.     Biography Professor Lalith Samarakoon  B.Sc. MBA, Ph.D., FCA, CFA

Lalith Samarakoon is an Associate Professor of Finance at University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota.  He received a PhD in Finance from the University of Houston, an MBA (Finance) from the University of New Hampshire, and a B.Sc. in Business Administration with First Class honors from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka.  He is also a CFA Charterholder and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka. Previously, he taught at University of Houston, Alabama A&M University, and University of Sri Jayewardenepua in Sri Lanka. He became Sri Lanka's first professor of finance with a triple meritorious promotion in 2000. He served as the Professor of Finance as well as the Head of the Department of Accounting and Financial Management of the Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce of University of Sri Jayewardenepura.  For his capital market research, Prof. Samarakoon was awarded Sri Lanka’s highest research recognition, Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Sri Lankan Science, by the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science in 1988.  He also received the postdoctoral Research Award in Economics for work completed during the 25-year period from 1975 to 1999 from University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka in 2000. Professor Samarakoon has taught undergraduate and graduate classes in Financial Management, Corporate Finance, Investments, Portfolio Management, International Finance, Financial Markets, Strategic Finance, and Bank Management. He also has had extensive experience in teaching in executive MBA programs and in training finance professionals including the candidates for the CFA examination and capital market investors. He received the Melcher Award for Teaching Excellence from the College of Business of the University of Houston for his outstanding teaching. Professor Samarakoon has more then 12 years of international business experience, particularly in investment research, business valuation, investment banking, stock brokering, and debt markets.  He has held industry positions as Head of Research and Financial Consultant, and consulting positions in World Bank, USAID, and Asian Development Bank-funded financial market projects, and been a resource person to government institutions such in the Securities and Exchange Commission, Central Bank and the Stock Exchange in Sri Lanka. Currently Prof. Samarakoon serves as a Capital Markets Advisor for the ADB. Research and scholarly work of Professor Samarakoon have been primarily focused on the emerging capital markets. His published work have examined the short-term and long-term predictability of stock prices, the relationship of stock returns with inflation, interest rates, and dividends, the liquidity, capital structure, and ownership structure of the Colombo Stock Exchange, measuring the performance of the Sri Lankan corporate and Treasury bond markets, the capital market history of Sri Lanka, price impact of dividend announcements, and corporate financial distress prediction. His current research includes the behavior of equity flows of different investor types. He has authored two books, namely, The Securities Market of Sri Lanka (4th ed., Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka, 2005) and Sri Lankan Corporate Bond Market (2000). Professor Samarakoon has been a program committee member, presenter, a discussant and a reviewer at numerous conferences and forums including the Global Finance Association, Financial Management Association International, European Financial Management Association, Asia Pacific Finance Conference, Southern Finance Association, Eastern Finance Association, Midwest Finance Association, and The Academy of Finance. Professor Samarakoon and his wife Parami have two daughters, Navodhya and Amodhya, and reside in Roseville, Minnesota.