Smith’s thought leadership is expressed in many ways, including conferences and symposia that give the wider community the opportunity to benefit from recent research at the school. A few weeks ago Smith’s finance department hosted the biennial Maryland Finance Symposium, co-chaired by Lemma Senbet, chair of Smith’s finance department. Titled “Governance, Markets, and Financial Policy,” the conference ran from Thursday, March 31, to Saturday, April 2, 2005, at the University of Maryland Inn and Conference Center.

The Maryland Finance Symposium, now in its sixth year, attracts experts from the nation’s leading schools, including Duke University, New York University, University of Chicago, Northwestern University, The Wharton School, University of Texas at Austin, and Washington University.

The symposium focused on the governance of corporations and institutions including mutual funds. The importance of corporate governance has received new scrutiny in light of the corporate failures of recent years, including scandals which drove the SEC to make policy changes that will have a dramatic impact on hundreds of mutual fund boards. Forum attendees had the opportunity to hear presentations on whether weak governance causes weak stock returns and the relationship between governance and CEO turnover. Forum attendees also participated in discussions about executive compensation, financial transparency, governance and investor protection, and financial system design. The symposium provided a forum for some of the best minds in the industry to explore the implications of these and other policy changes.

Prior conferences hosted by the school include the Fifth Maryland Finance Symposium which was held in conjunction with the 13th Annual Conference on Financial Economics and Accounting on November 15 and 16, 2002 and The Real Options Symposium which was held on April 19 - 20, 2002.