Richard V. Howe is the Executive Director of the Center for Investment Research and Management. He shoulders the responsibility for the development and implementation of CIRM’s applied learning curriculum.

With more than twenty years experience in the investment management industry as a successful value oriented equity portfolio manager in institutional settings, Mr. Howe is also an account manager with global investment management firm Polaris Capital Management in Boston.

Mr. Howe started his career in the Trust Department of the First National Bank of Chicago where he became a Vice President in the Institutional Investment Management Group. While at First Chicago he spent two years in Saudi Arabia on a special investment management assignment where he developed his skills in international investing. In 1983 he came to Boston where he became Managing Director of the value equity group at Constitution Capital Management. Following his love of business building he embraced an opportunity in 1986 to become Chief Investment Officer at Tucker Anthony Management (TAMCO) where he embarked on a successful effort to build an institutional business. When TAMCO adopted the name of its Freedom Family of Mutual Funds by becoming Freedom Capital Management, Mr. Howe became the principal portfolio manager in charge of value equity fund management at Freedom.

A Chartered Financial Analyst, Mr. Howe is a member of the CFA Institute as well as a member of the Boston Society of Security Analysts. He is the Treasurer of the charitable SWAN Society in Boston , and a Finance Committee member at Milton Hospital . A former Army officer and Vietnam veteran, Mr. Howe received his MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania , and earned his undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Virginia.

Robert A. Taggart is professor of finance at the Carroll School of Management.

Robert A. Taggart, Jr. received his BA degree from Amherst College and his MS and PhD degrees, both in economics, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1969 and 1974, respectively. He is currently Professor of Finance and at Boston College's Carroll School of Management. He served as interim dean of the Carroll School during 1999-2000 and served as associate dean for graduate programs from 2000-2006.

He has held previous faculty appointments at Boston University (1983-89) and Northwestern University (1974-83). He has also held visiting appointments at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (1976-77), Harvard Business School (1982-84) and M.I.T.'s Sloan School of Management (1987-88). He was a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research from 1980 to 1991. He served as editor of Financial Management from 1984 to 1987 and as President of the Financial Management Association for the 1989-90 term. He was a member of the Financial Management Association's Board of Trustees from 1990-97 and Chair of the Publications Committee from 1994-2001. He is corporate finance editor for the Journal of Economics and Business.

Helen F. Peters is the chief architect of the Center For Investment Research And Management.

Professor Peters brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from her successful career in the financial services industry, including executive positions as an investment banker, financial strategist, and money manager, and through her service as a government regulator. She has been an active participant on corporate, not-for-profit, and government advisory boards, in demand as a guest lecturer and featured in the business and financial press.

She holds an MA and PhD from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Alan J. Marcus is professor of finance in the Carroll School of Management and serves as academic advisor to the Center.

Professor Marcus received his Ph.D. in Economics from M.I.T. He has been a visiting professor at the Athens Laboratory of Business Administration, and more recently, at M.I.T.'s Sloan School of Management.
Professor Marcus also spent two years at Freddie Mac where he helped to develop mortgage pricing and credit risk models. He currently serves on the Research Foundation Advisory Board of the Association for Investment Management and the Research (AIMR) and the Advisory Council for the Currency Risk Management Alliance of State Street Bank and Windham Capital Management, Boston. He is co-author of the leading textbooks Investments, Essentials of Investments, and Fundamentals of Corporate Finance.

Professor Marcus's main research interests are in derivatives and securities markets. His most recent work is on models of asset allocation, with a focus on the reasons for and implications of time variation in risk characteristics of securities.

Marcus's teaching interests focus on Derivatives Markets, Risk Management, and Investments.