Ben Van Vliet, assistant professor of finance at IIT Stuart School of Business, presented at the John Lothian Summer Intern Education Series “MarketsWikiWorld of Opportunity” on July 30.

IIT Stuart's Ben Van Vliet

Held at the Chicago Board of Trade Building Auditorium, the series conclusion drew a sold-out crowd of interns, summer workers and others interested in careers in trading and markets, with presentations by Van Vliet, Richard Sandor, Terry Duffy, Rick Lane, June Furlan and Sam Mele.

John Lothian discussed the significance of the event, explaining that the “the interns we are educating today about the opportunities in our industry represent [the] future of the industry.”

In his presentation, Van Vliet focused on the importance of ethics in the financial industry, particularly in light of automation and automated trading. He emphasized that ethics are often embedded in product standards, technical standards and management standards–agreements as to how people do business. He told attendees that much of their professional success will be based on how they do business and the ethical standards they follow.

Van Vliet also discussed how IIT Stuart is helping drive the discussion of industry standards by way of the the AT 9000 project.