Academic Sponsor:

Robert A. Schwartz Center For Trading and Financial Markets Research

Industry Sponsors:

Objective:

The objective of this seminar is twofold: (a) to call attention to how education concerning trading, liquidity and market structure topics can be integrated into business school programs, and (b) to enhance the dialogue between industry professionals and academics.  In industry, trading is recognized as a professional activity; in academia, it typically is not.

Students today can complete their business school courses without knowing about trading costs, liquidity, the complexities of price discovery, and the realities of market structure. They can graduate clueless about what it takes for professional investors to implement investment decisions in real world, illiquid marketplaces. This knowledge is important, not only for people at trading desks, but also for portfolio managers, corporate executives, regulators, and technology developers. 

Computer Simulation:

Experiential learning is increasingly prominent in business school education. An equity market simulation, TraderEx, will be used in the seminar. TraderEx is an interactive simulation model developed by Schwartz and Weber that enables participants to enter orders into a computer-driven market that generates order flow and responds directly to participants’ orders. Continuous order driven markets are simulated, along with call auctions, a block trading facility, and hybrid combinations. Participants gain experience by competing with each other in a networked environment.

Friday, November 7, 2025
Agenda

8:30 am Registration and Coffee

9 am Welcoming Remarks: Linda Essig, Provost, Baruch College

9:10 am Opening Remarks:  Conference Organizers: Robert Schwartz, Jonathan Wang, and Bruce Weber, Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, and Deniz Ozenbas, Montclair State University

9:15 am Keynote: Reto Francioni, Former CEO, Deutsche Borsa

9:45 am Short-Term Volatility, Robert Schwartz

10:15 am Coffee Break

10:30 am Using Simulation as an Experiential Teaching Tool, Bruce Weber 

11:00 am Keynote: Chuck Mack, Vice President, Nasdaq

11:30 am Simulated Trading – Order Driven Markets: Bruce Weber, and Andy Novocin, University of Delaware

1 pm Lunch

1:45 pm Trading and Market Structure Education, Deniz Ozenbas

2:15 pm Panel: The Economic Function of a Marketplace
Moderator: Dan Labovitz, CEO, Green Impact Exchange
Mika Morse, Former Sr. SEC Counsel to Chairman Gensler and CEO, Goldfinch Strategies
Robert Wotczak, Former CEO of Freedom Capital Markets and Founding Member of The Wotczak Group 
David Zhang, Managing Director and Head of Securitized Products Research, MSCI

2:45 pm Panel: Marketplace Realities Come to the Classroom
Moderator: Lin Peng, Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College
Nazli Sila Alan, Fairfield University
A. Can Inci, Bryant University
Tom Piskula, Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College
Jonathan Wang, Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College

3:15 pm Coffee Break

3:30 pm Open Discussion

3:45 pm Simulated Trading: Bruce Weber and Andy Novocin

5 pm Conference Concludes

Registration

The registration fee is $275. This fee covers seminar materials, continental breakfast, and lunch.

Register

Please print the registration form and fax to Eileen Stempel at 646-312-3530 or email to Eileen.Stempel@baruch.cuny.edu.

Requests for cancellations must be received in writing by October 31, 2025

After you have registered, please submit payment by credit card.

Pay by Credit Card