Finance

In It To Win It

Posted on by Claire Hall

2015-09-30_football

Corporate Stadium Sponsors’ Stock Fluctuates With an NFL Team’s Success, Failure

Your favorite NFL team has “skin in the game,’’ but perhaps more surprising is that the large corporations that sponsor the stadiums do too.

Those are the findings of UConn Professor of Finance Assaf Eisdorfer and alumna Elizabeth Kohl, ’15 Ph.D., now a professor at the University of Cincinnati. The two football enthusiasts will have their research published in a future issue of the journal Critical Finance Review.Continue Reading

New Faculty Members

Posted on by Claire Hall

School of Business Welcomes 10 New Professors, Each ‘Well Chosen’

View of UConn School of Business (Sean Flynn/UConn Photo)
View of UConn School of Business (Sean Flynn/UConn Photo)

During the first faculty meeting of the new semester, Dean John A. Elliott formally welcomed 10 new faculty members to the UConn School of Business.

“The group is a mix of tenure track, in-residence and visiting professors. They range widely in experience, but each is well chosen,” he said. “Our students, our research mission, and our role in advancing the success of our corporate partners, and the state, will all be well served by their engagement.”Continue Reading

Back from the Brink?

Posted on by Melissa Ferrigno

The Greek Debt Crisis and the Eurozone

UConn Today – Eurozone leaders have agreed to an economic bailout for Greece that keeps the debt-ridden nation in the 19-country common currency pact, but only if the Greek government implements a host of deeply unpopular austerity measures, including cuts to public pensions and sales tax increases. The total rescue effort could amount to 87 billion euros in emergency funding over the next three years including an immediate emergency 10 billion euro loan to help Greece keep its fragile banking system afloat and repay loans due this month.

John Clapp Named Kinnard Distinguished Research Scholar

Posted on by Claire Hall

UConn Professor John Clapp, who has been recognized as one of the top real estate researchers in the world, has been named the first Kinnard Distinguished Research Scholar in the business school’s Center for Real Estate.

Clapp is a long-time professor of real estate and finance at the UConn School of Business. His areas of expertise include real estate and retail markets, housing price indices, location of anchor stores, option to redevelopment and Connecticut housing.Continue Reading

The Connecticut Economic Outlook: June 2015

Posted on by Melissa Ferrigno

Flat Lining – Connecticut’s Disappearing Economic Growth

Connecticut Center of Economic Analysis – In early June, the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) revised national 2015Q1 GDP estimates, including, unfortunately, strong downward revisions for Connecticut’s Real Gross State Product, wiping out the strong growth reported in CCEA’s previous Outlook.

Ackerman Faculty Scholars Announced

Posted on by Claire Hall

Five faculty members from the School of Business have been named Ackerman Scholars for academic years 2015-2017. They are: John Phillips of Accounting, Rex Santerre of Finance, Greg Reilly of Management, Girish Punj of Marketing and Bob Day of Operations and Information Management (OPIM).

Continuing from last year, for academic year 2015-2016, are: Qing Cao and Gary Powell of Management and Xue Bai, Jose Cruz and Suresh Nair of OPIM.

The Ackerman Scholar award recognizes significant and continuing all-round academic productivity among the faculty of the School, said Sulin Ba, associate dean of academic and research support. It is awarded to faculty who are not already supported by endowed chair, professorship, scholarship or fellowship appointments. The award is supported by the Ackerman Fund, the School of Business and the departments.

 

50 Years of Excellence

Posted on by Claire Hall

UConn Center for Real Estate 50th Anniversary Gala

Gala Evening Celebrates Accomplishments of UConn’s Prestigious Real Estate Program

Some 300 people—from real estate legends to revered faculty to soon-to-be graduates—filled the Rome Ballroom on the Storrs campus to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Center for Real Estate and Urban Economic Studies.

The tight-knit commercial real estate community came out to laude the program’s accomplishments, honor those who have shaped its success, reminisce about the growth of the program over the decades, and to look enthusiastically toward the future.

The UConn Real Estate program has long been regarded as one of the best in the country. Director John Glascock announced that the program’s Advisory Council has secured $2 million in endowed funds for the program during the last four years. At the dinner it was announced that an endowed scholar position would be created in honor of William Kinnard, the first director of the Center. Long-time Professor John Clapp will be named as The William N. Kinnard Research Scholar. Continue Reading

Real Estate: The Practical Approach

Posted on by Claire Hall
2015-04-28-cornerstone
Dave Reilly, former CEO of Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, one of the most prestigious firms of its kind in the world, instructs UConn students in a course he initiated, called “Real Estate: A Practical Approach.”

International Real Estate Moguls Share High-Stakes Tactics with UConn Protégé

As the CEO of one of the largest real estate advisory firms in the world, David J. Reilly has plenty to keep him busy.

His company, Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, is immersed in the development of the much-anticipated Fan Pier—an upscale, 21-acre office, retail, residential and restaurant complex along Boston Harbor.

But despite his many commitments, the man at the helm of a $44 billion, Hartford-based real-estate empire, along with three members of the company’s executive team, devotes one evening a week to teach a realistic, challenging and pragmatic course to UConn real estate students.Continue Reading

These are ‘Best of Times, Worst of Times’ for Risk Managers

Posted on by Claire Hall
Thomas Sullivan '00 MBA
Thomas Sullivan ’00 MBA

When a major retailer had a security breach, and consumer information was compromised, it created a ripple effect at Stamford-based First County Bank.

First County Bank customers inundated their local branches seeking new debit cards, and many wanted replacements right away. The bank is able to produce about 1,000 new cards a day in-house, but has to contract out for bigger projects, said John Bonora, senior vice president and chief risk officer at the bank, and a 2011 graduate of UConn’s MSFRM program.Continue Reading

Accounting, Finance Faculty Members Recognized for Outstanding Research

Posted on by Claire Hall

2015-03-20_facultyThe School of Business has awarded its 2015 Best Paper Award to professors David Weber, from accounting, and Jose Martinez, of finance, for their exceptional research articles that will appear in esteemed academic journals.

Weber’s research paper is titled, “Does SOX 404 Have Teeth? Consequences of the Failure to Report Existing Internal Control Weaknesses.”

“Picking Winners? Investment Consultants’ Recommendations of Fund Managers,” is the title of Martinez’s work. His paper also recently received a prize from the University of Cambridge and the Commonfund Institute.

“Both papers are to appear in very prestigious journals in their respective fields, The Accounting Review and Journal of Finance,” said Sulin Ba, associate dean of academic and research support. “The selection committee was particularly impressed by the public policy implications that came out of both research projects. These implications will have an impact on our society in the years to come.”

The competition was intense this year with 10 nominations, all papers accepted in top academic journals, Ba said.

“Dr. Weber’s paper, co-authored with Ph.D. student Biyu Wu, addresses the requirement that corporations and their auditors publicly disclose internal control weaknesses, which is one of the most contentious and costly provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act,” said Mohamed Hussein, accounting department head. “The study is important because it shows that the enforcement mechanisms surrounding internal control reporting are often ineffective and in some cases may even provide disincentives for compliance.”

“This paper is one of many research projects conducted by the UConn accounting faculty that addressed critical accounting and tax issues,” said Hussein, noting that UConn accounting faculty research has been cited in Congressional hearings and in the British Parliament.

Chinmoy Ghosh, department head in finance, said he is pleased with his colleague’s success.

“Within a very short period of time since arriving at UConn in August 2014, Jose has made a significant contribution in almost every aspect of the job. Acceptance of his paper by the Journal of Finance, the top journal in the discipline, brings tremendous visibility and prestige to the department and the school,” he said. “Very recently, his research has been recognized by a leading academic group in Europe. His style of teaching and knowledge drew great praise from the Risk Management students at both our Hartford and Stamford campuses.

“Jose has also shown great interest and objectivity in various academic issues currently under review by the department faculty. We are very pleased to have him as a colleague and look forward to many more productive years from him at the School of Business.”

The Best Paper Award is funded by the generous support of the Arnold M. Robin & Rochelle M. Robin Excellence Fund.

Related articles:

Professor Jose Martinez Earns Triple Recognition for Work on Dubious Investment Management

Professor David Weber Finds Lack of Enforcement Surrounds Key Provision of Sarbanes-Oxley Act