Finance

Swimming with Sharks

Posted on by John Elliott

New Crowdfunding Rules Let Small Investors Join a Riskier League

New rules from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which took effect May 16, 2016, open many doors for “ordinary people” to invest in start-ups and other small businesses.

The issuers of the securities that they invest in will not need to affirm the investors’ financial sophistication nor provide them with audited financial statements. The underlying law was signed four years ago, but it has taken a while for the SEC to write the rules, all 685 pages of them. Continue Reading

Welcome New Faculty

Posted on by Claire Hall
Fourteen new faculty members join the UConn School of Business for the Fall 2016 semester. (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)
New faculty members pose for a photograph during orientation. Fourteen new faculty members join the UConn School of Business for the Fall 2016 semester.  (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)

School of Business Adds 14 Professors to Ranks

An OPIM professor with a near-perfect student rating, an expert in entrepreneurship and startups, an MSA graduate who wants to help lead the program she loves, and a management professor who specializes in international business growth are among 14 new faculty members joining the School of Business for the Fall 2016 semester.

Our new faculty include: Continue Reading

UConn Called Key to Stamford’s Business Future

Posted on by Melissa Ferrigno

News times – The University of Connecticut maintains its headquarters upstate, but its brand is quickly growing in the state’s southwestern corner.
The launch last week of a Stamford conference for businesswomen shows that university officials are intent on expanding UConn’s presence in the city through more programming and closer ties with the local business community.

A Fast Track to Economic Growth?

Posted on by Claire Hall
Jeffrey Cohen, who specializes in real estate and finance, has received a $194,000 grant from the state Department of Transportation to start investigating economic changes along the CTfastrak bus route. (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)
Jeffrey Cohen, who specializes in real estate and finance, has received a $194,000 grant from the state Department of Transportation to start investigating economic changes along the CTfastrak bus route. (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)

Real Estate Professor Jeffrey Cohen Eager to Study Impact of New Transit System on Central Connecticut

Will the state’s new bus rapid-transit system – CTfastrak – which has already carried 4 million riders since its inaugural trip in March 2015, also spur growth in housing, restaurants, and other businesses along its route in central Connecticut?  Continue Reading

PROMESA and Puerto Rico’s Pathways to Solvency

Posted on by Melissa Ferrigno

Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation – Facing a self-declared “death spiral” of public debt, the Governor of Puerto Rico announced a debt moratorium earlier this year, halting payments to bondholders. A series of missed payments followed, including a landmark default on constitutionally guaranteed bonds in July. At the same time, Congress passed the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA or “promise” in Spanish), which combines a debt restructuring system with federal controls over the island’s finances. But enacting PROMESA is only a first step. Coordination and engagement with creditors is the next step—and an even more complicated one—in Puerto Rico’s long journey towards solvency and fiscal stability.

Driven and Kind

Posted on by Claire Hall
Emeka Okafor receives his diploma from former School of Business Dean Curt Hunter during Commencement ceremonies at Gampel Pavilion in May 2004. (Ryan McKee/NCAA Photos)
Emeka Okafor receives his diploma from former School of Business Dean Curt Hunter during Commencement ceremonies at Gampel Pavilion in May 2004. (Ryan McKee/NCAA Photos)

A Dozen Years After Graduation, Basketball Star/Finance Major Emeka Okafor Still a Favorite at UConn

Some of the members of the 2004 National Championship UConn Men’s Basketball Team would wear a weight vest in practice to improve their endurance as they ran up the bleachers in the old Memorial Stadium.

Not Emeka Okafor ’04. Continue Reading

In Memoriam: Frank Wuest ’82

Posted on by Claire Hall

Frank Wuest ’82, president of the Boston-based real estate investment firm Marcus Partners and a dedicated alumnus who enjoyed mentoring UConn business students, died unexpectedly Aug. 13.

“Frank Wuest was an exemplary alumnus of the UConn School of Business,” said Dean John A. Elliott. “He engaged with faculty, staff, students and alumni. He spoke at events in Boston, he hosted visits by our students to his real estate offices, he took their phone calls, and advised them well.”Continue Reading