Opinion Article Contributors

John Haslem, PhD [ Go to Articles ]

John A. Haslem, professor emeritus of finance, served as the founding academic affairs dean and founding chair of the finance department. He received the Panhellenic Association’s “Outstanding Teacher Award” for his mutual funds course, the first in the curriculum of a school of business. Haslem studied at Duke University, Harvard University, and University of North Carolina, and he also taught at the University of North Carolina and on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin.

Research has appeared in the Journal of Finance, Journal of Business, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Accountancy, Financial Analysts Journal, and Transportation Research (Part A), among others. Haslem served as personal financial consultant to the Director of Supersonic Transport of the U.S. Department of Transportation, consultant and expert witness to two divisions of the U.S. Department of Justice (including the Supreme Court case, U.S. v. State of Louisiana), and financial consultant to the Goddard Space Flight Center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Peter Morici, PhD [ Go to Articles ]

Professor Morici, professor of international business, is a recognized expert on international economic policy, the World Trade Organization, and international commercial agreements. Prior to joining the university, he served as director of the Office of Economics at the U.S. International Trade Commission. He is the author of 18 books and monographs and has published widely in leading public policy and business journals including the Harvard Business Review and Foreign Policy. He has offered public lectures, conferences and institutes at over 100 institutions including the Columbia School of Journalism, Harvard Business School, Universidad Tecnologica de Mexico, and Oxford University. His views have been featured on CNN, FOX, ABC, CBS, CNBC, NPR, NPB, BBC, Reuters financial networks, and national broadcast networks around the world.

Clifford Rossi, PhD [ Go to Articles ]

Clifford Rossi is an Executive-in-Residence and Tyser Teaching Fellow at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland. Prior to entering academia, Rossi had nearly 25 years’ experience in banking and government, having held senior executive roles in risk management at several of the largest financial services companies.

His most recent position was Managing Director and Chief Risk Officer for Citigroup’s Consumer Lending Group where he was responsible for overseeing the risk of a $300+B global portfolio of mortgage, home equity, student loans and auto loans with 700 employees under his direction. While there he was intimately involved in Citi’s TARP and stress test activities. He also served as Chief Credit Officer at Washington Mutual (WaMu) and as Managing Director and Chief Risk Officer at Countrywide Bank.

Previous to these assignments, Rossi held senior risk management positions at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. He started his career during the thrift crisis at the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Domestic Finance and later at the Office of Thrift Supervision working on key policy issues affecting depositories. Rossi was also an adjunct professor in the Finance Department at the Robert H. Smith School of Business for eight years and has numerous academic and nonacademic articles on banking industry topics. Rossi is frequently quoted on financial policy issues in major newspapers and has appeared on such programs as C-SPAN’s Washington Journal and CNN’s Situation Room. He is currently writing a book, Fundamentals of Risk Management for John Wiley & Sons, Inc. His policy and research interests include GSE reform, housing finance reform , bank capital issues and implications of Dodd-Frank on banking.