CFA Institute Announces SPAC Working Group Members

CFA Institute, the global association of investment professionals, today announced members of its SPAC Working Group (SWG). The group is examining the popularity of SPACs and whether and how the SPAC structure can be improved upon for the benefit of investors, companies, and market integrity. CFA Institute plans to publish a report on the group’s findings, along with any policy recommendations, in early 2022.

“The re-emergence of and rapid rise in popularity of SPACs has raised important questions about the role of SPACs in the capital markets, highlighting the need for a comprehensive policy discussion,” said Paul Andrews, Managing Director, Research, Advocacy, and Standards for CFA Institute. “As global regulators debate a policy response, we hope the working group’s expertise and recommendations will be a source of valuable input.”

Representing a diversity of views, the SWG comprises leading U.S. market participants and experts, as well as international observers from the Asia-Pacific and European regions (listed alphabetically):

U.S.

• Jocelyn Arel, Partner, Goodwin Procter LLP
• Amy Borrus, Executive Director, Council of Institutional Investors (CII)
• Joseph Brady, Executive Director, North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA)
• Ward Davis, CEO, G Squared Ascend
• Jennie Dong, Head of SPACs, NYSE
• John Griswold, former Executive Director, Commonfund Institute
• Ed Hackert, Partner, Marcum
• Vahan Janjigian, CIO, Greenwich Wealth Management
• Ben Kwasnick, Founder, SPAC Research
• Ada Litvinov, Senior Economist, Government of British Columbia
• Michael Ohlrogge, Assistant Professor of Law, NYU School of Law
• Jay Ritter, Joseph B. Cordell Eminent Scholar, University of Florida Warrington School of Business
• James Ryans, CFO, Social Capital
• Rajiv Shukla, Chairman and CEO, Alpha Healthcare Acquisitions Corp
• Karen Snow, Senior VP, Head of East Coast Listings and Capital Services, Nasdaq
• Maureen Thompson, VP of Public Policy, Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards (CFP Board)

Asia-Pacific (APAC) 

• King Au, CFA, Executive Director, Financial Services Development Council.
• Daryl Liew, CFA, CIO of REYL Singapore; Co-Chair of the Advocacy Committee for the CFA Society Singapore; member of the Listing Advisory Committee of SGX.

Europe

• Edoardo Carlucci, Research and Policy Officer, Better Finance;
• Rainer Riess, Director General, Federation of European Stock Exchanges (FESE).

More information on the working group can be found here.