Betty Simkins

Betty J. Simkins, Ph.D., is the Williams Companies Chair, Regents Professor of Finance, and Head of the Department of Finance at Oklahoma State University’s Spears School of Business. She has a Ph.D. in Finance from Case Western Reserve University, an MBA from Oklahoma State University (OSU), and a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Arkansas. Prior to getting her PhD, Dr. Simkins (Betty) began her career as a chemical engineer in the oil and gas industry for Conoco and as an engineer and planning analyst for Williams Companies. Currently, in addition to teaching energy finance courses at OSU and conducting research that she presents internationally, she also teaches executive education for energy companies globally. In June 2018, she was appointed to the Market Risk Advisory Committee for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Betty has received a number of teaching awards and research awards at OSU including the Regents Distinguished Teaching Award, the Regents Distinguished Research Award, the Outreach Excellence Award, and the Outstanding OSU MBA Faculty Award. She was also promoted to Regents Professor in 2019, the highest academic award at OSU. Her primary areas of research are risk management, including energy risk, energy finance, and corporate governance, among other areas. She has coauthored more than 80 journal articles and book chapters and has won best paper awards for her research. She has published in the Journal of Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, Financial Management, Journal of Futures Markets, among others. Betty has published four books through John Wiley & Sons: Energy Finance and Economics: Analysis and Valuation, Risk Management, and the Future of Energy (2013); Enterprise Risk Management: Insights and Analysis on Today's Leading Research and Best Practices (1st edition 2010 and 2nd edition 2021); and Implementing Enterprise Risk Management: Case Studies and Best Practices (2014). Betty is very active professionally. She is editor (and founding co-editor) of the Journal of Commodity Markets and serves on the editorial boards of 12 other academic journals including the Journal of Banking and Finance, International Review of Financial Analysis, British Accounting Review, Finance Research Letters, and the Journal of Applied Corporate Finance. She is past president of the Eastern Finance Association and recent Vice President of Education for the Financial Management Association International. She is a member of several energy industry associations including the NGEAO (Natural Gas and Energy Association of Oklahoma), the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), and the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE).