Teaching

“Knowledge is power” proclaimed Sir Francis Bacon, 17th Century English author and philosopher, in his 1597 work Meditationes Sacrae De Haersibus (“Religious Meditations of Heresies”).

Blessed with extraordinary learning experiences in his own life from grade school to graduate school, Bruce Foerster determined early on in his business career to give back to the next generation of securities industry professionals. This decision lead him down a path on which he still travels.

In the process of “giving back,” something truly unexpected came to light: there is also much for a teacher to learn from his or her students.

Bruce Foerster’s path, highlighted below, has been filled with human interaction in classrooms where the Aristotelian Method drives the educational process, and the journey continues.

• Deutsche Bank/NYU “Capital Markets” training program: 1984-1995.
• Michigan State University Eli Broad School of Management: “Investment Banking and Capital Markets” lecture 1998.
• Museum of American Finance, “Going Public - Own a Share of the American Dream” exhibit, co-curator, 1999.
• New York University Stern Graduate School of Business: “Investment Banking” course co-sponsored by the Securities Industry Association. Lecturer on syndicate/capital markets/IPO process 1978-1994 and course director 1979-1981.
• Securities Industry Institute at The Wharton School. Trustee 1981-1983 and lecturer on “Syndicate/Capital Markets” 1981-1983 and 1991.
• University of Florida Warrington College of Business, Hough Graduate School of Business. Course coordinator and lecturer on “Investment Banking” in MBA program, 1996-2003. Associate Director of Placements, student mentor and lecturer on selected “Investment Banking” topics, 2003-present. Visiting lecturer on “Capitalism,” 2008-present.
• University of Miami (Florida) School of Law. Adjunct lecturer on “Capital Markets and the IPO Process,” 1978-1982.

For Foerster’s current activity at the University of Florida, please click here.

Academic, Professional and Scholarly Acknowledgments

• Ernest Bloch, author, in preface to Inside Investment Banking. Irwin Business, 1989.
• Charles J. Johnson Jr., Esquire, author, in preface to Corporate Finance and the Securities Laws. Prentice Hall, 1990.
• Professor Jay R. Ritter, author, in chapter footnote in Handbook of Modern Finance. Warren, Gorham & Lamont, 1998.
• Professor Jay R. Ritter, in monograph “thank you” in The Seven Percent Solution, 1998.

Business Education and Ethics Seminar Facilitation

• Financial Industry Regulatory Authority [FINRA, f/k/a National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD)]. Conceived, organized, structured and presented four all-day seminars on “The IPO Process” to 85 NASDAQ senior marketing officers, 2002.
• LaBranche & Co. Inc. Initiated, conceived, organized, structured and facilitated two four-hour corporate ethics seminars utilizing Harvard Business School case studies “Leadership Problems at Salomon” (Case Study No. 9-395-044), “Forging the New Salomon” (Case Study No. 9-395-046), “Salomon and the Treasury Securities Auction” (Case Study No. 9-292-114), “Salomon and the Treasury Securities Auction: 1992 Update” (Case Study No. 9-293-057), Salomon Brothers public filings, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Administrative Proceeding File No. 3-7930 and additional material from the facilitator’s files.
• LaBranche & Co. Inc. was, at the time of the seminars, the largest New York Stock Exchange specialist firm, and 44 of its specialists plus the CEO and the chief legal officer participated in June 2003.
• Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association [SIFMA, f/k/a Securities Industry Association (SIA)]. Conceived and, with a colleague, organized, structured, facilitated, presented and did much of the instruction for the inaugural Capital Markets Program, a three-day off-site seminar to 30 capital markets professionals in 2001 under the auspices of the SIA.

There were eight primary objectives of the Program.

1. Broaden an understanding of the primary capital markets.
2. Learn to asses and adapt proper underwriting documentation.
3. Improve understanding of underwriting and new issue processes.
4. Strengthen knowledge of self-regulation concepts and compliance responsibilities.
5. Enhance knowledge of deal pricing, distribution and after-market trading.
6. Gain deeper insight into professional ethics.
7. Learn techniques to enhance negotiating skills.
8. Identify and appreciate the interdependence between knowledge and integration.

The program structure included pre-course work, classroom instruction, team work, case studies, guided discussions and practical worked examples.

Business Handbook

• Capital Markets Handbook (“CMH”). Sixth Edition, 2010 update. John C. Burch Jr. and Bruce S. Foerster, editors. Aspen Publishers. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business. New York and The Netherlands. The CMH covers relevant developments in major securities legislation affecting new issue deal making; all aspects of documentation, underwriting, pricing, distribution, settlement, immediate aftermarket trading of new issues; compliance matters; and includes a glossary, a bibliography and appendices containing significant regulations and primary statutes.

  The CMH was conceived by Bruce Foerster in 1997 to fill a void in securities industry professional education as a useful, easy to access primer on the underwriting and distribution of new issue securities. It has been revised and/or updated annually since its original publication in 1999.

  For information on how to obtain a copy from Apen Publishers, please click here.