Citadel Business InFormation

Dr. Sykes Wilford made a decision to move to the South after years in more metropolitan areas of the United States and abroad.

Once in Charleston, Dr. Wilford began teaching a course at the College of Charleston. There he met Doug Snyder, an MBA student and a member of The Citadel Board of Visitors. 

"Doug introduced me to Earl (Walker, Dean of the School of Business Administration) and I really was very impressed with what people are trying to do here at The Citadel," Dr. Wilford said. 

Last summer marked the end of Alex McMillan's tenure as the W. Frank Hipp Distinguished Chair in Business Administration, and Dr. Wilford was asked to apply as his successor. 

"I really came to The Citadel because I was impressed with the whole approach that is being taken," Dr. Wilford said. "The Mentors (Association), I just think is a great idea. The concept of working to create leaders, I think that is the correct mission. I feel that all too often in academia we ignore that factor and we actual coddle kids. I don't think that gets them ready for the real world because, when I am on the other side hiring someone that just came out of school, I find that many of them are just totally unprepared to take responsibilities that they should be able to take at 21, 22 years old. I think what The Citadel's trying to do is create people that can take those responsibilities and, to me, that was very attractive."

Dr. Wilford has spent much of his career immersed in the international business world. He received his M.S. from Vanderbilt University and his Ph.D. in Economics from Tulane University. He was an Economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, as well as Chief International Fixed-Income Strategist for Drexel Burnham Lambert in London. Dr. Wilford was the Chief Investment Officer of Bankers Trust's Private Bank and Managing Director of Bankers Trust's Global Investment Management operations. He was Managing Director of Chase Manhattan Bank, managing the Portfolio Strategies Group and chairing its Investment Committee in London. Dr. Wilford also directed Chase's Global Commodity Risk Management and European Index Linked Derivative Products businesses.

Presently, Dr. Wilford is Chairman of the Advisory Board of Beauchamp Financial Technology and a founding partner of Hamilton Investment Partners. He was the Chief Investment Officer and member of the Board of Directors of CDC Investment Management from 1997 to 2002.   

Dr. Wilford has written in both the academic and popular press. His articles have appeared in research journals such as the American Economic Review and the Journal of Finance.  He has both authored and edited several books, ranging from economic policy in developing countries to managing financial risk. 

As Hipp Chair at The Citadel, Dr. Wilford will teach classes, and he will organize the Leadership Forum in both the fall and the spring semesters during which leaders from across the country come to speak with students in The Citadel MBA program.

"We want students to hear the importance of integrity and ethics in leadership and how that pays in the long run" Dr. Wilford said. 

The fall series includes talks by Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr.; Susan M. Phillips, Ph.D., Dean of the School of Business and Public Management of George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and former governor of the Federal Reserve System; Bluford Putnam, President of Bayesian Edge and a well-known academic; and Jim Huling, President and CEO of MATRIX Resources.

Beginning this spring, Dr. Wilford will teach two classes. He said that they will focus primarily on international finance. 

"We are privileged to have Dr. Sykes Wilford in the Business School," said Dean Walker. "His international finance experience is remarkable, and in just the first few months as the Hipp Chair, he has already contributed enormously to our students. Not only has he been instrumental in the development of our Leadership Forum for the academic year, he has also helped us broaden our horizons in international business."