David M. Blitzer (born November 1, 1948) is the former chairman of

S&P Dow Jones Indices S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC is a joint venture between S&P Global and the CME Group, that was announced in 2011 and later launched in 2012. It produces, maintains, licenses, and markets stock market indices as benchmarks and as the basis of in ...

, where he was head of the index committee that determines which stocks are added to the

S&P 500 Index The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 leading companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices and in ...

, the

Dow Jones Industrial Average The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Dow Jones, or simply the Dow (), is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. The DJIA is one of the oldest and most commonly followed equity indice ...

, and all other

stock market indices In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an index that measures the performance of a stock market, or of a subset of a stock market. It helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calculate market perfor ...

calculated by the company. He held overall responsibility for index security selection, as well as index analysis and management until retiring in 2019.

Early life and education

Blitzer received a B.S. in engineering from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, an M.A. in economics from

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

, and a Ph.D. in economics from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Career

Blitzer served as chief economist at The McGraw-Hill Companies and equity analyst at S&P Capital IQ Equity Research and S&P Credit Research. Prior to that, he was a senior economic analyst with National Economic Research Associates, Inc. and did consulting work for various government and private sector agencies, including the

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) is a government agency in the U.S. state of New Jersey that is responsible for managing the state's natural resources and addressing issues related to pollution. NJDEP now has a staf ...

, the National Commission on Materials Policy, and

Natural Resources Defense Council The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a United States–based 501(c)(3) non-profit international environmental advocacy group, with its headquarters in New York City and offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicag ...

. In 1989, he joined the index committee and he became its chairman in 1995. In 2000, Blitzer was ranked 7th on ''

SmartMoney ''SmartMoney'' was ''The Wall Street Journal''s magazine of personal business. The finance magazine launched in 1992 by Hearst Corporation and Dow Jones & Company. Its first editor was Norman Pearlstine. In 2010, Hearst sold its stake to Dow J ...

''’s list of the 30 most influential people in the world of investing. Blitzer retired in August 2019.

Books

Blitzer has written two books, ''What’s the Economy Trying to Tell You? Everyone’s Guide to Understanding and Profiting from the Economy'' (1997) and ''Outpacing the Pros: Using Indices to Beat Wall Street’s Savviest Money Managers'' (2001).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blitzer, David M 1948 births Living people American economists Cornell University College of Engineering alumni Columbian College of Arts and Sciences alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni