Billy Charlton has been named associate director of the Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst Center for Private Equity Finance and senior lecturer in the Department of Finance in the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin.
Charlton has experience in academic finance and the private equity industry and joins the HMTF Center after nine years as a managing partner at BH Equity Research, a San Jose, Calif.-based firm that advises institutional investors on the private equity market.
Charlton, who earned his Ph.D. in finance from The University of Texas at Austin in 1994, was previously an associate professor of finance at the University of Richmond, where he developed the Student Managed Investment Fund and CFA (chartered financial analyst) Track program and won awards for outstanding teaching and service.
“Billy is an exceptional teacher who also has strong contacts in the private equity community and the ability to help us develop stronger relationships within that community,” said Professor Robert Parrino, director of the HTMF Center.
“The addition of Billy to the HMTF Center provides not only an experienced industry professional with extensive contacts but also increased capacity for fulfilling the center’s mission of teaching, research and service in private equity,” said James Nolen, distinguished senior lecturer in finance and associate director of the HMTF Center.
The HTMF Center aims to bridge the private equity industry and academia. Through curriculum development at the McCombs School, student scholarships and its support of student-experience programs like Venture Fellows, the center helps connect students with potential mentors and employers in an industry that can be difficult to break into.
“Prior to the economic downturn, our private equity placements had reached a level similar to those at many of the top MBA programs,” Parrino said. “I believe our placement success reflect the quality of our students, the educational programs at the McCombs School and the reputation we have been able to establish in the private equity community.”
The HMTF Center also functions as a locus for the private equity community. Last February, the center revived its annual conference in which participants in the private equity community discuss issues relevant to the industry and hear from researchers whose work focuses on private equity finance, capital markets, corporate finance and investments. Its next conference is slated for February 2011.
As part of his work with the center, Charlton is doing research based on his experience in the industry. In addition, he is teaching undergraduate investments and entrepreneurial finance classes this year.
Charlton earned his master of business administration degree in finance from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Texas AandM University. His research has been published in Financial Management and the Journal of Financial Education, among other publications.
