George W. Fenn, Ph.D.

george.fenn@cambridgefinance.com
617-575-6613

George W. Fenn, Ph.D. is a founding partner of Cambridge Finance Partners, LLC. Dr. Fenn has over 16 years of research and consulting experience in corporate finance, capital markets, financial institutions, and applied microeconomics.

At Cambridge Finance Partners, Dr. Fenn has worked on a wide range of assignments in the fields of energy and finance. For two years he helped a Fortune 100 energy company respond to allegations arising out of the California energy crisis. He worked closely with both the client and outside counsel to prepare testimony and economic analysis given before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the California Public Utilities Commission, the California State Senate, and the California Attorney General.s office. Dr. Fenn also has provided expert testimony in a dispute concerning the termination of bilateral forward power contracts. In the area of business consulting, Dr. Fenn has worked with a major merchant power company to design and evaluate alternative risk management strategies.

Dr. Fenn has served as a testifying and consulting expert with the U.S. Department of Justice on numerous tax cases involving securitization, risk management, and insurance. He testified on behalf of the French government and a major French bank in litigation concerning the rehabilitation and sale of Executive Life Insurance Company and its $3 billion junk bond portfolio. He currently is assisting clients in Enron-related litigation.

Prior to founding Cambridge Finance, Dr. Fenn served as a corporate finance consultant with Monitor Company, a global strategy-consulting firm headquartered in Cambridge, MA. At Monitor he directed a six-month valuation project for a top-10 U.S. life insurance company, developed a pilot value-based management system for a Dow 30 oil and gas client, and conducted internal and external workshops on corporate valuation.

Dr. Fenn was an economist for over 8 years in the Capital Markets Group at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, DC and a Senior Research Associate at the Milken Institute in Santa Monica, CA. At the Federal Reserve, Dr. Fenn carried out a range of responsibilities. He conducted routine briefings on capital market developments; provided in-depth analysis of special issues, including the life insurance industry insolvency crisis in the early 1990s and the growth in the corporate use of derivatives in the mid-1990s; provided economic analysis to support regulatory decisions on same-day check settlement, access to Fedwire, and daylight overdrafts; and worked on inter-agency task force initiatives on clearing and settlement in securities markets. While at the Federal Reserve, Dr. Fenn led a two-year study of private equity markets culminating in the publication of The Economics of the Private Equity Market. This comprehensive overview of private equity markets is widely used by market participants and assigned reading at leading business schools including Harvard, the University of Chicago, and Stanford. At the Milken Institute, Dr. Fenn.s research focused on the rapid adoption of SEC Rule 144A for high-yield debt issuance, and on the growth of angel financing for start-up firms.

Dr. Fenn has published extensively. His research on, among other topics, share repurchases, stock options, high-yield bonds, and risk management, has appeared in leading academic finance journals.

Areas of Expertise

  • Corporate Finance
  • Capital Markets
  • Financial Institutions
  • Risk Management

Industry Expertise

  • Energy
  • Private Equity
  • Life Insurance

Education

  • Ph.D., Economics, Stanford University, 1989
  • S.B., Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1980

Professional Work Experience

  • Managing Director, Cambridge Finance Partners, LLC, 2001 - present
  • Partner, Bates White & Ballentine, LLC, 2001
  • Consultant, Monitor Company, 1999 - 2001
  • Senior Research Associate, Milken Institute, 1997 - 1999
  • Economist, Federal Reserve Board, 1989 - 1997

Expert Testimony and Reports

  • Southern California Edison v. Duke Energy Trading and Marketing, Arbitration Testimony (November 2005), Deposition Testimony (September 2005), Arbitration Before The Honorable John S. Martin Jr.
  • John Garamendi v. Altus Finance S.A., et al., Deposition Testimony (October 2004), Expert Rebuttal Reports (August 2004), Expert Report (July 2004), United States District Court
  • Marriott International Resorts, L.P. v. United States, Deposition Testimony (January 2004), Expert Report (October 2003), United States Court of Federal Claims
  • Triplefine International Corporation v. Stone and Webster Inc., Arbitration Testimony (January 2003), Expert Report (April 2002), International Chamber of Commerce, International Court of Arbitration

Publications and Papers

Corporate Finance and Capital Markets

Entrepreneurial Finance and Private Equity

  • “The Private Equity Market” revised, (with Nellie Liang and Stephen Prowse), in Handbook of Modern Finance, 2002 Edition, eds. Dennis Logue and James Seward (New York, NY: WG&L/RIA Group, 2002).
  • “The Role of Angel Investors in Financing High-Tech Start-Ups” (with Nellie Liang and Stephen Prowse), working paper, December 1998.
  • “The Private Equity Market” (with Nellie Liang and Stephen Prowse), in Handbook of Modern Finance, 1998 Edition, eds. Dennis Logue and James Seward (New York, NY: WG∓L/RIA Group, 1998).
  • “New Resources and New Ideas: Private Equity for Small Businesses” (with Nellie Liang), Journal of Banking and Finance, vol. 22, August 1998.
  • “The Private Equity Market: An Overview” (with Nellie Liang and Stephen Prowse), Financial Markets, Institutions, and Instruments, vol.6, July 1997.
  • “The Economics of the Private Equity Market” (with Nellie Liang and Stephen Prowse), Federal Reserve Board Staff Study No. 168, December 1995.

Financial Intermediation and Institutions

  • “The Flight-to-Quality in Life Insurance Company Investments,” in Restructuring Regulation and Financial Institutions, eds. James R. Barth and R. Dan Brumbaugh, Milken Institute Press, 2000.
  • “The Stigma of Junk Bonds in the Life Insurance Industry: How do Customers of Financial Institutions Assess Default Risk?”, working paper, April 1995.
  • “Announcements of Asset-Quality Problems and Contagion Effects in the Life Insurance Industry” (with Rebel Cole), Journal of Financial Economics, vol.35, April 1994.
  • “Did Commercial Real Estate Lending Cause the Banking Crisis ?” (with Rebel Cole), Real Estate Finance, vol.11, Fall 1994.
  • “GIC Alternatives: Contract Structure, Risk Sharing, and Asset Composition,” Benefits Quarterly, vol.9, Spring 1993.
  • “Prudential Margin Policy in a Futures-Style Settlement System” (with Paul Kupiec), Journal of Futures Markets, vol.13, June 1993.

Conference Presentations

  • “Regulatory Reform at the SEC: Lessons from the 144A High-Yield Debt Market,” American Enterprise Institute, Washington D.C. December 1998
  • “The Role of Angels in Financing High-Tech Startups,” European Venture Capital Conference, Milan, Italy, November 1998
  • “Good News and Bad News About Share Repurchases,” American Finance Association meetings, Chicago, January 1998
  • “Do Angel Investors Finance Innovation,” Columbia University Law School Conference on Financing Innovation, New York, December 1997
  • Risk Management and Hedging, discussant, Western Finance Association Meetings, San Diego, June 1997
  • Risks in Derivatives Markets: Implications for the Insurance Industry, discussant, Conference on Risk Management in Insurance Firms, The Wharton Financial Institutions Center, May 1996
  • “Why Nonfinancial Firms Use Derivatives,” Conference on Corporate Risk Management, UCLA, March 1996

Professional Associations

  • American Finance Association
  • Financial Management Association
  • American Economic Association