Sanford J. Leeds

Professor of Instruction
Department of Finance - The University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business

• MBA, University of Texas Graduate School of Business, 1995
• JD, University of Virginia School of Law, 1989
• B.S., University of Alabama, 1986

Sandy Leeds is a member of the Finance Department faculty at The University of Texas. He has been on the faculty for 17+ years and served as President of The MBA Investment Fund, L.L.C. for 13 of those years. He has taught both graduate- and undergraduate-level courses, including Corporate Finance, Advanced Corporate Finance, Public Policy (Long-Term Issues in the Markets), Investments, Portfolio Management / Security Analysis, Macroeconomics, and Money and Capital Markets.  He has a J.D. from The University of Virginia School of Law, an MBA from The University of Texas at Austin, and a B.S. in Investment Management from The University of Alabama.  He is a member of the Texas State Bar and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Prior to joining the faculty, Sandy managed money for a private money management firm.  He was one of four portfolio managers responsible for approximately $1.6 billion of assets.  He spent the majority of his time analyzing publicly traded companies.  He also has extensive experience implementing option strategies. 

In addition to money management experience, Sandy also has significant legal experience.  He has conducted approximately 100 jury trials and 100 bench trials.  He has participated in the regulation of the securities industry, conducting the hearing against most of the principals involved in the Sterling Foster case (a $75 million fraud).  He has also advised attorneys on financial related litigation involving options, hedge funds, and other matters.

Sandy is a frequent conference speaker, typically discussing the Fed, the economy and the markets.  He used to write a blog (LeedsonFinance) that attracted more than 10,000 subscribers.  Examples of his work outside of McCombs include conducting training for investment banking analysts at JPMorgan Chase, conducting financial training for the incoming CEO of a publicly-traded company, and writing a paper for Palo Alto Investors (a large hedge fund).  Additionally, he joined Keith Brown and Frank Reilly as a co-author on the 11th & 12th editions of Investment Analysis & Portfolio Management.  

At UT, Sandy has received numerous teaching awards, including three school-wide awards: the Joe D. Beasley Teaching Award (for outstanding teaching in the graduate program), the CBA Foundation Advisory Council Award for Teaching Innovation, and the Jim Nolen Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching.  He has received recognition from his students with the “Outstanding MBA Professor Award” (selected by the full-time MBA students in multiple years, the Evening MBA students and the Dallas MBA students) and the “Outstanding MSF Professor Award” (in multiple years).   In 2015, he was selected (at the University level) to be a Provost Teaching Fellow and then served on the steering committee of that organization.  Within the Austin community, he served a three-year term on the Investment Committee for the Austin Community Foundation (managing $100 million) and recently finished a term as the vice-Chair for the Board of Trustees at The Girls’ School of Austin.

Sandy and his wife, Jenny, have three children: Jay (23), John (21), and Genet (19). When he has the chance, Sandy spends time following college sports. While he is a huge Texas fan, Alabama stole his heart a long time ago. Roll Tide!