Lawrence Harris holds the Fred V. Keenan Chair in Finance at the USC Marshall School of Business. His research, teaching, and consulting address regulatory and practitioner issues in trading and in investment management. He has written extensively about trading rules, transaction costs, index markets, and market regulation. His introduction to the economics of trading, Trading and Exchanges: Market Microstructure for Practitioners (Oxford University Press: 2003), is widely regarded as a "must read" for entrants into the securities industry.  

Chairman Harvey Pitt appointed Dr. Harris to serve as Chief Economist of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in July 2002 where he continued to serve under Chairman William Donaldson through June 2004. As Chief Economist, Harris was the primary advisor to the Commission on all economic issues. He contributed extensively to the development of regulations implementing Sarbanes-Oxley, the resolution of the mutual fund timing crisis, the specification of Regulation NMS (National Market System), the promotion of bond price transparency, and numerous legal cases. Harris also directed the SEC Office of Economic Analysis in which 35 economists, analysts, and support staff engage in regulatory analysis, litigation support, and basic economic research.

Professor Harris currently serves as an independent director of Interactive Brokers, Inc. (IBKR) and of Clipper Fund, Inc. (CFIMX), as the director of the USC Marshall School Center for Investment Studies, and as the research coordinator of the Institute for Quantitative Research in Finance (the Q-Group). In the past, he has served as an associate editor of the Journal of Finance, the Review of Financial Studies, and the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. Other professional service has included year-long assignments to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and to the New York Stock Exchange immediately following the Stock Market Crash of 1987. Dr. Harris has also worked at UNX, Inc., an electronic pure agency institutional equity broker, and at Madison Tyler, LLC, a broker-dealer engaged in electronic proprietary trading in various markets.

Dr. Harris received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago in 1982.  Dr. Harris teaches at Level I.

William L. Krantz, CFA, assumed his position as Co-Director on September 1, 2007. Prior to his retirement in 2005, he was involved in the CFA Review Program from 1987 through 2004. He has taught the portfolio management curriculum at all three levels and was a Level III co-coordinator for twelve years.

Bill has been an active member of CFALA since 1970, serving as president in 1985-86. He was honored with the "Member of the Year" award in 1996 and the "Outstanding Lifetime Contribution" award in 2005.

From 1969 through 2005 Bill worked for four investment advisory firms in downtown Los Angeles as a portfolio manager for individuals, institutions, foundations and endowment funds. His responsibilities included the management of client portfolios along with related client service and marketing activities. The last eleven years of his career were spent with Boston Partners Asset Management, a partnership he helped establish in 1995 after leaving The Boston Company.

Bill has volunteered his time extensively in the non-profit sector. Among many board positions, he served two terms as a trustee of the National Endowment Fund of the American Red Cross and six years as a trustee of the Educational Foundation of California Lutheran University. He is currently a member of the Board of Regents of Cal Lutheran where he chairs the investment committee responsible for the school's endowment and planned giving assets.

He holds BS and MBA degrees from the University of Southern California and received the CFA designation in 1976.

Program Instructors

Carolyn S. Barber, CFA, CIPM, joined Clifford Swan Investment Counsel in 1996. She is a portfolio manager and a member of the investment committee. Carolyn is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a member of the CFA Society of Los Angeles and the CFA Institute. She received her BS from California State University, Los Angeles, in 1985.  She recently received the Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement (CIPM). Ms. Barber teaches at Level III.

Dr. Andrew L. Berkin received his B.S. with honors in physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1983, and his Ph.D. in general relativity from the University of Texas at Austin in 1989. He subsequently was a postdoctoral research fellow in astrophysics at Waseda University in Japan for two years. In 1992 he started work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory pursuing research into the visualization and analysis of large scientific data sets. The software that resulted, LinkWinds, was selected as winner of the 1996 NASA Software of the Year Award. Andrew joined the research group at First Quadrant in 1997, and is currently a Director. He is the Portfolio Strategist for the firm's Small Cap equity products. His work includes modeling stock returns and asset allocation, estimating and analyzing transaction costs, developing analysis software, and investigating tax efficient investment strategies. He has published numerous articles in taxable investing, as well as scientific visualization and general relativity. Dr. Berkin teaches at Level III.  

Drew Brahos is Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager at Pacific Capital Bank, N.A. (Santa Barbara Bank & Trust). Before joining Santa Barbara Bank & Trust in November 2000, Mr. Brahos was Senior Economist of the Equity Management Group at TradeStreet Investment Associates, responsible for the development of TradeStreet's investment strategy. For nearly ten years, he served as editor of Economics Illustrated, a monthly survey of 17 prominent Wall Street economists. Prior to joining TradeStreet in 1998, Mr. Brahos was a Research Analyst and Senior Economist for Bank of America Capital Management as well as a member of the Bank's proxy committee. Prior to joining Bank of America, he taught at Purdue University and several other colleges. Over the years, Mr. Brahos has presented keynote speeches to investor conferences and has been a monthly guest on the Los Angeles television program Market Talk, and has appeared on CNNfn and numerous radio programs. He has also been quoted in national publications such as The Wall Street Journal and Barron's. Mr. Brahos earned his MBA from the University of Notre Dame, his master's degree in Mathematics from Duke University and his B.S. in Mathematics and B.A. in French from Butler University. He has also done further graduate studies at the University of Chicago. Mr. Brahos was recently named to the Board of Visitors for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Butler University. He is a member of the National Association of Business Economists, the Los Angeles Society of Financial Analysts and the CFA Institute. Mr. Brahos teaches at Level II.  

Ryan M. Brown is a portfolio analyst at Analytic Investors, Inc. a Los Angeles-based quantitative investment firm.  He is responsible for portfolio research, trading, and implementation across domestic Long-Short (ie 120/20, 130/30) and Market Neutral products.  Prior to working at Analytic, Ryan was a Research Analyst at Beekman Capital Management, an aggressive equity growth manager located in Santa Fe, NM.  Ryan earned a B.S. in Economics from Brigham Young University and a M.S. in Finance from the University of Utah—where he has lectured in Corporate Finance.  Mr. Brown teaches at Level II.   

Tyrone Callahan, PhD  received his PhD in Finance in 1999 from the University of California, Los Angeles.  He has published papers in journals that include The Review of Futures Markets and the Journal of Physical Chemistry.  Dr. Callahan is an ad-hoc referee at the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Markets, and the International Review of Finance.  Dr. Callahan has consulted for Hotchkis and Wiley.  Dr. Callahan teaches at Level I.

James P. Cunningham, PhD is in the Department of Finance and Business Economics at the Marshall School of Business in the University of Southern California. Professor Cunningham received his M.B.A. from the Booth Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago.  He teaches Economics and Finance courses in the undergraduate, full time M.B.A. program, PM M.B.A. program, and in the Executive M.B.A. program at the Marshall School. Dr. Cunningham teaches at Level I. 

Roger L. Gewecke Jr., CFA is a Principal with Clifford Swan Investment Counsel, where he is part of the Investment Counsel and Research and Investment teams. Roger was the director of research at Philip V. Swan Associates prior to its merger with Clifford Associates. Roger was a partner at Van Deventer & Hoch and Vice President at Mellon, with duties in both portfolio management and research. From 1983-1998 he was a member of the Pacific Stock Exchange, where he served as a specialist. Roger graduated with a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Southern California. He is a member of the CFA Society of Los Angeles Board of Governors. Mr. Gewecke teaches at Level III and also serves as a coordinator.

Berkeley Harrison, CFA has worked in financial services for nearly twenty years in Los Angeles, and is currently employed as a Senior Portfolio Manager for Comerica Wealth Management. Most recently, he was an investment manager in Wachovia’s wealth management division, managing investment for private clients throughout California and Arizona. Prior to Wachovia, Berkeley managed alternative investments at a single family office in Los Angeles. Earlier work experience includes equity analysis, fixed income portfolio management, and commercial lending.

Berkeley graduated from Duke University with a degree in economics and also earned his MBA from the University of Southern California. He was an exchange student in southeast Mexico through a Rotary Club program and is bilingual in Spanish. Berkeley has also been active in the CFA Society of Los Angeles for the past decade, recently serving as its president. Mr. Harrison teaches at Level I.

John E. Hervey II, CFA is a Vice President at Wells Fargo (Legacy Wachovia) where he is a commercial banking relationship manager. Prior to Wachovia, Mr. Hervey worked at Bank of America first as a Client Manager Analyst and then as an underwriter in the areas of healthcare and non-profit institutions. John has over 10 years of work experience which includes commercial banking underwriting, financial analysis, valuation, accounting, mergers and acquisitions, economic analysis and business development. John has an MBA from MIT Sloan, an MA in economics from USC, a BA in Mathematical-Economics from Pomona College and is a CFA charterholder. Mr. Hervey teaches at Level III. 
  

 Benjamin Hodges, CFA, FRM, started his career in the Corporate Restructuring group of Arthur Andersen. He joined Southern California Edison in 2002 in their Treasurer’s department. Mr. Hodges currently manages the corporate financial analysis function for SCE. His responsibilities include managing the review of large capital projects, liquidity forecasting, lease vs buy decisions, and serving as an expert financial witness in regulatory proceedings. Mr. Hodges received both his BS and MBA from the University of Southern California.
 

 Lou Holtz, CFA is a Portfolio Manager for Rice Hall James in Pasadena, CA. At Rice Hall James, Mr. Holtz co-manages both small-cap growth and micro-cap growth investment strategies. Prior to joining Rice Hall James in 2008, Mr. Holtz spent 12 years at Engemann Asset Management in Pasadena serving as a portfolio manager of small-cap growth, micro-cap growth, all-cap growth and balanced investment strategies. Mr. Holtz also spent three years as a business valuation analyst at Marshall and Stevens and one year as an analyst for a regional real estate appraisal firm. Mr. Holtz holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in business economics with honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara and an M.B.A. with an emphasis in finance from the University of Southern California, where he was on the Dean's List. Mr. Holtz teaches at Level III.

Anil Kapoor, CPA, CFA is currently a Research Analyst at Clifford Swan Investment Councsel. Anil began his career at Ernst & Young before deciding to concentrate on the investment management industry. In his ten years in the industry, he has worked as a bottoms up analyst on numerous industries within different strategies (long only, market-neutral, etc.). Mr. Kapoor teaches at Level II.

David Krider, CFA  is a Portfolio Manager covering global equities with Analytic Investors, Inc. a Los Angeles-based quantitative investment firm. Prior to joining Analytic, David founded Visualize, Inc. a provider of data visualization and analytic software solutions to the financial services industry. Before starting Visualize, he was a member of the equity management team at First Quadrant. David has a B.S. in Economics and Computer Science from the California Institute of Technology. Mr. Krider recently passed Level III of the CFA Exams. Mr. Krider teaches at Level III.  

John M. Lacey, Ph.D. is Ernst & Young Research Fellow and Professor of Accountancy at California State University - Long Beach. He previously taught at the School of Accounting at the University of Southern California (USC) and at Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA. He earned his Ph.D. at UCLA and earned his MBA and BS degrees at USC. Professor Lacey is a CPA and has served on several committees and tasks forces for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), including the Accounting Standards Executive Committee (AcSEC). Professor Lacey has also served as Chair of the California Society of CPAs Accounting Principles and Auditing Standards Committee and Chairs its Special Committee on the future of the accounting profession. He also teaches regularly for a large investment management firm, banks, and for various judicial organizations. Professor Lacey is the author of a research study on auditor independence commissioned by the Chief Accountant of the Securities & Exchange Commission. Professor Lacey is widely published and also serves as an expert witness in major legal cases involving accounting and financial issues. Prior to his academic career, Professor Lacey was a supervisor in the national office of a major CPA firm and served as corporate officer and controller of a manufacturing company. Professor Lacey teaches at Level I and Level II.  

Christopher G. Luck, CFA is Partner at First Quadrant, L.P. in Pasadena, CA. Mr. Luck  joined First Quadrant in 1995 and currently manages the Equity Portfolio Management group, which is responsible for $6 billion in U.S. and international equities. Prior to joining First Quadrant, Chris spent eight years at BARRA, most recently as Director of Sponsor Services. He has published a number of articles in various journals, including research on socially responsible investing, international diversification, style management, and tax-efficient investing. Chris received his MBA from the University of California, Berkeley in 1988 with an emphasis in Finance and graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Economics from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Mr. Luck teaches at Level III.  

Maria T. Manotok is a Vice President and Associate Counsel of Capital Research and Management Company's Fund Business Management Group.  She is also a Vice President and Associate Counsel in the Legal Group of The Capital Group Companies, Inc.  Maria has been with  Capital for the last 10 years and is based in Los Angeles.  She received a BA from Smith College and a JD from the UCLA School of Law.  Ms. Manotok  teaches at Level III.                                                 

James R. Mulally  Jim Mulally is a senior vice president of Capital Research and Management Company and a portfolio manager with global fixed-income portfolio responsibilities. Within CRMC, Jim has portfolio counselor responsibilities in Capital World Bond Fund, American Balanced Fund, The Income Fund of America, and the American Funds Insurance Series Asset Allocation Fund. He is also a senior vice president of Capital International Limited. Prior to joining Capital in 1980, Jim was a research associate at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. He received a BA from Dartmouth College (Phi Beta Kappa) and an MBA from the Columbia Graduate School of Business. Jim is based in Los Angeles. Mr. Mulally teaches at Level III.

Julia Plotts is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Finance & Business Economics at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. She teaches corporate finance and financial analysis and valuation courses in the undergraduate, MBA, EMBA and GEMBA programs. She recently served as a visiting faculty member in the EMBA program at the University of Melbourne, Melbourne Business School in Australia and is involved in the commercial due diligence curriculum for USC’s Executive Education program. Her areas of expertise include: Corporate Finance, Mergers and Acquisitions, Corporate Governance and Equity Asset Valuation.

Prior to joining the faculty in 2002, Julia worked within the investment-banking group of Banc of America Securities LLC. Her transaction experience included assessment of strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value through mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyout/recapitalization and capital-raising through private/public offerings of equity and debt. Her advisory experience involved all stages of a transaction from research, due diligence, preparation of offering memoranda, financial modeling and negotiation of final purchase and sale agreements.

She has consulted on shareholder value and asset valuation for a variety of firms and has authored several valuation case studies, including forthcoming cases on Starbucks Coffee Company in China (CIBER) and Disney’s Acquisition of Pixar. She was a contributor to the text "Valuation: The Art and Science of Making Strategic Investments" Published July 2007 by Addison-Wesley.

Professor Plotts received the Marshall Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching during 2004-2005 and 2006-2007 and has been "tapped" by the Mortar Board Torch and Tassle chapter at USC in recognition of leadership, commitment, and excellence in teaching.

She received her MBA in Corporate Finance and Strategic Management from University of Southern California and is a
Graduate of Engalitcheff Institute on Comparative Political and Economic Systems and International Business at Georgetown University.  She received her BA in both English Literature & Political Science from Loyola Marymount University.  Professor Plotts teaches at Level II.

Dan Pomerantz, CFA is a Vice President and portfolio manager at The Northern Trust. His expertise includes portfolio management, trading, quantitative modeling and investment consulting. Prior to Northern Trust, Dan worked for Opus Investment Advisors, a registered investment advisory firm in Los Angeles where he managed large institutional equity index portfolios and provided consulting services to Taft-Hartley clients. Prior to Opus, Dan worked at Toyota Motor Sales USA, Inc. where he helped manage the company's pension assets and helped issue asset backed securities and commercial paper. He also worked as a Civil Engineer for eight years and holds a professional engineer license in the state of California.

Dan has an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA and Bachelors and Master Degrees in Civil Engineering from UCLA. Dan is a CFA Charterholder and holds the FINRA Series 65 license. He is also a member of the Public Awareness Committee of CFA Los Angeles and a Board member of the Applied Behavioral Finance Group in Los Angeles.  Mr. Pomerantz teaches at Level I. 

Raymond Rath, CFA, ASA is a Director in the Transaction Services Accounting, Valuation and Financial Reporting Advisory Services of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. He specializes in the valuation of business enterprises, securities interests and intangible assets for transactions and financial and tax reporting. Mr. Rath received his BS in Finance from the University of Kansas Cum Laude and his MBA from the University of Southern California.

Mr. Rath is very active in financial reporting valuation issues. He organized and moderated four one day conferences for the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) on fair value issues including SEC, FASB and PCAOB staff presentations.   The ASA awarded Mr. Rath the Accredited Senior Appraiser designation. He serves on the ASA's Business Valuation Committee and is past President of the ASA's Los Angeles Chapter. Mr. Rath led the development of the ASAs three day course, Valuation of Intangible Assets for Financial Reporting. He is currently leading the development of a second ASA course, Special Topics in the Valuation of Intangible Assets, which will be offered in 2010.

Mr. Rath has participated in meetings of the American Accounting Association and FASB to discuss fair value education in business and intangible asset valuations. He has served as a CFA grader and CFA standard setting participant. He has authored several articles in valuation topics.  Mr. Rath teaches at Level I.
 

Mohammad R. Safarzadeh, PhD is in the Department of Economics in USC. Professor Safarzadeh received his B.S. in economics from Tehran University and M.S. and Ph.D. in economics from Claremont Graduate University.  He is the author of a book in Mathematical Economics using Mathematica and has published several articles on exchange rate, trade, and finance in refereed journals. He teaches courses in econometrics, macroeconomics, risk analysis and forecasting. Dr. Safarzadeh teaches in Level 1.

 Michael Salvay, CFA, is a principal and a senior portfolio manager at Payden & Rygel. He is the senior consultant on a number of major accounts including public clients as well as corporate and endowment clients. As a senior strategist in the core bond group he works closely with the strategy groups such as mortgages, high-yield and corporate bonds. A frequent speaker on many aspects of the fixed-income market place both in the U.S. and internationally, Salvay has authored several articles on bond strategies. Prior to joining Payden & Rygel, Salvay was a senior portfolio manager at Dewey Square Investors in Boston, where he specialized in mortgage-backed securities and duration immunization strategies. Michael Salvay holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of CFA Institute. Mr. Salvay has taught Levels I and II. 

Jeffrey J. Sherman, CFA - Multi-Strategy Fixed Income.  Mr. Sherman joined DoubleLine in 2009 where he focuses on Multi-Strategy Fixed Income research. Prior to DoubleLine, he was a Senior Vice President associated with TCW for the past nine years where he worked as a Quantitative Analyst focusing on fixed income and commodities analytics. Mr. Sherman was also a portfolio manager overseeing several commodity funds. Prior to TCW, he was a statistics and mathematics instructor at both the University of the Pacific and Florida State University. Mr. Sherman holds a BS in Applied Mathematics from the University of the Pacific and a MS in Financial Engineering from the Claremont Graduate University. He is a CFA charterholder.  Mr. Sherman teaches at Level I.

 Chen Song, Ph.D., CFA, is an Economist at Navigant Consulting's Los Angeles office. She was an adjunct assistant professor with the California State University, Los Angeles, where she taught a course on financial institutions which covered topics on derivatives, mortgage and securitized asset markets. Chen has provided consulting services and authored expert reports related to liability, class certification, and damages in class action, multiple- and single-plaintiff disputes. Chen is well-versed with financial modeling tools such as Monte-Carlo simulation and event study, and routinely implements statistical techniques to analyze complex data. Chen received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago. Ms. Song teaches at Level III.

Mick Swartz, Ph.D. graduated with a PhD in Finance from the University of Iowa in 1994. In 1994 Mick taught for the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. In addition, Mick taught finance in Ukraine for the Canadian Government in 1994. The student/faculty exchange program brought students to Canada to obtain an MBA. Mick has received many teaching awards for teaching corporate finance, investments, and derivatives (options and futures). Mick has taught at The University of Notre Dame and recently left Purdue University to come to USC. Mick has over ten referred journal articles in corporate finance/governance and investments. Mick has over twenty presentations at finance conferences. He has been a member of many academic finance organizations in the US, including the Financial Management Association, American Finance Association, Midwest Finance Association, Eastern Finance Association, Multi-National Finance Association (charter member), South-Western Finance Association and other finance organizations. Mick has written a chapter on options in the forthcoming Handbook of Modern Finance. He has been a reviewer for journal articles and been involved in program committees for some finance conferences. He has been a speaker for community groups, consulted state legislators concerning executive compensation and given advice on merger legislation, and taught in many countries (Ukraine, United Kingdom, Canada, Poland, Germany) and presented at finance conferences in many countries (Mexico, Greece, Great Britain, Germany, Poland and the United States). He has, also, helped with student investment clubs at Notre Dame and Purdue. Dr. Swartz teaches at Level I and  III.

Harlan H. Thompson, CFA - Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer for California at US Trust. Before joining US Trust he was the Managing Director, Provident Investment Counsel. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Oregon State University and a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance from the University of Southern California. Prior to joining Provident Investment Counsel in 1991, he had risen to be a Senior Vice President with a major west coast regional brokerage firm where he was on the management committee. He has been in the investment industry since 1985. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst. Mr Thompson has served as Chairman of the Western District of the Securities Industry Association. He has been a featured speaker in numerous financial seminars, most recently at a national IMCA conference. He currently is a member of the Los Angeles Society of Financial Analysts, a member of the Endowment Investment Committee for Children's Hospital of Los Angeles and is active in a number of civic and charitable groups including the Los Angeles Music Center and the Pasadena Tournament of Roses. Mr. Thompson teaches at Level III. 

 Jay Tsai, CFA is the founder and managing partner of JM Tsai Asset Management. From 1999-2004, he was an Associate Vice President with Morgan Stanley in Los Angeles - where he assisted institutional clients in Asia and the US with Morgan Stanley’s trading, research, and clearing platforms. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, he was part of the Lehman Brothers’ middle market group where he provided investment advisory and consulting services to corporate institutions and high net worth individuals. Jay started his investment career as an assistant proprietary trader for First New York, LLC - a $100 million hedge fund based in New York City.

Jay holds a BS in Computer Science and Engineering from UCLA and a MBA with concentration in Financial Engineering (under Professor Jonathan Ingersoll) from Yale University.

Prior to becoming the President of CFAOC in 2005, Jay was the program chair for CFAOC from 2003-2005. He helped organized CFAOC’s first career expo in March of 2006. Mr. Tsai teaches at Level II. 

 Wayne H. Wagner consults on issues relating to investment management, securities trading and exchanges.

In 1986 he co-founded Plexus Group, a Los Angeles based firm that provides trading evaluation and advisory services to money managers, brokerage firms and pension plan sponsors. Plexus discovered the hidden delay and opportunity costs of trading. Previously, Wayne was a founding partner of Wilshire Associates and Chief Investment Officer of Wilshire Asset Management. Earlier, he designed operating, balancing and evaluative algorithms for the world’s first operational index fund at Wells Fargo Bank.

Wayne is co-editor of Investment Management: Meeting the Noble Challenges of Funding Pensions, Deficits and Growth, 2009 and The Complete Guide to Securities Transactions: Improving Perform¬ance and Reducing Costs, 1987. In addition, he co-author of a popular investment book entitled MILLIONAIRE in 2001. Wayne is a frequent writer and speaker on many trading and investment subjects. He received two Graham and Dodd Awards from the Financial Analysts Journal for excellence in financial writing. He has taught courses on Trading & Exchanges at UCLA and USC.

Wayne received his MS degree in Statistics from Stanford University and a BBA in Management Science from the University of Wisconsin.  Mr. Wagner teaches at Level I.