Todd T Milbourn

Hubert C. and Dorothy R. Moog Professor of Finance

 

Olin Business School

Washington University in St. Louis

 

 

 

https://static.rmiguides.com/blog/images/uploads/Peru/Alpamayo/EDAM_Alpamayo_62218_high_camp.jpg

(Alpamayo 2018:  RIP mountaineers E.L., J.F., and P.B.   My thoughts and prayers will always remain with you, your loved ones, and especially my dear friend, M….)

 

                     

(January 2018 Thought Leadership Talk and climbing a frozen waterfall just outside of Ouray, Colorado in February 2018, with my buddy, David B)

 

 

(view from the summit ridge of the 6,000-meter peak Artesonraju in Peru, July 2017)

 

 

(above pictures:  old trips with my children to Cabo and Colorado)

 

 

(above picture:  standing by a monster crevasse and waving on the descent from the summit of Mt. Rainier)

 

 

(above picture:  doing something a little more on the professional side for CNBC)

 

 

           

 

CV:  Todd Milbourn’s CV
E-Mail: milbourn@wustl.edu

Google Scholar Page



Ph.D. in Finance, December 1995, Indiana University at Bloomington, School of Business, Bloomington, Indiana

B.A. in Economics, Mathematics, and Finance, May 1991, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois

 


 

Academic Experience:

Hubert C. and Dorothy R. Moog Professor of Finance, Washington University in St. Louis, 2010-present

Professor of Finance, Washington University in St. Louis, 2007-2010

Associate Professor of Finance (with tenure), Washington University in St. Louis, 2003-2007

Visiting Associate Professor of Finance, University of Chicago, Spring Quarter 2005

Assistant Professor of Finance, Washington University in St. Louis, 2000-2003

Visiting Assistant Professor of Finance, University of Chicago, 1999-2000

Assistant Professor of Finance, London Business School, 1996-1999

University Administrative Experience:

Deputy Dean, OIin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, 2022-2023

Vice Dean of Faculty & Research, OIin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, 2017-2022

Senior Associate Dean of Programs, OIin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, 2016-2017

Senior Associate Dean of Faculty & Research, OIin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, 2013-2017

Finance Area Coordinator (~ Department Chair), OIin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, 2005-2013

Academic Director, MS in Finance Program Corporate Finance & Investments Track, OIin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, 2011-2013

Academic Director, Corporate Finance & Investments MBA Platform, OIin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, 2010-2014

Academic Director, MS in Finance Program, OIin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, 2005-2008

*     Had responsibility for the design, development, and implementation of this new full-time MS in Finance Program.

Board Experience:

Independent Director, The Xanthus Fund, Oppenheimer Asset Management, 2015-present

·        Chairman of the Audit Committee for this long-short hedge fund

Independent Director, Constellation of Mountain Crest Acquisition Corporation SPACS (I – V), 2020-present

·        Chairman of the Audit Committee for all five

·        MC I, II and III have de-SPACed as of 2023

Independent Director, The Chartist Fund, Oppenheimer Asset Management, 2011-2013

·        Chairman of the Audit Committee

Member, Standard & Poor’s Academic Council, 2004-present

Board Member, St. Louis Military Officer Support Foundation, 2008-2012

 

Research Interests:

Corporate finance, executive compensation, credit ratings, and managerial career concerns

Research and Honorary Appointments:

Fellow, Center for Financial Research, FDIC, 2004-2005

Marcile and James Reid Teaching Chair, Washington University in St. Louis, 2002-2003

Working Papers:     

 

1.     “Does the Religious Affiliation of Directors’ Tertiary Institutions Matter for the Outcomes of their Active Board Oversight?”, (joint with Kingsley Wabara), July 2023 (submitted first round at RFS).

 

2.      “Dividend yield, dividend payers and cross-sectional return prediction”, (joint with Seong Jin Ahn, Charles G. Ham, and Zachary R. Kaplan), working paper, July 2023.

 

 

3.     “Corporate Investment Under the Cloud of Litigation  (joint with Benjamin Bennett, Todd Milbourn, and Zexi Wang), 2022.

 

4.      “The Role of Stock Price Informativeness in Compensation Complexity”, joint with Benjamin Bennett, Gerald Garvey, and Zexi Wang), 2022.

 

5.     “What Will It Do For My EPS?  A Straightforward But Powerful Motive for Mergers”, (joint with Thomas Bates, Gerald T. Garvey, Anushri Jain, and James Linck), 2022.

 

  1. “How Well Do Investors Process (More Subtle) Information? The Case of Employee Stock Options”, (joint with Jian Cai and Gerald Garvey), 2008 (permanent working paper).

 

  1. “The Optimal and Actual Use of Economic Value Added in Incentive Compensation”, (joint with Gerald Garvey), 2005 (permanent working paper)

 

Publications:

 

1.      “Product Market Peers and Relative Performance Evaluation”, (joint with Sudarshan Jayaraman and Hojun Seo), The Accounting Review, 96(4), 341-366, 2021.

 

2.     “Targets that Work”, (joint with John Horn and Radhakrishnan Gopalan), Harvard Business Review, September-October, Volume 95, Number 5, pp. 102 – 107, 2017.

 

3.     “Compensation Goals and Firm Performance”, (joint with Benjamin Bennett, J. Carr Bettis , and Radhakrishnan Gopalan), Journal of Financial Economics 124-2, 307-330, May 2017.

 

 

·        Winner of the 2016 "Olin Award: Recognizing Research that Transforms Business"

 

4.     “Which Skills Matter in the Market for CEOs? Evidence from Pay for CEO Credentials” (joint with Antonio Falato and Dan Li), Management Science 61-12, December 2015.

 

5.     “The Effect of Auditor Expertise on Executive Compensation”, (joint with Sudarshan Jayaraman), The Accounting Review 90-1, February 2015.

 

6.     “Duration of Executive Compensation”, (joint with Radhakrishnan Gopalan, Fenghua Song, and Anjan V. Thakor), Journal of Finance 59-6, 2014

 

·        Winner of the 2011 "Olin Award: Recognizing Research that Transforms Business" – video summary

·        St. Louis Business Journal article in regards to the award

·        St. Louis Post-Dispatch article related to our work

 

  1. “CEO Compensation and Corporate Risk: Evidence from a Natural Experiment”, (joint with Todd A. Gormely and David A. Matsa), Journal of Accounting and Economics 56, 79-101, December 2013.

 

·        Executive Summary from Knowledge@Wharton:  “The Making of a Daredevil CEO: Why Stock Options Lead to More Risk Taking”

 

  1. “The Role of Stock Liquidity in Executive Compensation”, (joint with Sudarshan Jayaraman), The Accounting Review 87-2, 537-564, March 2012.

 

  1. “How did increased competition affect credit ratings?”, (joint with Bo Becker), Journal of Financial Economics (lead article) 101-3, 493-514, September 2011.

 

NBER Working Paper No. w16404

FT Link and discussion:  http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2010/10/06/361846/rating-agency-multiplicity/

Presented at the 2010 NBER Workshop on Credit Rating Agencies

My coauthor, Bo Becker, gave an interesting interview about this paper here.

…researchers find evidence that competition leads to more issuer-friendly and less informative ratings

 

  1. “Compensation and Risk Incentives in Banking and Finance”, (joint with Jian Cai and Kent Cherny), in Economic Commentary, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, September 14, 2010.

 

  1. “Bank Executive Pay”, (joint with Jian Cai) In Economic Trends at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, July 30, 2010.

 

  1. “Strategic Flexibility and the Optimality of Pay for Sector Performance”, (joint with Radhakrishnan Gopalan and Fenghua Song), Review of Financial Studies 23-5, 2060-2098, 2010.

 

Winner of Citigroup Award for the best paper at the 2009 Summer Research Conference hosted by The Centre for Analytical Finance (CAF) at the Indian School of Business (ISB)

 

  1. “Asymmetric Benchmarking in Compensation: Executives are Rewarded for Good Luck But Not Penalized for Bad”, (joint with Gerald Garvey), Journal of Financial Economics 82-1, 197-226, October 2006.

 

  1. “Credit Ratings as Coordination Mechanisms”, (joint with Arnoud Boot and Anjolein Schmeits), Review of Financial Studies 19-1, 81-118, Spring 2006.

 

  1. "Sunflower Management and Capital Budgeting", (joint with Arnoud Boot and Anjan Thakor) Journal of Business 78-2, 501-527, (March) 2005.

 

  1. “Incentive Compensation When Executives Can Hedge the Market:  Evidence of Relative Performance Evaluation in the Cross-Section”, (joint with Gerald Garvey), Journal of Finance 58-4, 1557-1582, August 2003.

 

  1. "CEO Reputation and Stock-Based Compensation", Journal of Financial Economics 68-2, 233-262, 2003.

 

  1. "Managerial Career Concerns and Investments in Information", (joint with Richard Shockley and Anjan Thakor), Rand Journal of Economics 32-2, 334-351, 2001.

 

  1. “EVA versus Earnings:  Does it Matter Which is More Highly Correlated with Stock Returns”, (joint with Gerald Garvey), Journal of Accounting Research 38, 209-245, 2000.

 

  1. “Regulation and the Evolution of the Financial Services Industry”, (joint with Arnoud Boot and Silva Dezelan), in Topics in Corporate Finance:  Perspectives on the Regulation of the Financial Services Industry, ed. by Arnoud Boot and Jeroen Ligterink, Amsterdam Center for Corporate Finance Number 2, 25-41, 2000.

 

  1. “The Theory of Security Design”, (joint with Arnoud W.A. Boot and Anjan V. Thakor), in The Handbook of Equity Derivatives, Second Edition, ed. by Jack Francis, William Toy and J. Gregg Whittaker, Irwin Professional Publishers665-687 (appeared in First Edition as well), 2000.

 

  1. “Megamergers and Expanded Scope:  Theories of Bank Size and Activity Diversity”, (joint with Arnoud Boot and Anjan Thakor), Journal of Banking and Finance 23 (lead article), 195-214, 1999.

 

  1. “Regulatory Distortions in a Competitive Financial Services Industry”, (joint with Arnoud Boot and Silva Dezelan), Journal of Financial Services Research 16-2/3, 249-259, 1999.

 

  1. “The Search for the Best Financial Performance Measure:  Yes, Basics are Better – If You Understand Them”, (joint with Jeff Bacidore, John Boquist, and Anjan V. Thakor), Financial Analysts Journal, 1999.

 

  1. “The Winner-Takes-All:  An Alternative View of CEO Incentives” (comment on three papers), in Executive Compensation and Shareholder Value:  Theory and Evidence, ed. by Jennifer Carpenter and David Yermack, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 47-52, 1999.

 

  1. “How Do You Win the Capital Allocation Game?”, (joint with John Boquist and Anjan Thakor), Sloan Management Review 39-2, 1998, 59-71.

 

  1. “Comment on Colin Mayer’s ‘Financial Systems and Corporate Governance’ ”, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 154-1, pp. 170-176, 1998.

 

  1. “EVA’s Charm as a Performance Measure”, in Mastering Finance, ed. by George Bickerstaffe, FT Pitman Publishing, 133-138, 1998.

 

  1.  “The Search for the Best Financial Performance Measure”, (joint with Jeff Bacidore, John Boquist, and Anjan V. Thakor), Financial Analysts Journal (lead article), May-June 1997, 11-20.

 

  1. “EVA and Total Quality Management”, (joint with Jeff Bacidore, John Boquist, and Anjan Thakor), Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Summer 1997, 81-89.

 

Books:

·        The Value Sphere:  The Corporate Executive’s Handbook for Creating & Retaining Shareholder Wealth, 4th edition, (written jointly with John A. Boquist and Anjan V. Thakor), World Scientific Publishing, 2009

 

Selected Expert Witness and Consulting Experience:

·        Serve as an expert witness work for cases related to capital markets, asset management, executive compensation, SPACs, fair rates of return, and financial damages (clients served include non-financial and financial companies and the US Department of Justice)

·        Serve as an independent director and chair of the audit committee of a large, long-short, registered hedge fund

·        Serve as an independent director and chair of the audit committees for a constellation of five SPACs

·        Facilitating the redesign of corporate resource allocation practices and policies within non-financial firms

·        Advise on issues related to valuation and capital structure policies for both investment banks and non-financial firms

·        Served on an academic advisory board to a major credit rating agency

Selected Executive Education Experience:

·        “Financial Management and Goal Alignment” for Bunge Limited

·        “Strategic Financial Customer Integration Program” for Nestlé Purina Pet Care

·        “Finance and Strategy in the Quest for the Summit” for Centene Corporation

·        “Evaluating Projects in Practice – Growing in a Value-Creating Manner” for Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI)

·        “Resource Allocation and Shareholder Value” for MSCI

·        “Financial Evaluation of Strategies and Decisions” for MSCI

·        “Finance for the Non-Financial Manager” (delivered in open-enrolment programs, along with various customized versions for MSCI, Bunge Ltd, Black & Veatch, Sara Lee, TALX, Bell-Bowe-Howell, and Essex Industries)

·        “Resource Allocation in Practice” (delivered in open-enrolment programs, along with customized versions for Sara Lee, Bunge Ltd, Black & Veatch, Whirlpool Corporation, and MSCI)

·        “Using Numerical Reasoning To Solve Problems” (delivered to Tyson Foods)

·        Delivered ten-week “Financial Core” class to the writers of the Lex Group and Senior Editors of the Financial Times