Robert C. Merton is currently the John and Natty McArthur University Professor at the Harvard Business School. He is also Chief Science Officer of Trinsum Group, a global advisory and pension solution firm. Prior to joining the faculty of Harvard in 1988, he served on the Finance faculty of MIT's Sloan School of Management for eighteen years. Professor Merton is past President of the American Finance Association and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. In 1997 Professor Merton was co-winner with Myron Scholes of the Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

Professor Merton has also been recognized for his achievements in translating theory into practice. In 1976, he was co-creator with Myron Scholes of the first public mutual fund to use options to implement its core investment strategy. In 1993, Professor Merton received the inaugural Financial Engineer of the Year Award from the International Association of Financial Engineers, which elected him a Senior Fellow the following year. The Institute for Quantitative Research in Finance ("Q Group") elected him a Distinguished Fellow in 1997. Derivatives Strategy magazine named him to its Derivatives Hall of Fame in 1998. From 1988-1992, Professor Merton served as a senior advisor to Office of the Chairman, Salomon Inc. In 1993, he co-founded Long-Term Capital Management and served as a principal until 1999. From 1999-2001, he was a senior advisor to J.P. Morgan & Co. Incorporated.

Professor Merton obtained a B.S. in Engineering Mathematics from Columbia University in 1966, a M.S. in Applied Mathematics from California Institute of Technology in 1967, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1970. He holds honorary degrees from the University of Chicago and seven foreign universities.