John B. Sprow is a Principal and the Chief Risk Officer at Smith Breeden Associates, Inc. Mr. Sprow heads Smith Breeden’s Risk Management Committee which reports directly to the CEO and is independent from the investment group. Mr. Sprow also chairs the Credit Committee. Previously, Mr. Sprow was a Senior Portfolio Manager and was the leader of the firm’s credit department which has pioneered applying credit option-adjusted spread analysis to corporate bonds. Mr. Sprow has managed many short duration, enhanced S&P 500, mortgage indexed accounts and levered strategies. Mr. Sprow's research and programming efforts assisted in the development of the firm’s models for pricing and hedging mortgage-related securities, risky commercial debt, and forecasting mortgage prepayment behavior. Mr. Sprow came to Smith Breeden in 1987 from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, where he was a Research Assistant. Previously, Mr. Sprow was a Research Assistant to the Department Head of the Materials Science Department at Cornell University. He received a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the Fuqua School of Business. Mr. Sprow holds a Bachelor of Science in Materials Science and Engineering from Cornell University, where he was awarded the Carpenter Technology Scholarship three successive years.