Jay Ritter named 2026 Fellow of the American Finance Association

Jay Ritter, Emeritus Professor and Director of the IPO Initiative at the University of Florida Warrington College of Business, has been selected as the 2026 American Finance Association (AFA) Fellow in recognition of his distinguished contributions to the field of finance. 

Among the highest honors for an academic, AFA Fellows are selected by the nation’s premier finance researchers. Ritter joins a prestigious group of AFA Fellows including Nobel Prize in Economics recipients Paul Samuelson, William Sharpe, Harry Markowitz, Merton Miller, Ben Bernanke, Eugene Fama, Robert Shiller and Douglas Diamond. 

Widely known as “Mr. IPO,” Ritter has authored highly influential research with over 61,000 citations covering initial public offerings (IPOs), capital structure, investment banking and behavioral finance. He has made exceptional contributions to the profession through his IPO Data website and mentorship of students and scholars globally. 

“I was particularly honored to be introduced by Warrington graduate Kathleen Weiss Hanley, who is the Secretary-Treasurer of the AFA and a prominent IPO researcher herself,” said Ritter.

In honor of this achievement, the Eugene F. Brigham Finance, Insurance and Real Estate Department at Warrington has named its department support fund after Ritter.

The fund, originally established in 2009, will enter a new phase with substantial expansion in support for doctoral students, in addition to its general support of department activities. It will help the most promising fifth- or sixth-year students as they complete their dissertations and prepare for the job market through the annual Jay R. Ritter Research Excellence Awards. The fund also provides financial support for travel to the field’s top conferences and access to proprietary datasets that enable cutting-edge research and broaden the scope of dissertation projects. 

“Naming the fund in Jay’s honor appropriately recognizes his enduring commitment to doctoral education and reinforces the values that have made our Ph.D. program strong and nationally competitive,” said Mike Ryngaert, Graham-Buffet Professor and chair of the finance department. “He has been the fund’s greatest champion, both within the department and as one of the most visible ambassadors of our program.”

Ritter has been a faculty member at the University of Florida for 30 years, joining in 1996 after holding positions at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan and the University of Illinois. He was the Joe B. Cordell Eminent Scholar before transitioning to emeritus status in 2024. In addition to working with doctoral students, Ritter taught the undergraduate capstone corporate finance class for many years.

He is one of 13 Warrington faculty named among the top 2% of most influential scientists in the world by Stanford University and academic publishing company Elsevier. According to the list, Ritter has a career impact above the 99.8th percentile in the field of finance. In 2024, his scholarly impact was above the 99.6th percentile.

He received his bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

You can support finance at the University of Florida by making a gift to the Jay Ritter Finance Department Support Fund.