About me 

I am an assistant professor at Peking University HSBC Business School since Fall 2023. I completed my Ph.D. degree in Finance at J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University. My research broadly focuses on corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions (M&As), and FinTech.  My research has been presented at selected conferences such as  Northern Finance Association (NFA), Midwest Finance Association (MFA), Financial Management Association (FMA), Dayton Summer Finance Workshop, and China Fintech Research Conference. It also has been featured on Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog.

Education

• Ph.D., Finance, Georgia State University, 2017 - 2023

• M.S., Finance, Northeastern University, 2015 - 2016

• B.A., Finance, Kent State University, 2010 - 2013

Research interests

• Corporate Finance: Corporate Governance, Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As), Corporate Innovations

• FinTech: Blockchain, Machine Learning, Textual Analysis

• Labor and Finance

Working papers

• Information Acquisition in Mergers and Acquisitions - Evidence from EDGAR Web Traffic

  • I use EDGAR web traffic to study the effects of investors’ information learning activities in mergers and acquisitions.

  • Presentations: Midwest Finance Association (MFA) 2022, American Finance Association (AFA) Poster Session 2022, Atlanta Rising Scholar Symposium in Finance (ARSS) 2022, Global Finance Conference, Dayton Summer Finance Workshop 2021, Financial Management Association (FMA) 2021.

• Board Connections and CEO Successions

  • I study the effects of the connections between CEO candidates and board members on CEO appointment decisions and post-succession firm efficiencies.

  • Presentation: Northern Finance Association (NFA) Annual Meeting 2020, Global Finance Conference 2021, Georgia State University 2020

• Can Technology Help Overcome Contractual Incompleteness? Evidence from Blockchain Laws

* Forthcoming at Management Science

(with Mark Chen, Sophia Hu, and Qinxi Wu)

• • We empirically examine the effects of technological disruption on suppliers and customers in vertical production relationships.

  • Presentation: 9th HK Joint Finance Research Workshop 2023 , CICF 2023 , European Finance Association (EFA) 2023, Conference on Emerging Technologies in Accounting and Financial Economics (CETAFE) 2023, FMA Annual Meeting 2021, Georgia State University 2021, Lone Star Conference 2021, Shanghai-Edinburgh-London Fintech Conference 2021, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics 2021

• FinTech Mergers

(With Alan L. Zhang)

• • We explore the motives and consequences of FinTech mergers. FinTech firms have a greater likelihood of becoming targets in mergers and acquisitions (M&As).

  • Presentation: FMA 2023 (scheduled), SFA 2023 (scheduled), Eastern Finance Association (EFA), 2023, China Fintech Research Conference 2022, Asian Finance Association 2022

  • Media Coverage: Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog

  • Book Chapter: "Financial Literacy in Today's Global Market" 

• Labor-Displacing Innovation, Firm Value, and Productivity

(with Mark Chen)

• • We provide evidence on the incidence of labor-displacing technological innovations and how they affect innovating firms’ value and productivity.

  • Presentation: Georgia State University  2022

• Board Interlocks and Innovation Spillover 

(with Mark Chen, Sophia Hu, and Qinxi Wu)

• • This paper examines whether board interlocks—direct links created when an individual serves concurrently on two or more corporate boards—foster spillovers of knowledge and innovation between firms.

  • Presentation: SFS Cavalcade 2023, FMA 2022 Annual Meeting, The 8th Annual International Corporate Governance Society (ICGS) Conference  2022

  • Media Coverage: Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog

• The Real Effects of Common Analyst Coverage on Mergers and Acquisitions

(with Omesh Kini)

• • We examine the influence of common analysts on the likelihood and subsequent outcomes of mergers and acquisitions (M&As). 

Personal interests

Wine tasting, hiking, basketball, oil painting, and Chinese calligraphy