William P. Albrecht

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William Price (Bill) Albrecht was an American economist and regulatory official who served as a commissioner and acting chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Albrecht passed away on October 30, 2024 at the age of 89.
== Background ==
Albrecht served as a commissioner of the CFTC from 1988 to 1993. He was nominated by President Reagan on October 13, 1988 as a Democrat to replace William E. Scale. He was appointed acting chairman of the CFTC from January 22, 1993 to August 20, 1993. He quit in August of 1993, after serving as acting chairman for seven months and was replaced by Sheila Bair, another of the Democratic CFTC commissioners.
He also served as the CFTC's representative to the International Organization of Securities Commission (IOSCO), though he came under criticism from inside and outside the CFTC for having an active travel schedule that saw him and senior CFTC officials visit Venice; Paris (five times); Sydney; London (three times); Hong Kong; Tokyo (twice); Switzerland (twice); Bermuda; Toronto; Montreal; and Trinidad. Albrecht averaged 45 to 50 travel days a year, about a fourth of his working time.
During his tenure as acting chairman, the CFTC in a unanimous ruling found that 22 members of the Chicago Board of Trade were innocent of pre-arranged trading related to charges brought in 1986 related to a type of trade known as a "ginzy." The case took on additional CFTC attention after the 1989 FBI undercover probe of the soybean and T-bond pits at the CBOT and two trading pits at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Before joining the CFTC, Albrecht was a professor of economics at the University of Iowa. He held faculty positions at the University of Iowa from 1965 to 1988 and again from 1993 to 2007. 
Albrecht served in the United States Navy from 1956-61, where he was an engineering officer on the USS Vammen (Destroyer Escort 644). In 1974, he worked on domestic and international economic policy as a legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Dick Clark in Washington, D.C.
=== Academic Career ===
Albrecht joined the University of Iowa faculty in 1965. Throughout his tenure at the university, he held several administrative positions, including associate dean for undergraduate programs (1984-86), associate dean for external programs (1986-88), and justice professor of international business (2000-07). He also served as the University's first global scholar and established the Institute for International Business.
During his academic career, Albrecht authored three economics textbooks while at the University of Iowa.
== Education ==
Albrecht received his undergraduate education at Princeton University, earning an A.B. degree in 1956. He went on to obtain an M.A. in economics from the University of South Carolina in 1962. Albrecht completed his graduate studies at Yale University, receiving an M.A. in 1963 and a Ph.D. in economics in 1965.
== References ==	
Category:Deceased
Category:Regulatory Officials
Category:CFTC
Category:CFTC - Former Employees
Category:CFTC - Former Acting Chairmen
Category:University of Iowa
Category:University of Iowa - Former Employees
Category:U.S. Navy
Category:U.S. Navy - Former Employees
Category:Economists
Category:Academics