MIT Sloan's Center for Finance and Policy appoints inaugural executive director
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April. 27, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Center for Finance and Policy (CFP) at the MIT Sloan School of Management recently announced the appointment of Doug Criscitello, a former CFO at two of the largest U.S. government credit agencies, as its first executive director. Criscitello will help lead the new nonpartisan Center in its mission of research and educational initiatives addressing the unique challenges facing governments in their dual roles as operators of the world's largest financial institutions and regulators of the financial system.
"We are extremely fortunate to have attracted someone of Doug's caliber to the CFP. He brings a wealth of public and private sector experience to his role as executive director, and with that a deep understanding of the challenges facing public sector financial managers," says MIT Sloan Prof. and CFP Director Deborah Lucas. "He is the ideal person to help grow our Center's activities and expand our outreach to stakeholder communities."
Prior to coming to MIT Sloan, Criscitello served as chief financial officer at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Small Business Administration. He also served as the inaugural director of the New York City Independent Budget Office, a municipal agency designed to provide nonpartisan, objective research and analysis of New York City's budget. Earlier in his career, Criscitello worked at the Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office. In those roles, he focused on governmental roles and responsibilities as borrower, lender, insurer and regulator of capital markets.
In the private sector, he has worked at JPMorgan Securities Inc. and Grant Thornton LLP, where he provided operational, investment banking, and financial advisory services to government agencies.
"I'm excited to join MIT's new CFP because there is a great need to shed sunlight on critical issues at the intersection of government and the financial services industry," says Criscitello. "Governments around the world are increasingly intertwined with the capital marketplace and it's very important that policymakers and the public understand the implications of that involvement."
The CFP aims to fill a research and education gap that is not being addressed at other major research universities. Lucas explains that while there has been a revolution in finance as a discipline over the last several decades, finance in the public sector has not kept pace with state-of-the-practice, nor with the massive increases in financial complexity and inter-dependency. Relatively little academic research has focused on governments in their role as financial institutions. Further, many policymakers and employees in public sector financial institutions lack the comparable financial experience and training of their private sector counterparts.
"The Center is building a foundation that will support transformative improvements in the formulation and execution of financial policy today and in the decades to come," she says. "It leverages MIT's reputation of academic excellence and commitment to public service as well as its intellectual leadership in finance, economics, political science and engineering – which are all needed to address these policy issues that cut across disciplines."
Multiple projects are underway at the CFP, such as the creation of a world atlas of government financial institutions. This project is the first ever to systematically catalog the role of government in the financial sector around the world, clearly measure the size of those activities, and compare and evaluate their practices and efficacy across countries. Another project involves the creation of a measure of systemic risk dashboard to assist policymakers in identifying impending crises. More information on projects can be found on the CPF's website.
Following an inaugural conference last fall, the CFP has brought an impressive roster of distinguished speakers to MIT for public talks, hosted presentations and events, launched an advisory board, offered courses, and sponsored several research fellows. Upcoming events include its fall conference, "Financial Products and Policies for an Aging Population."
"The CFP has ambitious goals. We aim to be not just a player in this field, but one of the preeminent thought leaders globally on these issues," adds Criscitello.
For more information on the CFP, please visit: http://cfp.scripts.mit.edu/home/
To follow Doug Criscitello on Twitter, please visit: https://twitter.com/criscitello
The MIT Sloan School of Management is where smart, independent leaders come together to solve problems, create new organizations, and improve the world. Learn more at mitsloan.mit.edu.
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SOURCE MIT Sloan School of Management
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