Research Interests

Theoretical and empirical corporate finance; corporate governance and control; mergers and acquisitions; venture capital and private equity; corporate disclosure and securities regulation; behavioral biases and asset pricing; institutional investment; network economics; applied game theory; and industrial organization

Featured Publications

• “Board Diversity, Firm Risk, and Corporate Policies” (with Vineet Bhagwat and Scott Yonker), Journal of Financial Economics, 2017, Forthcoming

  “What doesn’t kill you will only make you more risk-loving: Early-life disasters and CEO behavior” (with Vineet Bhagwat and Raghavendra Rau), Journal of Finance, 2017, Volume 72, Pages 167-206

  “Can information be locked up? Privately informed trading ahead of macro-news announcements” (with Jianfeng Hu and Yuehua Tang), Journal of Financial Economics, 2016, Volume 121, Pages 496-520

  “Institutional Trading during a Wave of Corporate Scandals: “Perfect Payday”?” (with Johan Sulaeman and Qin Wang), Journal of Corporate Finance, 2015, Volume 34, Pages 191-209

  “Local Business Cycles and Local Liquidity” (with George Korniotis, Alok Kumar, and Qin Wang), Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 2015, Volume 50, Issue 5, Pages 987-1010

  “Home Away From Home: Geography of Information and Local Investors” (with Alok Kumar and Johan Sulaeman), Review of Financial Studies, 2015, Volume 28, Pages 2009-2049

  “SOX, Corporate Transparency, and the Cost of Debt” (with Sandro Andrade and Fred Hood), Journal of Banking and Finance, 2014, Volume 38, Pages 145–165

  “The Economic Effects of SOX Section 404: A Corporate Insider Perspective” (with Scott Bauguess, Jennifer Marietta Westberg, Alex Lee), Journal of Accounting and Economics, 2013, Volume 56, Pages 267–290

  “A theory of strategic mergers” (with Evgeny Lyandres and Alexei Zhdanov), Review of Finance, 2012, Volume 16, pages 517-575

  “Understanding investor sentiment: the case of publicly traded soccer clubs” (with Evgeny Lyandres), Financial Management, 2011, Volume 40, Issue 2, pages 357–380

  “The impact of the options backdating scandal on shareholders” (with Gregg Jarrell), Journal of Accounting and Economics, 2009, Volume 47, pages 2-26

  “The size of venture capitalists’ portfolios: theory and evidence” (with Evgeny Lyandres and Douglas Cumming), Journal of Corporate Finance, 2007, Volume 13, Pages 564-590

Teaching and Professional Experience

• Associate Professor, Finance, University of Miami School of Business Administration, 2017 - Present
• Associate Professor, Finance, Singapore Management University, 2016
• Assistant Professor, Finance, Singapore Management University, 2013 - 2016
• Assistant Professor, Finance, University of Miami School of Business Administration, 2010 - 2013
• Assistant Professor, Finance, University of Miami School of Business Administration, 2006 - 2008
• Visiting Lecturer, Finance, University of Miami School of Business Administration, 2005 - 2006
• Lecturer, Finance, University of Rochester William E. Simon School of Business, 2004 - 2005
• Lab Instructor, Economics, University of Rochester William E. Simon School of Business, 1999 - 2004
• Visiting Financial Economist, Securities & Exchange Commission, 2008 - 2010
• Ad-hoc Consulting Assignments, Forensic Economics, Inc., 2003 - 2008
• Financial Analyst Internship, Forensic Economics, Inc., 1999

Specialties

• Corporate objectives
• Capital budgeting
• Corporate and equity valuation
• Corporate finance
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Entrepreneurship and venture capital
• Cases in finance
• Price theory
• Managerial economics
• Game theory
• Industrial organization

Degrees

• Ph.D., Business Administration, University of Rochester William E. Simon Graduate School of Business, 2006
• M.S., Applied Economics, University of Rochester William E. Simon Graduate School of Business, 2002
• B.A., International Economics, University of Naples, 1998

Honors and Awards

• Postgraduate Programme Development Award, Runner-up, Singapore Management University, 2015
• Best Paper Award, International Finance and Banking Society, 2015
• Best Paper Award, Paul Woolley Centre for the Study of Capital Market Dysfunctionality Conference, 2015
• Honorable Mention (Top 10 selection), ISB-Ivey Global Case Study Competition, 2015
• 1 st Place CQA Hong Kong Conference, 2014
• MBA Teaching Honor List, Lee Kong Chian School of Business, 2014 - 2015
• Undergraduate Teaching Honor List, Lee Kong Chian School of Business, 2014 - 2015
• Singapore Ministry of Education Tier 1 Research Grant, 2013 - 2014
• 1 st Place Outstanding Research Award, Eastern Finance Association Meetings, 2013
• University of Miami Summer Research Grant, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2008, 2007, 2006
• 1 st Place Pearson Best Paper published in Financial Management, 2010 - 2012
• McLamore Research Award, University of Miami, 2009
• Superior Teaching Award, University of Rochester, 2004