David Lynn is a co-chair of the firm's Public Companies and Securities Practice. Mr. Lynn's practice is focused on advising a wide range of clients on SEC matters, securities transactions and corporate governance. Mr. Lynn is well known in the area of executive compensation disclosure, having co-authored, "The Executive Compensation Disclosure Treatise and Reporting Guide." While serving as Chief Counsel of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Corporation Finance, Mr. Lynn led the rulemaking team that drafted sweeping revisions to the SEC's executive compensation and related party disclosure rules.
Viral V. Acharya is the C.V. Starr Professor of Economics in the Department of Finance at New York University Stern School of Business (NYU-Stern), Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in Corporate Finance, Research Affiliate of the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) in Financial Economics, Research Associate of the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI), member of Advisory Scientific Committee of European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB), and an Academic Advisor to the Federal Reserve Banks of Cleveland, New York and Philadelphia, and the Board of Governors. He completed Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science and Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai in 1995 and Ph.D. in Finance from NYU-Stern in 2001. Prior to joining Stern, he was at London Business School (2001-2008). He was the Academic Director of the Coller Institute of Private Equity at London Business School (2007-09) and a Senior Houblon-Normal Research Fellow at the Bank of England (Summer 2008).
Viral’s primary research interest is in theoretical and empirical analysis of systemic risk of the financial sector, its regulation and its genesis in government-induced distortions, an inquiry that cuts across several other strands of research – credit risk and liquidity risk, their interactions and agency-theoretic foundations, as well as their general equilibrium consequences. He has published articles in the American Economic Review, Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Business, Rand Journal of Economics, Journal of Financial Intermediation, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, and Financial Analysts Journal. He is a current editor of the Journal of Financial Intermediation (2009-) and associate editor of the Journal of Finance (2011-), Review of Corporate Finance Studies (RCFS, 2011-) and Review of Finance (2006-).
Viral is the recipient of Best Paper Award in Corporate Finance - Journal of Financial Economics, 2000, Best Paper Award in Equity Trading - Western Finance Association Meetings, 2003, Outstanding Referee Award for the Review of Financial Studies, 2003, the inaugural Lawrence G. Goldberg Prize for the Best Ph.D. in Financial Intermediation, Best Paper Award in Capital Markets and Asset Pricing - Journal of Financial Economics, 2005 (First Prize) and 2007 (Second Prize), the inaugural Rising Star in Finance (one of four) Award, 2008, European Corporate Governance Institute's Best Paper on Corporate Governance, 2008, Distinguished Referee Award for the Review of Financial Studies, 2009, III Jaime Fernandez de Araoz Award in Corporate Finance, 2009, Viz Risk Management Prize for the Best Paper on Energy Markets, Securities, and Prices at the European Finance Association Meetings, 2009 and Excellence in Refereeing Award for the American Economic Review, 2009, Review of Finance Best Paper Award, 2009 and Best Conference Paper Award at the European Finance Association Meetings, 2010.
At Stern, Viral co-edited the books Restoring Financial Stability: How to Repair a Failed System, John Wiley & Sons, March 2009 and Regulating Wall Street: The Dodd-Frank Act and the New Architecture of Global Finance, John Wiley & Sons, November 2010. He is also the co-author of the book Guaranteed to Fail: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Debacle of Mortgage Finance, Princeton University Press, March 2011 and Harper Collins (India), forthcoming. He is the current PhD coordinator in the Finance department at Stern.
Prior to joining the Law Center faculty of Georgetown University in 1999, Professor Langevoort was the Lee S. and Charles A. Speir Professor at Vanderbilt University School of Law, where he joined the faculty in 1981. The courses Professor Langevoort teaches are Contracts, Securities Regulation, various seminars on corporate and securities issues, and Corporations. Professor Langevoort has received the Paul J. Hartman Award for Excellence in Teaching at Vanderbilt. He has been a visiting professor at Harvard Law School and the University of Michigan Law School and a lecturer at the Washington College of Law, American University. After practicing for two years at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington, D.C., he joined the staff of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission as Special Counsel in the Office of the General Counsel. Professor Langevoort is the co-author, with Professors James Cox and Robert Hillman, of Securities Regulation: Cases and Materials (Aspen Law & Business), and the author of a treatise entitled Insider Trading: Regulation, Enforcement and Prevention (West Group). He has also written many law review articles, a number of which seek to incorporate insights from social psychology and behavioral economics into the study of corporate and securities law and legal ethics. Professor Langevoort has testified numerous times before Congressional committees on issues relating to insider trading and securities litigation reform.
Professor Flannery teaches corporate finance and financial management of financial institutions in the graduate program of the University of Florida. His current research focuses on corporate capital structure and bank capital regulation. Professor Flannery has served on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of North Carolina, and as a visiting professor at the London Business School and the University of New South Wales. His interests are Government regulation of the financial sector, Information content of security prices, Financial management of financial institutions, and Asset pricing.
Recent Publications:
“Cashflows and Leverage Adjustments” (with Michael Faulkender, Kristine Hankins, and Jason Smith), Journal of Financial Economics, forthcoming.
“Do Credit Spreads Reflect Mean-Reverting Leverage?” (with Stanislava Nikolova and Ozde Oztekin), Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, forthcoming.
"Institutional Determinants of Capital Structure Adjustment Speeds" (with Őzde Őztekin), Journal of Financial Economics, forthcoming.
“Frequent Issuers’ Influence on Long-Run Post-Issuance Returns” (with Matthew Billett and Jon Garfinkel), Journal of Financial Economics, (2011) 99(2), 349-364.
“Why Do Large Banking Organizations Hold So Much Capital?” (with Allen Berger, Robert DeYoung, Ozde Oztekin, and David Lee), Journal of Financial Services Research, (2008) 34(2/3), 123-150.
“Partial Adjustment toward Target Capital Structures” (with Kasturi Rangan), Journal of Financial Economics, 79(3), 2006, pp. 469–506 “Market Discipline in the Governance of U.S. Bank Holding Companies: Monitoring versus Influencing,” (with Robert R. Bliss) European Finance Review, vol. 6(3), 2002, pp. 361‐395; “Macroeconomic Factors Do Influence Aggregate Stock Returns” (with Aris Protopapadakis) Review of Financial Studies, (Summer 2002), pp. 751‐782; “The Faces of Market Discipline” Journal of Financial Services Research, (October/December 2001), pp. 107‐119.
Editorial Boards:
Associate Editor, Journal of Banking and Finance; Journal of Financial Services Research; The Financial Review; The Journal of Financial Intermediation; Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Federal Reserve Bank of New York Quarterly Review.
Honors and Fellowships:
MBA Teaching Award, Best Paper in Financial Institutions, 1995 Financial Management Association Meeting; Institute for Quantitative Research in Finance Research Award, 1987, 1994; Prochnow Educational Foundation Research Award, 1987; FDIC Dissertation Support Fellowship, 1975 ‐ 1976
Ph.D., Yale University, 1978; M. Phil., Yale University, 1974; M.A., Yale University, 1973; A.B., Princeton University, 1972.
Thomas Rees is a managing director in FTI’s Consulting Forensic and Litigation Consulting segment and is based in King of Prussia. Mr. Rees is an accounting professional who provides clients with a variety of consulting and litigation related services, including determining the accounting for complex transactions, conducting forensic accounting investigations and preparing expert testimony. Mr. Rees has extensive experience researching and interpreting generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), with specific expertise in capital markets and financial instruments including derivatives, securitization and structured financial products. He specializes in banking and SEC matters, including fair value and impairment accounting, valuing complex securities, preparing SEC filings and accounting position papers, and helping clients to resolve accounting and disclosure issues in SEC comment letters and enforcement actions.
Mr. Rees previously served as the Deputy Chief Accountant at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a Division of the U.S. Treasury Department responsible for regulating national banks. In his ten years with the OCC, Mr. Rees held management positions in the Chief Accountant’s Office and the Treasury and Market Risk Division and was responsible for developing and interpreting supervisory policy relating to accounting, auditing, financial reporting, capital markets, and risk management. He worked with representatives of the FASB, SEC, AICPA, and the Federal banking agencies to address emerging accounting issues and prepared comment letters on proposed accounting rules. He conducted examinations of bank safety and soundness at more than twenty institutions and assisted in the on-site supervision of troubled banks involved in the securitization of sub-prime credit card and mortgage receivables. Mr. Rees analyzed bank financial statements and disclosures, evaluating risk, the appropriateness of financial valuations and compliance with GAAP. He also developed and led training sessions for Federal banking agency examiners on capital markets issues including securitizations and derivatives.
Mr. Rees represented the OCC on industry task forces that developed guidance on derivatives, structured finance, securities impairment, loan loss allowances, securitization, mortgage banking, and other capital markets and accounting issues. He represented the OCC in discussions with international bank supervisors and the Bank for International Settlements about accounting and disclosure as part of the analysis and development of new capital rules for banks (Basel II). In this capacity, he worked with the Basel Committee analyzing international bank disclosure practices and helped author papers about disclosure principals and best practices.
Previously, Mr. Rees was the Chief Accounting Officer at Penn Mutual Life Insurance where he was responsible for establishing accounting policy, overseeing preparation of the company’s financial statements and managing relationships with external auditors, rating agencies and regulatory authorities. Earlier in his career, Mr. Rees was a Vice President at MBNA America (now Bank of America) and a Senior Auditor at Arthur Andersen & Co.
Mr. Rees is a frequent speaker at industry conferences on emerging accounting and banking issues. He is an adjunct faculty member of the University of Maryland, University College where he has taught Forensic Accounting and other accounting classes. Mr. Rees holds an M.B.A. from the University of Delaware and a B.S. in Accounting from Arizona State University. He is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Fraud Examiner and a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Sharon Brown-Hruska is a Vice President in the Securities and Finance Practice of National Economic Research Associates (NERA). She is a leading expert in securities, derivatives, and risk management. Prior to joining NERA, she served as Commissioner (2002-2006) and Acting Chairman (2004-2005) of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and as a member of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. Dr. Brown-Hruska has advised exchanges, businesses, and governments on regulation and compliance issues, and has addressed numerous governmental and financial organizations, including U.S. House and Senate committees, the International Monetary Fund, and the International Organization of Securities Commissioners. She has spoken extensively on regulation of derivatives and financial entities that use them to the Managed Funds Association, Futures Industry Association, and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, and other financial industry associations. She is also widely published, with articles appearing in Capital Markets Law Journal, Barron's, Journal of Futures Markets, Regulation, Review of Futures Markets, and other publications. Before her public service, Dr. Brown-Hruska was an Assistant Professor of Finance at George Mason University and at Tulane University. She holds a PhD and MA in economics and a BA in economics and international studies from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Roberta Karmel is a Centennial Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School. Professor Karmel’s area of expertise is international and domestic securities regulation. She is widely called upon to teach and lecture all over the world on this subject. She is a former Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission, a Public Director of the New York Stock Exchange, and was in private practice for 30 years. She was also a Fulbright Scholar studying the harmonization of the securities laws in the European Union. Professor Karmel is the author of Regulation by Prosecution: The Securities and Exchange Commission Versus Corporate America, and has widely published articles on securities regulation and international securities law in dozens of law reviews and journals. She also authors a monthly column, “Securities Regulation,” that appears in the New York Law Journal.
Professor Karmel’s professional activities and affiliations are numerous. She is a trustee of the Practising Law Institute, a member of the American Law Institute, and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. She also serves on the ABA’s Presidential Task Force on Financial Markets Regulatory Reform. She previously served as a director of the New York Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors and was the Vice-Chair of the International Coordinating Committee of the American Bar Association Business Law Section.
A member of the faculty since 1985, Professor Karmel has played an instrumental role in leading the activities of The Dennis J. Block Center for the Study of International Business Law, where she serves as its co-director. In 2009, she was the Harry Cross Visiting Professor at the University of Washington School of Law. Other recent honors include, Phi Beta Kappa Alpha Iota of Massachusetts at Harvard College (Hon.) and the American Bar Association Women Lawyers of Achievement Award. She received her B.A. from Radcliffe College and LL.B. from New York University School of Law.
Dr. Peter Went is a vice president and the senior researcher in GARP's Research Center. He speaks, writes, and researches on financial risk management and prudential regulatory topics. He is the co-author of several books and countless articles on finance, banking, and financial risk management. Additionally, he manages GARP's bank risk management programs. Dr. Went is a director of Woodlands Financial Services Corporation, a publicly traded bank headquartered in Pennsylvania, and RegScan, regulatory information analysis corporation. Dr. Went has taught at the University of Connecticut, University of Nebraska, Bucknell University. He has also worked as an investment analyst and an attorney. Dr. Went earned a Ph.D. in finance from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and an LL.M from the Stockholm University Law School. He is also a CFA charter holder.
William Nolan is a senior managing director in the FTI Corporate Finance practice and is based in Charlotte. Mr. Nolan has worked in all areas of corporate recovery, including working with senior management in business turnarounds and corporate bankruptcy. He has over twenty years of diverse financial consulting and management experience.
Mr. Nolan has considerable experience working with senior management teams in the areas of financial and operational restructuring, loan workouts and business planning. He has assisted management in developing business plans, devising short to medium term financial strategies and projections for use in troubled debt restructures, and implementing controls over cash expenditures, overhead and operating costs.
Mr. Nolan’s diverse background extends into financial services; manufacturing; restaurants; healthcare, and real estate wherein he has served as advisor to companies, and advised secured creditors, and unsecured creditors committees in out-of-court and in bankruptcy distressed situations. Mr. Nolan has considerable mortgage banking experience and has been very active in the reorganization of many sub-prime lending concerns. Mr. Nolan co-authored two articles in the American Banker entitled “The Fight for Survival: Sub prime Lending, Where to From Here” and “At What Point Are Servicing Rights Born?”
Mr. Nolan also has extensive experience in working in international insolvencies and workouts. As a member of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) United Kingdom insolvency practice, Mr. Nolan gained experience in the specialized area of UK insolvency, working as a receiver and administrator. Mr. Nolan’s UK experience included managing and selling companies, including companies associated with Polly Peck International, one of the UK’s largest ever insolvencies.
Prior to its acquisition by FTI Consulting, Mr. Nolan served as a partner in the U.S. division of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Business Recovery Services group. Prior to joining PwC, Mr. Nolan held an executive financial management position with the Pizza Hut division of PepsiCo. As a financial manager of over 300 Pizza Huts in the state of Ohio, Mr. Nolan was responsible for identifying under-performing stores and working with local management to improve their performance as well as developing and implementing plans to eliminate excess operating costs and preparing and executing annual operating and financial budgets.
Mr. Nolan is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Association of Insolvency & Restructuring Advisors and the International Bankruptcy Association. He served as treasurer of the Delaware Valley Chapter of Turnaround Management Association.
Mr. Nolan holds an M.B.A. in finance from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in economics from the University of Delaware.
Suzanne McGee is a New York-based financial journalist. After nearly 14 years as a staff reporter for the Wall Street Journal in Toronto, London and New York covering topics that ranged from rogue traders to the rise and fall of the dot.com phenomenon, she is now a contributing editor at Barron’s and writes on financial topics for numerous other publications that have ranged from Art+Auction to Institutional Investor magazine. McGee received both a Gerald Loeb Award and a SABEW “Best in Business” Award for a multimedia project on the rise of Chinese consumer culture that she conceived and reported in 2006/2007. She is the author of “Chasing Goldman Sachs”, a book about the causes of the financial crisis published by Crown last year and due to be released in paperback this October; the Washington Post named it one of the best non-fiction books of 2010 and called it a "masterful" analysis.
Professor Lynn A. Stout is the Paul Hastings Distinguished Professor of Corporate and Securities Law at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. Professor Stout is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of corporate governance, securities regulation, financial derivatives, law and economics, and moral behavior. She is the author of numerous articles and books on these topics and lectures widely. Her most recent book is Cultivating Conscience: How Good Laws Make Good People (Princeton University Press, 2011).
Professor Stout also serves as an Independent Trustee and as Chair of the Governance Committee for the Eaton Vance family of mutual funds; as a member of the Board of Advisors for the Aspen Institute’s Business & Society Program; and as a Research Fellow for the Gruter Institute for Law and Behavioral Research. She has also served as Principal Investigator for the UCLA-Sloan Foundation Research Program on Business Organizations; as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Law and Economics Association; as Chair of the American Association of Law Schools Section on Law and Economics; and as Chair of the American Association of Law Schools Section on Business Associations. Professor Stout has also taught at Harvard Law School, NYU Law School, Georgetown University Law School, and the George Washington University National Law Center, and served as a Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. She holds a B.A. summa cum laude and a Masters in Public Affairs from Princeton University and a J.D. from the Yale Law School.