Office of Economic Analysis:
Current Staff Biographies

James Overdahl (Chief Economist) joined the SEC in August 2007. Prior to joining the Commission, he served as Chief Economist of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He received his B.A. degree from St. Olaf College and his Ph.D. in Economics from Iowa State University. He has written extensively on market microstructure, risk management, and investments, and is co-author, with Robert Kolb, of three textbooks, Financial Derivatives, Understanding Futures Markets, and Futures, Options and Swaps.

Stewart Mayhew (Deputy Chief Economist) joined OEA in August 2002, and has served as Deputy Chief since June 2008. He received his Doctorate in Finance from the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley in 1996, and has served on the faculty of the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University and the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia. Dr. Mayhew has published research in the area of option pricing, volatility estimation, and the structure of option markets, including numerous articles in The Journal of Finance, The Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, The Journal of Futures Markets, and the Financial Analysts Journal, among others.

Cindy R. Alexander (Assistant Chief Economist) joined the Commission in November 2003 after serving as Senior Economist at the Council of Economic Advisers, where she specialized in the economics of corporate governance reform. She also served as an economics expert for more than a decade at the US Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, in areas that include the design of sanctions and the economics of partial acquisitions. She received her Ph.D. in economics from UCLA, where she studied financial economics, industrial organization and the theory of the firm, and the economics of law. She has served on the faculty of the Owen Graduate School of Management of Vanderbilt University and as a research fellow at the University of Chicago School of Law. Dr. Alexander's published research includes articles on corporate governance and the causes and consequences of corporate misconduct and has been published in journals that include the Journal of Law & Economics, the Journal of Economic and Management Strategy, and the Journal of Corporate Finance. She also has articles in the Federal Sentencing Reporter and the Yale Journal on Regulation.

Chyhe K. Becker (Assistant Chief Economist) joined the Commission in March 2008. She was previously a Principal with Chicago Partners LLC, where she specialized in securities litigation. Prior to Chicago Partners, she was a Principal with the Economic Consulting group at Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP. She has provided expert testimony and analysis in securities class action matters as well as contract disputes. She received an M.B.A. and Ph.D. in financial economics from The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, and a B.A. in psychology from Yale University. In addition, she taught corporate finance at The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Dr. Becker's research has been published in the Journal of Financial Intermediation.

Amy K. Edwards (Assistant Chief Economist) joined OEA in June of 1997. She earned her PhD in Finance from the Ohio State University. Dr. Edwards provides economic advice and conducts empirical studies of current SEC policy and recent market events. She is primarily interested in the area of market microstructure and has conducted research on issues related to decimalization, fragmentation, short sale rules, limit order display, specialist participation, and transparency. She has publications in The Journal of Finance, Financial Management and Journal of Financial Markets. Her research results have been discussed in the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and the Economist.

Vance H. Anthony joined the Commission in 1980 after working for five years at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. He majored in mathematics and economics as an undergraduate at Tufts University, and has a Master's Degree in Economics from George Washington University. He provides quantitative assistance to the Division of Market Regulation, the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, and the Division of Investment Management. He also regularly works on enforcement issues. He is the agency's point-of-contact for the FOCUS database, which contains financial information about securities firms. He also works with market microstructure data and investment company data.

J. Daniel Aromi joined the commission in August 2007. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Maryland and his undergraduate degree from Universidad de Buenos Aires. His areas of specialization include auction theory and industrial organization. Dr. Aromi will focus on issues related to mutual funds and market microstructure.

Mike Barnes joined the Commission in September 2008. Mike received his MBA in Finance from the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and has a BA in Economics from Haverford College. Prior to joining OEA, Mike was a Senior Manager in the Economic Consulting group at Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP in Washington, DC. Mike's work at the Commission focuses on providing quantitative analysis of enforcement issues.

Scott Bauguess joined the OEA in August 2007 as an economic fellow, visiting from Texas Tech University where he has been on faculty since 2004. Scott's current research focus entails the study of the merit and determinants of corporate ownership structure, and in particular, the effects of differential voting rights in corporate share structures, firms commonly classified as "dual class." Scott earned his Ph.D. in Finance from Arizona State University (2004) after spending 6 years working in the semiconductor industry for Motorola Inc. Scott holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois (1992), M.S. in Electrical Engineering form Arizona State University (1995) and an M.B.A. from Arizona State University (1998).

Gennaro Bernile joined the Commission in August 2008 as a visiting academic scholar. Dr. Bernile is currently on leave from the University of Miami, where he is an assistant professor in the Finance Department. His research focuses on empirical corporate finance, corporate governance, and capital markets integrity. He received his Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Rochester. His most recent research on stock option backdating is forthcoming in the Journal of Accounting and Economics.

Cecilia Caglio joined the Commission in August 2008 as an Economic Fellow after serving on the faculty of George Washington University and American University. She previously worked at OEA in 2005 and 2006. Dr. Caglio was also faculty member at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona and research fellow at the Ente Luigi Einaudi in Rome. Her current research focuses on the impact of financial market regulation on different aspect of market quality and on the competition among stock exchanges. She earned her Ph. D. in 2003 from Bocconi University.

Charles Dale joined the Commission in 1999 after working at the Departments of Energy, Army, Commerce, Treasury and Navy on a variety of topics ranging from the effects of derivative markets on other financial markets to the economic impacts of agency policymaking. He holds degrees in mathematics, physics, decision sciences and a PhD in Economics from Georgia State University. As the Office's Senior Financial Economist for Regulatory Issues, he is the point-of-contact for economic analyses for all Commission rulemaking, including cost-benefit analyses and considerations of efficiency, competition and capital formation. He is a past vice-president of the National Economists Club, and his work on Treasury derivatives pricing earned him a listing in Who's Who in Science and Engineering.

Hans Dutt joined the Commission in July of 2000. His 15 years of experience as an economist includes more than five years at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. His duties include providing qualitative and quantitative economic advice on Commission rulemaking, particularly those related to derivative instruments. His research involves issues that are directly relevant to SEC rulemaking. His publications on financial market regulation include three articles on derivative security margin requirements (1997, 2003 and 2003) and a fourth on options and futures position limits (2005), all published in the Journal of Futures Markets. In addition, he consistently reviews academic articles for the Journal of Futures Markets. Mr. Dutt is currently a candidate for a Ph.D. in economics at George Mason University, which he began work on in 2003 and expects to complete during 2006.

Kathleen Weiss Hanley joined the Commission in February 2005 as an Economic Fellow. Prior to joining the SEC, she was on the faculty at the University of Maryland as an associate professor and at the University of Michigan as an assistant professor. She has written extensively on the topic of corporate finance with an emphasis on initial public offerings, price stabilization and closed-end funds. Her research has been published in leading finance journals such as the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics, the Journal of Financial Intermediation, and Financial Management. She has been an associate editor at the Journal of Financial Research and is currently a Practitioner Director of the Financial Management Association. Her work at the Commission focuses on corporate finance and disclosure as well as issues related to Sarbanes-Oxley. She received her Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Florida and her undergraduate degree from Indiana University.

Stuart Jackson joined the Commission in June 2008. Prior to joining the SEC he was a Senior Manager in the Economic Consulting group at Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP. He has a Masters in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a B.A. in economics and visual studies from Dartmouth College. His work at the Commission focuses on providing quantitative analysis on enforcement issues.

Woodrow T. Johnson joined OEA in June of 2008. He earned his Ph.D. with distinction from Columbia University's Graduate School of Business in finance. Before joining the SEC, he was an assistant professor of finance at the University of Oregon where he taught undergraduate, masters, and doctoral courses in investments and international finance. His research specialty is individual financial decision making, especially in the context of mutual funds. He has published his research in The Journal of Finance. He has been quoted by the Wall Street Journal and various trade publications, including SFO Magazine and Money Management Executive.

Nick Jordan joined OEA in July, 2008 after eight years at the Risk Analysis Division in the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. At the OCC, he specialized in the analysis of interest rate risk and the modeling of securitized assets. He has an M.A. in international economics from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins and a B.A. in economics from the University of Chicago.

Ayla Kayhan joined the Commission in August 2008 as a visiting academic scholar from Louisiana State University where she has been on faculty since 2004. Her research focuses on capital structure and corporate governance with an emphasis on credit ratings and financing decisions. She has published her research in the Journal of Financial Economics. Ayla received her PhD in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin and her undergraduate degree from Koc University, Istanbul.

Yoon-Ho Alex Lee joined the OEA in September 2007 as an Economic Fellow. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University (2006), J.D. from Yale Law School (2006), and his undergraduate degree at Harvard University. His research includes applied microeconomic analysis, law and economics, and games of imperfect information. While in graduate school, Dr. Lee worked at the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. His work has been published in the Yale Journal on Regulation. Prior to joining the OEA, he worked as a law clerk to Judge Thomas B. Griffith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Jennifer Marietta-Westberg joined the Commission in August 2006 as a visiting academic scholar. She earned her Ph.D. in finance from the University of Iowa. Before joining the Commission, Dr. Marietta-Westberg served on the faculty of Michigan State University. Her research focuses on initial public offerings, in particular the effect of the media on IPO returns and volatility. She also studies how potential conflicts of interest at universal banks could affect their underwriting and fund trading strategies. While at the Commission, Dr. Marietta-Westberg will work on various issues related to security offerings.

D. Timothy McCormick joined OEA in February 2005 after working at The Nasdaq Stock Market and the NASD for 20 years. Dr. McCormick received his Doctorate in Applied Statistics from the University of Maryland in 1999 and is an Adjunct Professor at George Washington University. Dr. McCormick conducts economic analysis and research to inform SEC policy. He has conducted numerous research studies on issues related to market quality, public securities offerings, call markets, order flow characteristics, market making, and short sale rules. Dr. McCormick is primarily interested in market microstructure research and has published articles in the Financial Review, the Journal of Empirical Finance, the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics, and the Journal of Financial Intermediation. Dr. McCormick has also co-invented trading systems that are being used today to trade securities.

Donald Monk joined the OEA as a Research Specialist in June 2008. He continues to pursue a Ph.D. in finance from Tulane University with an expected graduation in May 2009. His research interests are in the area of Corporate Finance. Specifically, he studies valuation and disclosure differences between conglomerate firms and those focused in one business segment. Don’s earlier pursuits yielded 6 years of experience in foreign and domestic wireless telecommunications businesses, an M.B.A. from Rollins College, and a B.S. in math from the University of Florida.

Nandu (Nandkumar) Nayar joined the OEA in August 2008 as an academic fellow visiting from Lehigh University, where he is the Hans Julius Bär Chair and Professor of Finance. His research is in the area of corporate finance, international finance, and investments, and has been published in the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Decision Science, and Financial Management, among others. In addition to his doctorate from the University of Iowa, Nandu holds a B. Tech (Hons) degree in Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology as well as a Masters degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Iowa.

Stanislava (Stas) Nikolova joined the OEA in August 2008 as a visiting academic scholar. Dr. Nikolova is currently on leave from George Mason University, where she is an assistant professor in Finance. Her research focuses on the management and regulation of financial institutions, fixed-income securities, and credit-risk assessment. She received her Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Florida.

Ira Wein joined the OEA staff in July of 2000 after a thirteen-year tenure at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He is a graduate of Rutgers University. He is an expert in the area of financial derivative products. His most recent area of research is in the effects margins have on derivatives trading. Mr. Wein has recently published two articles in the Journal of Futures Markets. In addition, he serves as a referee for the Journal of Futures Markets, and is currently a PhD student at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County.

Joshua White joined the Commission in August 2007 as a visiting academic scholar. Dr. White is currently on leave from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, where he is an assistant professor in the Finance Department. His research focuses on behavioral asset pricing and on the valuation and optimal exercise of executive stock options. He received a Ph.D. in Business Economics from Harvard University.

Raymond Wolff joined the Commission in July 2007. He received his Doctorate in Economics from Stanford University in 2000 and completed his B.S. in Applied Mathematics at the University of Virginia in 1992. He primarily works in litigation support within OEA. Prior to joining the Commission, he worked as a consultant for nine years.