William Sharpe is the STANCO 25 Professor of Finance, Emeritus at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and is the founder of Financial Engines, a firm that provides online investment advice to individuals. Prior to joining Stanford University, Sharpe taught economics at the University of Washington in Seattle and the University of California, Irvine. Sharpe received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1990 for his “pioneering work in the theory of financial economics.” Sharpe was one of the originators of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), a financial model that can explain how securities prices reflect risks and potential returns. Sharpe’s theory stressed how the market pricing of risky assets enables them to fit into an investor’s portfolio because they can be made to blend with less risky investments. Sharpe’s theories led to the concept of “beta,” a measurement of portfolio risk not overturned by clever diversifying of investments. Investment analysts frequently use “beta” to compare the risk of holding one mix of stocks with that of stocks in general. Dr. Sharpe was educated at the University of California at Los Angeles, receiving his Ph.D. in economics there in 1961.