VIRAL V. ACHARYA is Professor 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), and an Academic Advisor to the Federal Reserve Banks of Cleveland, New York and Philadelphia, and the Board of Governors. He was the Academic Director of the Coller Institute of Private Equity at London Business School during 2008-09 and a Senior Houblon-Normal Research Fellow at the Bank of England for Summer 2008. He completed his Ph.D. in Finance from NYU-Stern and Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science and Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.

His research interests are in the regulation of banks and financial institutions, corporate finance, credit risk and valuation of corporate debt, and asset pricing with a focus on the effects of liquidity risk. 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 editor of the Journal of Financial Intermediation.

He 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.

He has co-edited the book Restoring Financial Stability: How to Repair a Failed System, NYU-Stern and John Wiley & Sons, March 2009, co-edited the forthcoming book Regulating Wall Street: The Dodd-Frank Act and the New Architecture of Global Finance, Wiley, October 2010, and co-authored the forthcoming book Guaranteed to Fail: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Debacle of Mortgage Finance, Princeton University Press, March 2011.

THOMAS F. COOLEY is the Paganelli-Bull Professor of Economics at the New York University Stern School of Business, as well as a Professor of Economics in the NYU Faculty of Arts and Science. The former President of the Society for Economic Dynamics and a Fellow of the Econometric Society, Professor Cooley is a widely published scholar in the areas of macroeconomic theory, monetary theory and policy and the financial behavior of firms, and is recognized as a national leader in both macroeconomic theory and business education. Professor Cooley was Dean of NYU Stern from 2002-2010.

Responding to the financial crisis of fall 2008, Professor Cooley spearheaded a research and policy initiative that yielded 18 white papers by 33 NYU Stern professors, later published as “Restoring Financial Stability: How to Repair a Failed System,” (Wiley, March 2009). He also writes a weekly opinion column for FORBES.com.

Professor Cooley is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations.

Before joining NYU Stern, Professor Cooley was a Professor of Economics at the University of Rochester, University of Pennsylvania, and UC Santa Barbara. Prior to his academic career, Professor Cooley was a systems engineer for IBM Corporation. Professor Cooley received his BS from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and his MA and PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds a doctorem honoris causa from the Stockholm School of Economics.

MATTHEW RICHARDSON is a Professor of Finance at the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University, and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He has also held the title of Assistant Professor of Finance at The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Richardson received his Ph.D in Finance from Stanford University and his MA and BA in Economics concurrently from University of California at Los Angeles.

Professor Richardson teaches classes at the MBA, executive and PhD level. His MBA classes cover Debt Instruments and Markets and International Fixed Income. He is serving or has served as associate editor for the Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Finance and Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. He has been a referee for over 20 academic journals, including Econometrica, Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies and American Economic Review. In 1997 Professor Richardson was awarded the Rosenthal Award for Financial Innovation.

Professor Richardson has published papers in a variety of top academic journals, including, among others, Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, and the American Economic Review. His work has also appeared in practitioner journals and books such as Advanced Tools for the Fixed Income Professional, Emerging Market Capital Flows, and VAR: Understanding and Applying Value-at-Risk.

INGO WALTER is the Seymour Milstein Professor of Finance, Corporate Governance and Ethics and Vice Dean of Faculty at the Stern School of Business, New York University. He has taught at New York University since 1970. He has served as a consultant to various corporations, banks, government agencies and international institutions and has authored or co-authored numerous books and articles in the fields of international trade policy, international banking, environmental economics, and economics of multinational corporate operations.