Sidney I. Lirtzman
Dean, Zicklin School of Business,
Baruch College:
This conference, "Rethinking Equity Trading at Nasdaq,"
was held at the Baruch College Conference Center in New York City
on October 8, 1997. The more than 200 participants who attended
included leading broker/dealers, buy-side traders, academicians,
and government regulators. This manuscript is the edited transcript
of the proceedings.
The conference was held at a meaningful time— almost ten years
to the day after the market plunge of October 19, 1987. In the
past decade, we have experienced an unprecedented expansion, and
the securities markets have developed tremendously. During the
past year in particular, fundamental changes have been made in
the structure and governance of the Nasdaq market and further
important alterations are in planning. With this as the background,
the Baruch conference focused on the technological, competitive,
and regulatory pressures for change, and on Nasdaq’s response.
Baruch was a good setting for the conference in that Nasdaq and
Baruch have a number of things in common. I will note three. First,
we are both gateways. Nasdaq, as the facilitator of new equity
capital formation, is the gateway for many of the small, dynamic
companies of today that will become the new blue chip companies
of tomorrow; the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College,
as the provider of affordable, quality education, is the gateway
for many of the bright, deserving students of today who will become
the responsible, productive citizens of tomorrow. Second, we are
both experiencing a period of major transformation. Nasdaq is
building its trading systems and market to better serve its constituents
(investors, broker/dealers, and listed companies); Baruch is building
its physical facilities, faculty, and programs to better serve
its constituents (students, faculty, and the New York community).
Third, we both have fresh identities—Nasdaq as "a market
for markets," and our business school as the bearer of a
new name, the Zicklin School of Business.
October 8 was an exciting day. We have produced this manuscript
to commemorate the event.
