Finance Professor·Microsoft Excel MVP·Academic Entrepreneur

David C. Brown

Finance, out of the ivory tower.

I work across the full breadth of what a finance professor should be: producing research that shapes how markets and retirement savings work, making research accessible to ordinary investors, engaging with industry leaders and lawmakers, and inspiring students to better themselves and the world around them. I take ideas out of the ivory tower to reach the people they actually affect and make the world a better place.

Associate Professor & Endowed ChairBrian & Clara Franke Chair in Finance, Eller College of Management, University of Arizona
Co-Founder, Board Member & Former PresidentFour Corners Center for Research on Index Investments
Co-Founder & Executive DirectorMicrosoft Excel Collegiate Challenge (MECC)
Founder & Board PresidentFoundation for Spreadsheet Education
Co-founderGlidepath Financial
Co-founderGridProfessor
Council MemberFMI Global Leadership Council
David C. Brown
✉ Email Eller Profile Google Scholar SSRN YouTube

Recently added

Browse the full library →
Testimony to U.S. CongressHouse Financial Services
Report Rescue MissionJV walkthrough
September BattleMEWC commentary
MECC General WebinarFaculty outreach
Budget AnalysisChallenge walkthrough

The full set of videos and cases now lives on the four area pages below. The homepage keeps just the most recent.

500+
Scholarly citations
Congress
Invited testimony on how America invests
6
Teaching awards & honors
17,000+
MECC students in 130+ countries
Research featured in Wall Street Journal Bloomberg Financial Times Forbes ESPNU

Recent updates

View all →
Jun 2026
Testimony

Written testimony entered into the U.S. House Financial Services Committee record

I submitted a statement for the record at "From Wall Street to Main Street: The Future of How America Invests" (Rayburn HOB, June 25), making the case that there is no truly "passive" investing — index construction is a series of active, discretionary choices, with the timing of when companies like SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI enter an index as a concrete example.

Watch it entered into the record (52:04) →

Sep 2026
Speaking

Speaker, FMI Global Financial Modeling Conference

Presenting a live session at the Financial Modeling Institute's first 24-hour global online conference (Sept 24), alongside Eric Kelley. I also serve on FMI's Global Leadership Council.

2026
Service

Board member, Four Corners Center for Research on Index Investments

Helping organize our Fall 2026 conference at Dimensional's headquarters in Austin (Sept 30–Oct 1), including the "Active vs. Passive" panel.

2026
Honor

Eller Students' Choice Award: Outstanding Faculty Member in Finance

The latest in a run of teaching recognition, following the Dean's Impact Award (2024) and a Poets & Quants Top 50 Undergraduate Business Professor honor.

Explore by area

Research

Markets, investors & how price informs

Asset management, index investing, IPOs, retirement, and FinTech, published in JFE, RFS, and the Review of Finance.

See the research → Investor Education

Research, out of the ivory tower

Testimony to lawmakers, podcasts, and plain-language tools that take the evidence to ordinary investors.

Explore → Industry Engagement

Where research meets the industry

Research centers, industry councils, conferences, and my work with Microsoft as an Excel MVP.

Explore → Student Engagement

Finance, taught as a sport

The Microsoft Excel Collegiate Challenge, competition commentary, case walkthroughs, webinars, and the classroom.

Explore →

Ventures & organizations I’ve built

MECC
Founder & Executive Director

Excel as a collegiate sport

The Microsoft Excel Collegiate Challenge turns financial modeling into competition — 17,000+ students across 800+ universities in 130+ countries, 50,000+ hours of Excel education and $1M+ raised, with finals broadcast on ESPNU.

mecc.college →
FSE
Founder & Board President

Spreadsheet education for everyone

The Foundation for Spreadsheet Education is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit expanding access to financial and spreadsheet literacy, and funding students to compete and learn worldwide.

Website coming soon
Co-founder

Bringing transparency to target-date funds

Research-driven analytics that show investors how their retirement funds really perform against their own glide-path benchmark — built with Shaun Davies.

glidepathfinancial.com →
Co-founder

Financial modeling, taught like a sport

Excel and financial-modeling teaching materials for professors and students — the curriculum engine behind the classroom and the competition, built with Eric Kelley.

gridprofessor.com →