Member Newsletter

NFA President Robert Wilmouth participated in a meeting of the Merton Miller Group on December 7 and 8, in New York. The group discussed corporate governance and the role of directors; proper accounting treatment of stock options; current "reforms" in the wake of corporate scandals; and international accounting standards. The other regular members of the Merton Miller Group are: Philip McBride Johnson, former CFTC Chairman; Leo Melamed, Chairman Emeritus and Senior Policy Advisor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc.; Richard Sandor, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Environmental Financial Products L.L.C.; and Mr. Wilmouth. The Merton Miller Group was organized as The Group in the spring of 1998 with the support of Institutional Investor newsletters.

It is a private discussion panel of five individuals with extensive experience in various facets of the derivatives industry. Nobel Laureate Merton Miller, after whom the panel is now named, was a member until his death in June of 2000. Since then, Professor Miller's seat at the discussion table has been reserved for a distinguished invited guest. The proceedings are reported after their completion in Wall Street Letter and Derivatives Week as well as on the Institutional Investor Web site (www.institutionalinvestor.com).

The special guest this year was Paul A. Volcker. Mr. Volcker was North American Chairman of the Trilateral Commission from 1991-2001. He is the former Chairman of Wolfensohn & Co., Inc. (1988-96) and Frederick H. Schultz Professor Emeritus of International Economic Policy, Princeton University (1988-96). Mr. Volcker served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve System from 1979-87. Also in attendance was Mark Fortune, Editor of Institutional Investor.

Prior special guests were in February 2001, The Honorable Richard G. Lugar, then Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, and in December 2001, Dr. Myron Scholes, Nobel Laureate (economics) and Professor Emeritus at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.