Biography
Dr. Pierce earned his Ph.D. in Finance from Michigan State University. He is currently Professor of Finance and the Robert Hunt Cochrane/Alabama Bankers Endowed Chair of Banking at the University of Alabama. Dr. Pierce has taught in the EMBA and MBA programs at Booth for over five years.
Dr. Pierce has published articles on topics such as the benefits of bank lending, financial constraints, optimal capital structure, and CEO turnover. His research has appeared in such journals as the Review of Financial Studies, the Journal of Business, the Journal of Corporate Finance, the Review of Corporate Finance Studies, and Financial Management. In 2011, Dr. Pierce’s paper titled “New Evidence on Measuring Financial Constraints: Moving Beyond the KZ Index”, won the BlackRock Michael Brennan award for the best paper published in the Review of Financial Studies. In 2014, Dr. Pierce’s paper titled “Managers With and Without Style: Evidence using Exogenous Variation”, won the Research Affiliates Michael Brennan award for the best paper published in the Review of Financial Studies. The Review of Financial Studies (RFS) is sponsored by the Society of Financial Studies and is widely considered to be one of the top three academic journals in the field of finance.
Dr. Pierce has been involved with Executive Education over the past sixteen years where he has taught both custom and open enrollment courses. He has also taught many MBA, MSF, and BBA courses. Dr. Pierce has regularly been nominated or been the recipient of numerous teaching awards at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan the Gatton College of Business at the University of Kentucky and the Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. He was most recently awarded the Beta Gamma Sigma Outstanding MBA Teacher of the Year.
Dr. Pierce has industry experience as a financial engineer, and as a computer programmer. Additionally, he has advised and consulted with employees at various commercial banks, investment banks, and private equity firms. He currently is involved in venture capital, search funds, and data center roll-ups to support growth in Artificial Intelligence.
Academic Areas
- Finance