About the Keynote Speaker

Professor Anjan V. Thakor

Anjan Thakor holds the John E. Simon Professorship of Finance and is Director of the Olin Business School’s Doctoral program, and the Wells Fargo Associates Center for Finance and Accounting Research.  He is also a research associate of the European Corporate Governance Institute. Until July 2003, he was the Edward J. Frey Professorship of Banking and Finance and Chairman of the Finance Group (2000-03) at the University of Michigan Business School.  Prior to joining the University of Michigan, he served as the NBD Professor of Finance and Chairman of the Finance Department at the School of Business at Indiana University.  Anjan has also served on the faculties of Northwestern University and UCLA as a visiting professor.

Anjan received his PhD in Finance from Northwestern University. His research, teaching and consulting are in the areas of asymmetric information, corporate finance, banking, and corporate strategy. He has published research articles in leading Economics and Finance journals, like The American Economic Review, The Review of Economic Studies, The RAND Journal of Economics, The Economic Journal, The Journal of Economic Theory, The Journal of Finance, The Journal of Financial Economics, The Journal of Financial Intermediation, and The Review of Financial Studies. He has also published eight books, including The Four Colors of Growth, which introduces a new framework for developing value-enhancing growth strategies.

Some of Anjan’s accomplishments include:

• Research Productivity: In 2008, he was identified as the fourth most prolific researcher in the world in Finance over the past 50 years.
• Teaching: He has won numerous teaching awards at Indiana, Michigan and Washington University.
• Consulting: Anjan has served as a consultant on growth strategy, innovation, corporate cultures and financial strategy with dozens of corporations and has worked with thousands of executives, from middle management to executive committees, CEOs and boards of directors.
• Expert Witness Work: Includes numerous expert witness assignments on issues in Finance and Banking, including testimonies in Federal courts.