Last week, the SEC announced that Henry Hu, the first director of the newly formed Division of Risk, Strategy, and Financial Innovation, will return to his teaching post at the University of Texas School of Law. According to the announcement, Mr. Hu leaves his Division staffed with risk professionals, and the Commission's staff better educated on risk principles and interdisciplinary thinking.
Under Mr. Hu's leadership, the Division has hired individuals who have financial, quantitative, and transactional experience in corporate governance, derivatives, risk management, and trading at major hedge funds, investment banks, and law firms, as well as individuals with advanced academic training, including Ph.Ds in economics, finance, and mathematics. With these new skill-sets, Risk Fin has helped in the agency's efforts to identify, analyze, and respond to complex risks and trends, including those associated with certain new financial products and strategies.
Chairman Mary L. Schapiro's remarks hint that Mr. Hu had not planned to stay at the Commission very long, but merely to carry out the task of setting up the new risk division, and help the SEC address internal cross-disciplinary issues.
When I asked Henry to join us at the SEC, he interrupted his life and academic career to help us launch Risk Fin and set the SEC on a new path. Interdisciplinary thinking is no longer a novelty at the SEC, thanks to Henry. I am deeply grateful to Henry for the great start that he has given the Division, and for his valued judgment on a wide range of important substantive issues.
The announcement does not state when Mr. Hu will depart.
The full text of the Commission's announcement is available at: http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2010/2010-226.htm