Mila Getmansky Sherman (Chair), 2023-2026
Mila Getmansky Sherman is a Professor of Finance and Judith Wilkinson O’Connell Faculty Fellow at the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst. Her research specializes in empirical asset pricing, hedge funds, performance of investment trading strategies, financial institutions, systemic risk, ecological finance, ESG, gender in finance, and system dynamics. She
received a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering and Minor in Economics from MIT and a Ph.D. degree in Management from the MIT Sloan School of Management. She was a post-doctoral fellow at the MIT Lab for Financial Engineering before joining UMass Amherst. Professor Getmansky Sherman is an associate director of the Center for International Securities and Derivatives Markets (CISDM) at UMass Amherst whose goal is to facilitate research in international investment and derivative markets, and promote interactions between the academic and business communities. Read full profile
Ayako Yasuda, (Vice-Chair) 2024-2027
Professor Ayako Yasuda is the Maurice J. & Marcia G. Gallagher Professor of Finance at the Graduate School of Management at University of California at Davis, and Fellow of the Private Equity Research Consortium. Professor Yasuda’s research focuses on venture capital; private equity; impact funds; environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues; social entrepreneurship; and long-horizon institutional investors. She has published her research in the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics, and The Review of Financial Studies, and her expertise on entrepreneurship, private equity, and venture capital has been cited in news publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, the Nikkei, the Financial Times, and The New York Times. She earned a Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford in 2001, and a B.A. in Quantitative Economics (Dean’s Distinction, Phi Beta Kappa) from Stanford in 1993. Before joining the faculty of UC Davis, she was a faculty at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and earlier in her career, she was a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs. She co-authored an acclaimed MBA textbook Venture Capital and the Finance of Innovation (now in 3rd edition). Her paper “Impact Investing” (Journal of Financial Economics 2021) won the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University’s Moskowitz Prize for outstanding research on sustainable and responsible investing. Read full profile.
Audra Boone, (Director of Mentoring) 2026-2029
Audra Boone is the Ajay Menon Professor of Business at the College of Business at Colorado State University (CSU). Her main research areas include mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructuring, governance structures, and disclosure.
She is also a research member at the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) and an affiliated researcher at the HKU Jockey Club Enterprise Sustainability Global Research Institute. She currently serves as an Associate Editor at the Journal of Corporate Finance. Prior to joining CSU, she was the C.R. Williams Professorship in Financial Services in the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University and also worked in rulemaking and litigation economics at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as well as other academic institutions. She earned her Ph.D. in finance from the Smeal College of Business at Pennsylvania State University in 2002.
Laura Field (Chair), 2023-2027
Laura Casares Field is the Donald J. Puglisi Professor of Finance at the University of Delaware. Professor Field’s research focuses on empirical corporate finance issues, including initial public offerings and corporate governance. Some of her recent research examines diversity in corporate board leadership and corporate board diversity regulation. In addition to AFFECT, she serves on the AFA’s Committee on Racial Diversity (CORD). She serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Corporate Finance and the Review of Corporate Finance, an academic director of the FMA, and a research member of the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI). She holds a Ph.D. in Finance, MBA, and BA in Economics from UCLA. Read full profile
Katharina Lewellen, 2024-2027
Katharina Lewellen is Professor of Finance at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Her research examines various aspects of corporate finance and corporate governance, including managerial incentives and compensation, the role of financial institutions in corporate governance, governance of nonprofit firms, and healthcare finance. Professor Lewellen currently serves as an associate editor at the Journal of Corporate Finance and Financial Management. Before coming to Tuck, Professor Lewellen was an assistant professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. She received a PhD from the University of Rochester and a doctorate from the University of Zurich. Earlier, she worked as an economist at the Swiss National Bank. Read full profile.
Diane Del Guercio, 2025-2028
Diane Del Guercio’s current research interests include the investment practices of institutional investors and the role of pension funds in corporate governance. She has taught at the University of Southern California and the University of Queensland. She formerly served in roles as the senior associate dean for faculty and research, finance department head, and director of the business PhD program at the Lundquist College of Business. Read full profile.
Simi Kedia, 2025-2028
Simi Kedia is the Albert R. Gamper Chair in Business at Rutgers Business School. She has also been a faculty at Harvard Business School. Professor Kedia’s research interests are in empirical corporate finance and span corporate governance, financial misconduct, credit ratings, proxy voting and hedge fund activism. Her research has been cited in the popular press, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, New Yorker, Forbes, Fortune, Financial Times, CNBC and NPR Market Place.
Key awards include Brenan Award for the Best Paper published in Review of Finance Studies in 2009, Dean’s Meritorious Research Award 2016, 2013, 2011 at Rutgers Business School, Distinguished Referee Award 2012 from Review of Financial Studies and 2012 Glen McLaughlin Prize for Research in Accounting Ethics.
She is an Editor for Journal of Corporate Finance. She has served as an Associate Editor for Management Science, Review of Financial Studies and Financial Management. She serves on American Finance Association Ethics Committee. She has served on the American Finance Association Nominating Committee and on the board of Financial Management Association.
Nadya Malenko, 2026-2029
Nadya Malenko is a Professor of Finance and Wargo Family Faculty Fellow at Boston College, Carroll School of Management, Seidner Department of Finance. She is also a research associate at the NBER, a research fellow at the CEPR, and a research member of the ECGI. Her research focuses on corporate governance, private equity, political economy, and organizational economics. Professor Malenko is an associate editor at the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, and Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and is the Editor of the ECGI Working Paper Finance Series. She has served on the boards of the AFA, WFA, EFA, FIRS, MFA, FMA, and Finance Theory Group. She received her Ph.D. from Stanford University.
Bernadette Minton, 2026-2029
Professor Bernadette Minton is Chair of the Department of Finance and the Arthur E. Shepard Endowed Professor in Insurance at Fisher College of Business of The Ohio State. Professor Minton holds a PhD in economics from the University of Chicago.
Prior to her appointment as department chair in 2016, Professor Minton served as the inaugural Academic Director of The Risk Institute from its inception in October 2013, as well as Interim Executive Director. During her tenure, she oversaw growth in The Risk Institute’s profile and corporate participation. She worked closely with the Institute’s advisory board in coordinating and leading The Risk Institute’s research, talent development and outreach activities.
Professor Minton’s research spans a variety of areas within corporate finance, with particular emphasis on risk management, corporate governance and financial institutions. Her research has been published and highly cited in top financial economics journals such as the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics and Review of Financial Studies, as well as the financial press.
As a leader in her area of scholarship, Professor Minton has been recognized for both her research and her teaching impact in the classroom. She is a recipient of the Pace Setters Faculty Research Award and Pace Setters Undergraduate Teaching Award and is a Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics Research Fellow. Professor Minton is a Managing Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Finance and an Associate Editor of the Journal of Financial Services Research.
During her time at Ohio State, Professor Minton has developed a number of successful courses in the Undergraduate program. She currently teaches risk management to Fisher undergraduate students and works with future finance thought leaders in the Department of Finance’s PhD program. Professor Minton also is actively involved in the college’s Fintech Initiative, leading the development of the undergraduate Fintech Immersion Program, Student Fintech Innovation Competition, and Fintech @ Ohio State & Beyond conferences.
Advisory Committee Members
Michelle Lowry, 2024-2027 – TD Bank Professor of Finance at the LeBow School of Business, Drexel University, Former Director of Mentoring.
Markus Brunnermeier, 2025-2028 – Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Economics, Princeton University
Anna Kovner, 2025-2028 – Executive Vice President and Director of Research, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
Kai Li, 2025-2028 – Canada Research Chair in Corporate Governance and W. Maurice Young Endowed Chair in Finance, UBC Sauder School of Business
Juliana Salomao, 2025-2028 – Associate Professor of Finance, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota
David Scharfstein, 2025-2028 – Edmund Cogswell Converse Professor of Finance and Banking, Harvard Business School
Pietro Veronesi, 2025-2028 – Chicago Board of Trade Professor of Finance, University of Chicago, Booth School of Business
Anna Pavlova, 2026-2029 – Professor of Finance at London Business School.
Veronika Krepely Pool, 2026-2029 – Professor of Finance at the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, Former Director of Mentoring
Kelly Shue, 2026-2029 – Professor of Finance at the Yale School of Management.
Past Committee Members:
Victoria Ivashina, Member and Chair 2022-2025
Kai Li, Member and Chair 2022-2025
Wei Jiang, Member 2020-2022
Manju Puri, Member and Chair 2019-2022
Ingrid Werner, Member and Vice-Chair 2019-2022
Adair Morse, Member 2019-2021
Renee Adams, Founder and Chair 2015-2019
Michelle Lowry, Founder and Vice-Chair 2015-2019
Francesca Cornelli, Founder and Member 2015-2019
Sydney Ludvigson, Member 2015-2019
Paola Sapienza, Member 2015-2019
Ulrike Malmendier, Member 2015-2018
Organization of AFFECT
- AFFECT is organized as a committee of the AFA. This organization largely follows that of CSWEP relative to the AEA.
- The Committee consists of six members: a Chair, a Vice Chair and four at-large members. Members serve three-year terms, with a maximum of two consecutive terms by any one member. As existing Committee members’ terms expire, the Committee is responsible for nominating new Committee members. These nominations are subject to AFA approval.
- A fraction of the initial board members will serve more than three years, as we evolve into a staggered committee structure. Organization-specific knowledge will be important, and continuity of at least some board members each year will facilitate this.
- A Committee member may serve a maximum of two consecutive terms.
- The Chair of the Committee will attend the January meeting of the AFA Executive Committee to deliver the annual report.
- An Advisory Committee serves to provide guidance and ideas on specific initiatives.