The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) announced today that the recipient of the WFE Award for Excellence this year will be Dr. Richard Sandor, chairman and CEO of Environmental Financial Products LLC (EFP). Dr. Sandor was selected for this Award in recognition of his work at the epicenter of environmental and financial markets for more than four decades.
The WFE Award for Excellence is presented annually in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the advancement of regulated exchange markets. The Award salutes innovation and improvement in the exchange industry’s operations, which leads to greater understanding and better usage of the world’s capital markets.
While serving as vice president and chief economist of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) in the early 1970’s, Dr. Sandor was instrumental in the creation of interest rate futures. In 1992, Dr. Sandor was honored by the City of Chicago for his contribution to the creation of financial futures and his recognition as the "father of financial futures.” In the early 90s, he was Chairman of the CBOT’s Clean Air Committee, which developed the first spot and futures markets for sulfur dioxide emission allowances and supervised the annual allowance auctions conducted on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He also served as the originator and co-author of the catastrophe and crop insurance futures and options contracts.
In 1998, Dr. Sandor founded EFP, the company that was the incubator of the Climate Exchange family of Exchanges, a closely integrated group of businesses focused on creating and operating environmental markets worldwide.
Ahead of the launch of the world’s first voluntary, legally binding greenhouse gas cap-and-trade system through the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) in 2003, Dr. Sandor was chosen by TIME Magazine as one of its “Heroes for the Planet.” He continued this innovative work by developing the Chicago Climate Futures Exchange (CCFE) in 2004, which then became the world’s leading futures exchange for environmental products. In 2005, Dr. Sandor founded the European Climate Exchange (ECX), Europe’s leading exchange operating in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme and the benchmark for world carbon prices. Dr. Sandor was again recognized as one of TIME Magazine’s “Heroes of the Environment” in 2007 for his work as the, “Father of Carbon Trading.”
“The WFE chose to honor Dr. Richard Sandor with the WFE Award for Excellence for his momentous innovations in financial futures and environmental financial products,” said Hüseyin Erkan, Secretary General of the WFE. “The work he completed at the Chicago Board of Trade forty years ago was a turning point in the financial world. Dr. Sandor’s contributions to the financial and environmental markets have been instrumental in the development of the industry.”
“I am truly honored and privileged to receive the WFE’s Award for Excellence. It means a lot to me because my career as an inventor has been in regulated and transparent markets. All products I have been involved in have brought more transparency, greater access to capital and, in the case of the environment, measurable reductions and improvements. This organization and its Exchange members represent these principles.” said Dr. Sandor. “Regulated, transparent exchanges are performing flawlessly through difficult economic times. They will continue to have an important role in helping people manage risk and sustain economic growth in places such as China, India and Latin America.”
The WFE Award for Excellence will be presented to Dr. Sandor on October 16, 2012, during a ceremony at the WFE Annual Meeting in Taipei, hosted by the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The WFE Annual Meeting is a forum for regulated financial exchanges and key capital market participants to join leaders in business and government in examining issues impacting global capital markets.
His recent book, “Good Derivatives: A Story of Financial and Environmental Innovation,” tells the story of how financial innovation has been a positive force in the last four decades. The book highlights that if properly designed and regulated, “good derivatives” can open vast possibilities to address a variety of global problems.
Dr. Sandor is a Distinguished Professor of Environmental Finance at Guanghua School of Management at Peking University and a Lecturer in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago Law School. He has previously taught at the University of California Berkeley, Stanford University, Columbia University Graduate School of Business and at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
Previous recipients of the WFE Award for Excellence include 2011 beneficiary Mervyn King, Chairman of the International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC), who received the Award in recognition of his work in leading national commissions on corporate governance reform. Demutualization pioneer Bengt Ryden received the Award in 2010 for his groundbreaking judgment and business leadership throughout the public policy review in Sweden from 1988-1992. In 2009, the first WFE Award for Excellence was given to Baruch College Professor Robert A. Schwartz for his innovative work in market structure.