William Christie Named Dean of Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management; Academic Credited With Spurring Fundamental Nasdaq Reform

Business Wire, July 12, 2000

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NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 12, 2000

William G. Christie, whose landmark research led to major reforms at Nasdaq, has been named dean of the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, Provost Thomas G. Burish announced Wednesday.

Christie, 44, a professor of finance and associate dean for faculty development at Vanderbilt, was named to succeed Martin S. Geisel, who died in February 1999.

"Bill Christie is an award-winning teacher, a scholar whose work has had enormous visibility and impact, and a person who is highly respected by his colleagues at Vanderbilt and afar," Burish said. "He has boundless energy, keen judgment, high standards and unfailing resolve. These and his many other positive attributes will help him lead Owen through the many challenges and opportunities it faces immediately and in the years ahead."

A 1994 paper co-authored by Christie led to a fundamental change in the way Nasdaq stocks are traded. In the past decade Christie also has been repeatedly recognized by Business Week as one of the top professors in business education and has won numerous awards at Vanderbilt for teaching excellence.

"We considered a number of outstanding candidates for this position but found none better suited to the needs of Owen today, as the nation's business schools face the challenges of today's dot.com economy," said search committee chair Hans Stoll, Anne Marie and Thomas B. Walker Jr. Professor of Finance and director of the Financial Markets Research Center. Burish described the committee's search as "exhaustive, careful and successful."

Burish thanked Joseph D. Blackburn, who served as acting dean. "For the past 17 months, during a difficult time for Owen that began with the death of Dean Geisel, Joe Blackburn gave generously of his time, talent and ability. He approached issues head-on and always with the best interests of Owen at heart. He is an uncommonly selfless and committed person to whom much gratitude is owed."

Christie becomes only the fourth dean of the Owen School, which first opened its doors in 1969 with 10 faculty members and 10 students and has grown to become one of the nation's most prestigious business schools. A leader in the information technology and e-commerce arena, the Owen School was the first business school in the nation to recognize the importance of electronic commerce by establishing the first formal program in the emerging field. The school's eLab, which studies the marketing implications of commercializing the World Wide Web, has emerged as one of the premier research centers in the world for the study of e-commerce.

The school has been cited by Business Week for innovative teaching of "green" issues, with its environmental management program touted as being on "the cutting edge" for teaching, research and institutional support by the World Resources Institute and the Aspen Institute's Initiative for Social Innovation Through Business.

The Owen School is also home to the Financial Markets Research Center at Vanderbilt University, which works with representatives of the financial community to identify critical research issues in financial markets and provide a focus for such research.

Christie, who began his career as a financial analyst, joined Owen in 1989 after receiving his Ph.D. in finance and economics from the University of Chicago, where he earlier earned an MBA in finance. He graduated with a bachelor of commerce from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. His wife, Kelly, serves as associate director of academic affairs at Owen.

Christie is a member of the Economic Advisory Board of the National Association of Securities Dealers, an academic director of the Financial Management Association, associate editor of the Review of Financial Studies and co-editor of the Journal of Financial Intermediation.

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