Investiture Ceremony Held

In an investiture ceremony held on May 16, 2003, at the Krannert Art Museum, College of Business faculty member Michael Weisbach was honored with the Stanley C. and Joan J. Golder Distinguished Endowed Chair in Corporate Finance.

The ceremony, which included remarks from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Nancy Cantor, Dean of the College of Business Avijit Ghosh, and Chair of the Department of Finance David Ikenberry, focused on the generosity of the Golder family for their endowment, the achievements of the late Stanley Golder, a Illinois alumnus, and the appropriateness that the endowed chair should be awarded to Weisbach. According to Dean Ghosh, the award has great significance because Stanley Golder is considered to be a pioneer in modern private equity.

Benjamin E. Hermalin, a professor of banking and finance at the University of California at Berkeley and a colleague of Weisbach's, admitted that ceremony time constraits restricted his attempts to outline Weisbach's research. Stated Hermalin, "If I limited myself to Mike's greatest hits, I would have under a minute per article." Hermalin instead focused on Weisbach's work with corporate governance, citing his research involving the evolution of a corporation's board and the correlation between firm performance and CEO turnover.

Joan J. Golder also spoke on behalf of her family and her late husband, congratulating Weisbach for his achievements.

Weisbach, a member of the Department of Finance faculty since 1999 and an IBE Professor, is renowned for his work applying quantitative methods to capital structure, which won him the prestigious Jensen Prize. Weisbach holds a PhD in economics from MIT and a bachelors from the University of Michigan.

--Ashleigh Johnson