Professor of Financial Economics, Queen Mary University of London
Member, Corporate Finance Expert Panel, Competition and Markets Authority
I am a Professor of Financial Economics at Queen Mary University of London. My research examines the financing decisions of banks, investors, and firms, and the rules that shape them. It falls into three streams: how banks and other lenders use information, and what their lending decisions mean for investment in the real economy; how institutional investors trade, vote, and shape prices in capital markets; and how firms invest, organise themselves, and are held to account.
Before academia, I spent several years at Royal Dutch Shell, working across M&A, project finance, and strategy, where I led financial modelling, cost-of-capital analysis, and the valuation of energy projects. I began my career as a consultant at IBM. That grounding shapes the research I choose to do: I am most interested in evidence that helps decision-makers, whether lenders, investors, boards, or the regulators who oversee them.
From 2020 to 2024 I led Queen Mary's School of Economics and Finance as Head of School, with responsibility for 70 academics, 35 professional services staff, and 2,000 students, and steered the School through the pandemic years. Working with colleagues across the School, research output rose to 4th in the UK in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework, from 14th in 2014; we grew the School's MSc finance programmes, opening pathways into global finance careers for students from around the world; we launched apprenticeship degrees with the Government Economic Service, Goldman Sachs, and Deutsche Bank; and our undergraduate programme was ranked top in England for social mobility in economics.
Since October 2024, I have served on the Competition and Markets Authority's Corporate Finance Expert Panel, one of four appointed experts and the only academic, advising on cost of capital, profitability, and financial analysis across the CMA's casework.
My research has been published in the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, and Management Science, among others, including eight articles in the Financial Times Top 50 journals. It has been recognised with awards including the BlackRock and NACD Global Challenge for Innovation Award and the CNMV Prize for the Best Paper in Regulation. I hold a PhD in Finance from London Business School. Away from finance, I am a director, junior section chair, and coach at my local rugby club.