2010: H. Robert Heller

Dr. H. Robert Heller
on
Financial Market Reform

Wednesday, April 28, 2010 from 4:30 to 6:00 pm
Albert M. Bender Room, Bing Wing
Cecil H. Green Library, Stanford University

Ever since the Great Financial Meltdown of 2008, proposals to make the financial system safer have been discussed widely, but Congress still has not addressed meaningful financial reform. In his lecture Dr. Heller sets forth several original proposals to make the financial system safer. Specifically, he addresses stock market reforms to restore confidence in financial markets, pension reform to make the retirement system more efficient and proposals to make systemically important financial institutions safer. He also addresses the efficacy of other financial reform proposals, such as the "Volcker Rule."

Dr. H. Robert Heller has a distinguished record in business, government and education. After obtaining his Ph.D. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley, he began his career as a professor of economics at UCLA. Subsequently, he became Chief of the Financial Studies Division of the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC. He then served as Senior Vice President and Director of International Economic Research at Bank of America in San Francisco. President Reagan appointed Dr. Heller as a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, where he served with both Chairman Volcker and Greenspan. He then joined VISA International as Executive Vice President for Finance, Risk Management, Audit and Security and was subsequently elected President and CEO of VISA U.S.A. Dr. Heller has served on the Boards of the Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE) and is now a director of Sonic Automotive Inc. (NYSE) and Bank of Marin (NASDAQ). He currently serves as Chairman of Marin General Hospital and is the Vice Commodore of The San Francisco Yacht Club.

Read the full text of the lecture.