2007 Headlines
Professor Yaniv Grinstein Returns from Year at Securities Exchange Commission
September 19, 2007 | Ithaca, NY Yaniv Grinstein, Assistant Professor of Finance at the Johnson School at Cornell University, returned this summer from his year-long position as a Visiting Academic Scholar at the Securities and Exchange Commission. At the SEC, Professor Grinstein continued his work on corporate governance issues. Among the projects he worked on at the SEC were economic assessments of new rules that relate to executive compensation and disclosure of private transactions, review of the economic effects of the Sarbanes Oxley law, and assessments of the importance of independent directors in mutual funds. In addition, he utilized research in his "Lucky CEOs" and "Lucky Directors" papers to help the SEC on issues related to option backdating.
According to Grinstein, "My experience at the SEC was invaluable. My work at the SEC very much complements my academic research since it allows me to apply relevant research to real-life policy decisions."
Grinstein expects to bring much of his learning to the classroom and his future research. "I learned a great deal about the corporate legal system in the U.S. and the SEC ruling process, as well as corporate governance issues that are quite interesting and controversial. I plan to integrate much of this into my Corporate Governance course. Many of the issues I worked on gave me ideas for new research, some of which I am already working on."
This fall, Professor Grinstein is teaching a PhD seminar in corporate finance. In the spring, he will teach the Corporate Governance course. He will also teach Corporate Financial Policy to students in the Managerial Finance Immersion, and in the Cornell-Queen's Executive MBA program. Executive MBA students should also expect to see him in their finance core in the spring.
