise the SEC on the efficiency and resiliency of these markets and identify opportunities for regulatory improvements.

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Recent Publications by Cox FacultyGantchev, N.; Gredil, O.; Jotikasthira, C.; 2018. Governance Under the Gun: Spillover Effects of Hedge Fun Activism. Review of Finance, forthcoming.

Bessembinder, H.; Maxwell, W.; Jacobsen, S.; K. Venkataraman; Capital Commitment and Illiquidity in Corporate Bonds, Journal of Finance, 2018, Vol. 73 (4), 1615-1661.

Mattia Landoni, Tax Distortions and Bond Issue Pricing. Journal of Financial Economics, 2018, Volume 129, 382-393

Gantchev, N.; Jotikasthira, C.; 2018. Institutional Trading and Hedge Fund Activism. Management Science 64(6), 2930-2950.

Boyson, N.; Gantchev, N.; Shivdasani, A.; 2017. Activism Mergers. Journal of Financial Economics 126(1), 54-73.

Baruch, S.; Panayides, M.; K. Venkataraman; Informed Trading and Price Discovery before Corporate Events, 2017, Journal of Financial Economics, Vol. 125, 561-581.

Kirilenko, Andrei; Kyle, Albert S.; Samadi, Mehrdad; Tuzun; The Flash Crash: High Frequency Trading in an Electronic Market, 2017, Journal of Finance, 72:967-998.

Anand, A.; K. Venkataraman; Market Conditions, Fragility and the Economics of Market Making, 2016, Journal of Financial Economics, Volume 121 (2), 327-349.

Bessembinder, H.; Carrion, A.; Tuttle, L.; K. Venkataraman, Liquidity, Resiliency and Market Quality Around Predictable Trades: Theory and Evidence, 2016, Journal of Financial Economics, Volume 121 (1), 142-166.

Iliev, Peter; Lins, Karl V; Miller, Darius P; Roth, Lukas; Shareholder Voting and Corporate Governance Around the World, 2015, Review of Financial Studies, 28 (8): 2167-2202

Lel, Ugur; Miller, Darius P; Does Takeover Activity Cause Managerial Discipline? Evidence From International Takeover Laws, 2015, Review of Financial Studies 28 (6): 1588-1622

Ellul, Andrew; Jotikasthira, Chotibhak; Lundblad, Christian; Wang, Yihui; Is Historical Cost Accounting a Panacea? Market Stress, Incentive Distortions, and Gains Trading, 2015, Journal of Finance 70: 2489-2538.

Jotikasthira, Chotibhak; Le, Anh; Lundblad, Christian; Why Do Term Structures in Different Currencies Co-Move?, 2015, Journal of Financial Economics 115: 58-83.

Linck, James S.; Netter, Jerry M.; Shu, Tao; Can Earnings Management Ease Financial Constraints? Evidence From Earnings Management Prior to Investment, 2014, The Accounting Review v88n6.

Klasa, Sandy; Harford, Jarrad; Maxwell, William; Refinancing Risk and Cash Holdings, 2014, Journal of Finance 69(3), 975-1012.

Betton, Sandra; Rex Thompson; Espen Eckbo; Karin S. Thorburn; Merger Negotiations With Stock Market Feedback, 2014, Journal of Finance, 69, 1705-1745.

Iliev, Peter; Miller, Darius P; Roth, Lukas; Uninvited U.S. Investors? Economic Consequences of Involuntary Cross-Listings, 2014, Journal of Accounting Research, 52: 473–519.

Holden, Craig; Jacobsen, Stacey; Liquidity Measurement Problems in Fast, Competitive Markets: Expensive and Cheap Solutions, 2014, Journal of Finance 69, 1747-1785.

Jacobsen, Stacey; The Death of the Deal: Are Withdrawn Acquisition Deals Informative of CEO Quality? 2014, Journal of Financial Economics 114, 54-83.

PUBLICATIONS

For more information, call 214.768.3996 or visit smu.edu/cox/finance.