Dr. S. Abraham (Avri) Ravid, Sy Syms Professor of Finance at Sys Syms School of Business, is the program chair of the Midwest Finance Associations annual meeting, being held this year March 1 – 3 in San Antonio, Texas.
The Midwest Finance Association is a major professional association with members from around the world. More than 300 attendees are expected to come to San Antonio to participate, present and discuss new research in all areas of finance.
As program chair of this year’s meeting, Ravid has overseen development of the meeting content, including reviewing more than 450 papers submitted for presentation, working with 200 reviewers and two dozen track chair to make final acceptance and rejection decisions on those submissions, as well as forming the various sessions.
Ravid also led the effort to secure leading academic and industry figures to serve as keynote speakers. The two academic keynote speakers this year are David Scharfstein Edmund Cogswell Converse Professor of Finance and Banking at Harvard Business School and president of the American Finance Association. Kose John, the Charles William Gerstenberg Professor of Banking and Finance at the Stern School of Business, New York University will also deliver a keynote address. Both Scharfstein and John have visited YU in the past at the invitation of Ravid and presented their work to the Sy Syms faculty.
Industry keynote speakers will include Jeff Korcheck, executive vice president of Sony Pictures Animation, and Gikas Hardouvelis, former minister of finance of Greece.
In addition to the program planning, Ravid chairs the team that awards best paper prizes to four exceptional papers and travel grants to 10 outstanding graduate students who submitted papers for presentation. The 10 students from around the world will also be recognized at a lunch during the conference.
