LeBow Professors Offer Financial Reform Testimony at Hearing

Drs. Michael Gombola and Jie Cai, professor and assistant professor of finance, respectively, of LeBow College of Business were asked to serve as witnesses regarding financial reform at a hearing entitled “Bringing Accountability and Transparency to Wall Street” chaired by U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) held at Drexel University on May 3.  At the hearing, Senator Casey listened to testimony by Gombola and Cai, among others, on the immediate need for strong reform to our financial markets.  

“We have to put consumers ahead of profits for the big banks,” Senator Casey said at the hearing held at Behrakis Grand Hall. “After a global recession and the resulting massive job loss triggered by the irresponsible actions of Wall Street, we must move forward with strong reform of financial markets. It is important that we are discussing this issue at Drexel. The reforms we are trying to make to Wall Street are designed to prevent future greed from causing the economic damage we have experienced in the past few years.”

The other witnesses included: Steve Kaplan, secretary of banking, Pennsylvania Department of Banking; Professor Jim Sysco, J.D, business ethicist scholar and assistant professor of business, Kings College; Skip Voluntad, member, executive council, Pennsylvania AARP; and Tracy Levesque, co-owner of YIKES, Inc. which provides original, custom web solutions for businesses and non-profit organizations.

Gombola and Cai discussed executive compensation and corporate governance and giving shareholders a “say on pay.” Cai discussed some of the findings of the research on corporate governance he has conducted with Ralph A. Walkling, Ph.D., Stratakis Chair in Corporate Governance and executive director of the Center for Corporate Governance at LeBow College, supporting the need for greater accountability and strengthening shareholder rights.