Chester Spatt Completes SEC Term

Spatt to Return to Tepper School Following Service to Securities and Exchange Commission

Chester Spatt is returning to the Tepper School at the end of July, following a three-year appointment as chief economist and director of the Office of Economic Analysis at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Spatt, the Mellon Bank Professor of Finance and director of the Center for Financial Markets, will resume his research and teaching with a focus on economic issues related to securities regulation, asset allocation and taxes.

“I am excited to be returning to the Tepper School at Carnegie Mellon, which has historically had such an important impact on financial economics and our markets. I am eager to incorporate my experiences at the SEC into my teaching and research," Spatt said.

During his three years at the commission, Spatt led the staff's economic analysis of key issues including implementation of options expensing through models and markets, mutual fund market timing and late trading, option grant and exercise backdating, and executive compensation. He also led analysis of Regulation SHO (new regulations governing short sales), shareholder voting, foreign private issuer deregistration, the economics of penalties and sanctions, and credit rating agencies.

"His exceptional background, expertise and judgment concerning the economic underpinnings of our securities markets have been invaluable resources to the Commission. He has been a strong leader of a very talented staff, and all of us at the Commission are deeply indebted to him for his personal and professional contributions to the nation's markets and investors," said SEC Chairman Christopher Cox in a statement.

In addition, he focused on fostering stronger ties between the Commission and the academic community, encouraging greater participation from academic experts in the rulemaking process, Cox said.

"I appreciate the opportunity to have led OEA and its talented and dedicated staff for the past three years,” said Spatt. “Economics plays such a crucial role in the development of strong, efficient and fair capital markets, so I have tried to focus upon the importance of economics in the regulatory process.”

Spatt joined Carnegie Mellon in1979. He was one of the founders of the Review of Financial Studies, considered among the leading journals in financial economics, and served as its second executive editor. He also is a past president of both the Western Finance Association and the Society for Financial Studies. He received his Ph.D. and Master's degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, and his Bachelor's degree in Economics from Princeton University.