Contact: James Carskadon
![Mississippi State University hosted J. Christopher “Chris” Giancarlo, chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, for a campus visit this week [Dec. 5-6]. Pictured, front row from left, are MSU College of Business Dean Sharon Oswald; Giancarlo; MSU President Mark E. Keenum; and Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation President Mike McCormick. Second row, from left: Keith Coble, head of MSU’s Department of Agricultural Economics; Charlie Thornton, director of the CFTC’s Office of Legislative Affairs; Reuben Moore, interim associate vice president of MSU’s Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine; and Greg Bohach, vice president of MSU’s Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine. (Photo by Beth Wynn)](https://www.msstate.edu/sites/www.msstate.edu/files/inline-images/Keenum-Giancarlo_20171206_B5W4243HALF.jpg "MSU leaders and Christopher Giancarlo pose for a picture in Lee Hall.")
STARKVILLE, Miss.—J. Christopher “Chris” Giancarlo, chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is visiting Mississippi State University this week to learn more about the land-grant university’s expertise in agricultural fields and interact with MSU students.
Charlie Thornton, legislative affairs director for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is joining Giancarlo on the trip. The visitors spent part of the week touring agricultural facilities, including MSU’s Delta Research and Extension Center in the Mississippi Delta, before coming to Starkville Tuesday [Dec. 5] and meeting with MSU President Mark E. Keenum and other university leaders.
“We’re very honored to have Chairman Giancarlo here,” Keenum said. “The CFTC is a huge organization that oversees all futures commodities trading in our country. It’s an important part of our national economy. To have the chief overseer and regulator of that important industry here on our campus to learn more about Mississippi State, to interact with our students, faculty and administrators, is a great opportunity for us. We’re very proud to have him here.”
During their time on campus, Giancarlo and Thornton toured MSU’s Raspet Flight Research Laboratory, Custer Dairy Processing Plant, High Performance Computing Collaboratory and the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library and Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana. In addition to touring facilities and making a presentation to students, Giancarlo met with leaders and faculty members from MSU’s Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine, Department of Agricultural Economics, MSU Extension Service and College of Business.
After being nominated by President Donald Trump, Giancarlo was unanimously confirmed as chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission by the U.S. Senate in August. In 2013, Giancarlo was nominated by former President Barack Obama to serve as commissioner of the CFTC and also was unanimously confirmed by the Senate for that role. Before entering public service, Giancarlo was the executive vice president of GFI Group Inc., a financial services firm.
Thornton, a graduate of the University of Mississippi and Mississippi College School of Law, has served as director of legislative affairs for the CFTC since April. Prior to taking on that role, he spent two years as senior professional staff and counsel for the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee.
The mission of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is to foster open, transparent, competitive and financially sound markets. For more, visit www.cftc.gov.
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.