About CSFME

The Center for the Study of Financial Market Evolution (CSFME) is an independent, nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve transparency, reduce risks, support research, and promote sound regulation of financial markets. It does so by conducting data-driven analysis, providing investor education and outreach, and supporting regulatory reviews in otherwise opaque markets. It serves individual and institutional investors, banks, brokers, other financial market participants, academic institutions, and government regulatory agencies.

 

The CSFME Management Team

Ed Blount, Executive Director

Ed Blount, Founder, Director Emeritus

Mr. Blount, who founded the Center in 2006, has testified as a capital markets expert before all three branches of the U.S. federal government. Apart from his non-profit work, he has been a successful entrepreneur, writer and consultant for 30 years.  When, in 2007, Ed sold ASTEC Consulting Group to a Fortune 500 data systems vendor, the firm's research cooperatives and online risk/pricing systems were serving 500 institutional investors with counterparty exposures of US$3 trillion. Part of the sale proceeds were deposited in a foundation to fund the Center's activities.

 

David Schwartz, Executive Director

As the Center's Executive Director, Mr. Schwartz tracks changes in global financial regulation and key market developments. David's business and legal career spans 30 years and includes work in both the public and private sectors. He has served as Treasurer of the County of Kauai, Executive Director of the Kauai Economic Development Board, and Senior Managing Director at Advanced Securities Consulting, LLC. Previous to that, he held positions as Senior Counsel at the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Mutual Fund Directors Forum and was an associate at the Washington, DC firm K&L Gates, where he specialized in risk management, corporate governance, and the regulation of financial services and products, including regulated investment companies. David earned his BBA at Texas Tech University and his Juris Doctor degree at the University of Texas School of Law. He is an attorney licensed to practice in Texas and the District of Columbia and is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court and the United States Tax Court. He is also a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Texas.