Fund Name

Named in honor of Lemma Senbet,
William E. Mayer Chair Professor in Finance.

The fund is named to recognize the achievements and service of Lemma Senbet, the William E. Mayer Chair Professor in Finance at the Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Professor Senbet has been an influential member of the global community of finance scholars for over twenty five years.  His chief research interests are in the areas of corporate finance, international finance, agency and financial contracting.  He has advised the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations, African Economic Research Consortium, and other international  institutions on issues of financial sector reform and capital market development. He also served as an independent director for The Fortis Funds and currently is an independent director for  The Hartford Funds.

Professor Senbet is internationally recognized for his widely cited contributions to finance, which have appeared in such leading academic journals as the Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies, and Journal of Business.  He has received  numerous professional honors and recognitions.  He has been elected (twice) director of the American Finance Association and is a past president of the Western Finance Association. He was inducted into the Financial Economists Roundtable, a distinguished group of financial economists who have made significant contributions to finance and add their knowledge to current policy debates.  He has served on over a dozen journal editorial boards, including extended tenures with the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and Financial Management.  In 1999 he was named executive editor of Financial Management.  In 2005 Professor Senbet was awarded an honorary doctor of Letters Honoris Causa by Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia’s flagship institution of higher learning and his alma mater.  In 2006 he was inducted as Fellow of the Financial Management Association International for his career-long distinguished scholarship and professional service.    

Prior to his arrival at the University of Maryland, Professor Senbet held an endowed chair  at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and taught as a visiting professor at Northwestern University, University of California – Berkeley,  and New York University. He was also a distinguished research visitor at the London School of Economics.   Professor Senbet has been Chair of the Finance Department at the Smith School for eight years, and his tenure saw rapid transformation and growth of the Department into world class. Professor Senbet has trained numerous doctoral students who have gone to faculty positions at major colleges and universities, including Carnegie Mellon, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Minnesota, Florida, Oregon, and Rutgers.  In 1994, Senbet was awarded the Smith School’s Krowe Award for teaching excellence.