Inaugural BYU Finance Conference Hosted at Zion National Park

PROVO, Utah – Oct 18, 2012 – Surrounded by the beauty of Southern Utah, top finance professors from around the country gathered to present research and discuss recent developments in financial markets following the economic downturn at Brigham Young University’s inaugural Red Rock Finance Conference.

“This event is a chance for BYU to give back to the academic community,” says Keith Vorkink, BYU finance professor and conference organizer. “We were delighted with the turnout, the quality of papers and the engaging discussion.”

Finance professors from top-tier universities, including UCLA, Harvard and Dartmouth, attended the two-day event. The conference featured nine paper presentations with facilitated discussions, a keynote address and free-time activities.

Presentations illustrated cutting-edge research in the beginning stages of the peer-review process. The top paper, chosen by conference attendees, was awarded to University of Chicago professor Amit Seru.

Seru and his co-authors presented their observations about the inconsistency of banking regulator ratings. The discussion that followed was facilitated by NYU’s Phillip Schnabl and provided an opportunity for the attendees to engage with the speaker.

“Several issues came up that would help improve the paper,” Seru says. “I found the subsequent discussion of the general audience very stimulating.”

The conference concluded with a keynote address by Stanford professor Monika Piazzesi. Afterward, conference attendees were invited to extend their stay an extra day to enjoy the activities available in Zion National Park.

“It was great to spend time with other researchers in such a beautiful setting,” says Tyler Shumway, program committee member from the University of Michigan. “The free-time excursions gave us opportunities to get to know one another in a way we typically do not experience at other conferences.”

Francis Longstaff, program chair of the event and finance professor at UCLA, said he was pleased with the event. “It went really well,” he says. “We had a strong program with great papers being presented by some of the top researchers in finance.”

For more information about this year’s conference, visit redrockconference.byu.edu.

The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, public management, information systems, entrepreneurship, and recreation management and youth leadership. The school’s mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,300 students are enrolled in the Marriott School’s graduate and undergraduate programs.