News Releases
Former Merc chair to speak at law commencement
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
An innovative business executive who helped lead the financial services industry into the 21st century will be the featured speaker during commencement ceremonies May 17 for graduates of Valparaiso University’s School of Law.
Speaking to the approximately 140 graduates in ceremonies in the Chapel of the Resurrection will be John F. Sandner, retired chairman of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Sandner, the longest serving exchange chairman in the history of the futures industry, retired in 1998 after 13 years as chairman of the CME. Under his leadership, the CME helped create numerous innovative global products and seamless technology for global distribution and execution, including Eurodollar futures, stock index futures and options (for which the CME is the world trading center), and GLOBEX (a global electronic trading system launched in 1992).
He was a member of the team that took the CME public in 2002, the first exchange in the United States to be publicly traded.
Sandner frequently testified before Congress on matters concerning the financial industry and U.S. economy, most notably during the 1980 gold and silver crisis, the 1987 stock market crash and the modernization of financial services regulation during the 1990s. In 1999, President Bill Clinton appointed him to the President’s Export Council, the premier national council advising the president on international trade issues.
Born in Chicago in 1941, Sandner earned his law degree from the University of Notre Dame and has been a member of the Illinois Bar since 1968. He has been admitted to several courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ceremonies honoring Valparaiso University students completing undergraduate and graduate degrees will be May 18 in the Athletics-Recreation Center.
| Return to Valparaiso University School of Law News