Richard L. Sandor

Richard L. Sandor is an American businessman, economist, and entrepreneur who is a pioneer for financial futures and became known as the father of carbon trading.

He is the former chairman and CEO of the American Financial Exchange (AFX) established in 2015. The AFX main product, the AMERIBOR benchmark index vyed to replace U.S. dollar Libor as a lending benchmark. Sandor is chairman and CEO of Environmental Financial Products LLC, which specializes in inventing, designing and developing new financial markets. He is widely recognized as the "father of financial futures" for his pioneering work in developing the first interest rate futures contract in the 1970s, when he served as chief economist and vice president of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT).

Sandor is also the founder of the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) – the world's first exchange to facilitate the reduction and trading of greenhouse gases. In 2007, he was named the "father of carbon trading" by Time Magazine for his work in designing, developing and launching CCX and affiliated exchanges. Among Sandor's academic roles, he is the Aaron Director Lecturer in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago Law School and an honorary Professor at the University of Hong Kong and the School of Economics at Fudan University. He formerly taught at graduate and undergraduate levels at several universities throughout California, Illinois, New York, China and England.

Sandor is known for asserting that the next financial revolution will be in the convergence of the financial markets and the environment. He is often credited for founding the field of environmental Finance. His first book Good Derivatives: A Story of Financial and Environmental Innovation, was published by John Wiley & Sons in April 2012.