Richard Berner

Biography

Richard Berner is Clinical Professor of Management Practice in the Department of Finance, and, with Professor Robert Engle, is Co-Director of the Stern Volatility and Risk Institute.

Professor Berner served as the first director of the Office of Financial Research (OFR) from 2013 until 2017. He was counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury from April 2011 to 2013.

Professor Berner was a managing director, chief US economist at Morgan Stanley from 1999 to 2011 and co-head of Global Economics from 2008 to 2011.

He was executive vice president and chief economist at Mellon Bank, and a member of Mellon's Senior Management Committee (1992-99). Previously, he served as a principal and senior economist for Morgan Stanley, as a director and senior economist for Salomon Brothers (1985-91), as economist for Morgan Guaranty Trust Company (1982-85) and as director of the Washington, DC, office of Wharton Econometrics (1980-82).

Professor Berner served on the research staff of the Federal Reserve in Washington (1972-80). He has been an adjunct professor of economics at Carnegie-Mellon University and at George Washington University.

He is an advisor to FinRegLab, an innovation center that tests new technologies and data to inform public policy and promote a responsible and inclusive financial marketplace. He is a member of the Milken Fintech initiative, led by former OCC head Tom Curry and former Treasury official Melissa Koide. He is a senior advisor to MacroPolicy Perspectives, an economic consulting firm. He is a member of the Board of Advisors of HData, which helps data companies involved in RegTech and Legal Tech solutions. He is a member of the IMF panel of experts for financial stability. He is a member of the Advisory Council of the Alliance for Innovative Regulation.

Professor Berner has been a member of the Economic Advisory Panel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a member of the Panel of Economic Advisers of the Congressional Budget Office, a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a member of the Advisory Committee of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce, a member of the Board of Directors of the Penn Institute for Economic Research and a member of the Board of Advisors of Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC. He served as an associate for the Counterparty Risk Management Policy Group II. He is a Past President and Fellow of the National Association for Business Economics and is the past chair of the Economic Advisory Panel of the Bond Market Association. He is the winner of forecasting awards from Market News and the National Association for Business Economics, the 2007 recipient of the William Butler Award for Excellence in Business Economics and has been a member of Time’s Board of Economists.

He received his bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in Economics from Harvard College in 1968, and his PhD in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1976. He researched his dissertation under the supervision of Professor Lawrence Klein, and was funded by SSRC-Ford Foundation grants at both the University of Louvain, Belgium, and at the University of Bologna, Italy, from 1971-72.

Research Interests

• Risk management, including for climate-related, cyber, geopolitical, pandemic and financial risks
• Financial stability analysis and policy
• Financial regulation, including for fintech
• Financial market structure and governance
• Retirement saving and pensions

Courses Taught

• Business, Economy, and Policy in the Midst of COVID-19 (with Viral Acharya)
• FinTech Regulation
• Managing Climate, Cyber, Geopolitical, Pandemic and Financial Risks: An Integrated Approach
• Risk Management and Financial Stability

Academic Background

Ph.D., Economics, 1976
University of Pennsylvania

A.B., Economics, 1968
Harvard College