Prior to co-founding CNH Partners (affiliate of AQR) in 2001, Mark was a finance professor at University of Chicago (1990-1999) and Harvard University (1999-2003). In academia, Mark authored numerous research papers about mergers & acquisitions and investment management. Four of his papers received paper-of-the-year awards: Smith-Breeden Prize from Journal of Finance for “Limited Arbitrage in Equity Markets”; Merton Miller Prize from Journal of Business for “Managerial Decisions and Long-Term Stock Price Performance”; Graham and Dodd Scroll from Financial Analysts Journal for “The Value of Corporate Takeovers”; and Roger Murray Prize from Institute for Quantitative Research in Finance for “Do Bad Bidders Become Good Targets?”. Mark also received five teaching awards at the University of Chicago. He is co-author of the book Mergers, Restructuring and Corporate Governance. Mark is on the board of directors at TD-Ameritrade where he chairs the M&A Committee. He is also a member of the Executive Advisory Board of Clemson University’s College of Business & Behavioral Science. In February 2007, Mark served as an emissary of the U.S. State Department to discuss M&A with policymakers, business leaders, academics and reporters in Japan. During 1996-2005, Mark was a board member of Ameritrade Corporation where he chaired the Special Committee (oversaw the merger with TD Waterhouse in 2005) and the Nominating Committee. He was also a member of the NASDAQ Quality of Markets Committee during 2003-2005, and was a founding member of the NASD Economic Advisory Board during 1996-1998. During 1987-1990, Mark worked in the Office of the Chief Economist at the Securities & Exchange Commission where he authored several research papers on M&A. He also worked on merger regulations and led the development of applying financial economics to assist the SEC’s enforcement efforts in insider trading cases. Mark holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Economics from Clemson University and B.B.A. in Economics from University of Louisiana at Monroe.