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Biography

Dr. Pierce earned his Ph.D. in Finance from Michigan State University. He is currently the Robert Hunt Cochrane/Alabama Bankers Endowed Chair of Banking at the University of Alabama.

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 programs over the past twelve years where he taught both custom and open enrollment courses.  Dr. Pierce has also taught many MBA, PMBA, and BBA courses. He 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 of various commercial banks, investment banks and private equity firms.

Academic Areas

  • Finance

2023 - 2024 Course Schedule

Number Course Title Quarter
35201 Cases in Financial Management 2024 (Spring)
35802 Financial Strategy 2024 (Winter)