PhD Supervision

Supervision of PhD students (Tilburg University):

1. Jana Fidrmuc (1999-2003): The impact of large shareholders on information signalling, factor productivity, and managerial disciplining. Defence: 27 June 2003. Hired by Erasmus University and the University of Warwick, UK.


2. Greg Trojanowski (2000-2004): Ownership structure as a mechanism of corporate governance. Defence: 12 November 2004. Hired by the University of Exeter, UK.


3. Annabel Sels: Foreign direct investment as an entry mode: An application to emerging economies, Defence, 9 June 2006. Hired by HUBrussel, KULeuven, Belgium


4. Chendi Zhang (2001-2006): Ethics, Investments, and Investor Behaviour. Defence: 8 November 2006. Hired by the University of Warwick, UK. Currently, chair at University of Exeter, UK.


5. Marina Martynova (2001-2006): The Market for Corporate Control and Corporate Governance Regulation in Europe. Defence: 8 November 2006. Hired by Cornerstone Research, Boston. Currently at the SEC, US.


6. Peter Szilagyi (2003-2007): Corporate Governance and the Agency Costs of Debt and Outside Equity. Defence: Funded by the European Corporate Govenrnace Institute Network. 17 December 2007. Hired by Cambridge University, UK. Currently at Edhec, France.


7. Yang Zhao (2005-2010): The Role of Directors’ Professional and Social Networks in

CEO Compensation and the Managerial Labour Market. Defence: 22 December 2010. Hired by the University of Cardiff, UK. Currently at Liverpool University, UK.


8. Mieszko Mazur (2006-2010): Essays on Managerial Remuneration, Organizational Structure, and Non-Cash divestitures. Defence: 22 December 2010. Hired by IESEG, University of Lille, France.


9. Eric Engesaeth (2007-2011): Managerial Compensation Contracting. Defence: 21 June 2011. Partner and CEO of the Managerial Remuneration practice at the Korn Ferry Hay Group, the Netherlands.


10. Christophe Spaenjers (2006-2011): Essays in Alternative Investments; Funded by the Netherlands Science Foundation. Defence: 19 September 2011. Graduated Cum Laude and awarded the Best PhD dissertation at Tilburg University (university-wide). Honorable Mention (top 3) for Christian Huygens Best PhD Disssertation Award; within top 3 for KVS Pennning; Runner-up for Mees Pierson Best PhD thesis Award. Hired by HEC Paris, France.


11. John Glen (2009-2012): Essays on the UK Residential Property Market. Defence: 19 March 2012. Professor at Cranfield University, UK.


12. Peter Cziraki (2007-2012): Insider Trading, Shareholder Activism and Corporate Policies. Defence: 10 Sept. 2012. Graduated Cum Laude and Best PhD Thesis award at Tilburg University. Hired by the Department of Economics of the University of Toronto, Canada.


13. Philipp Geiler (2008-2012): Essays on Executive Remuneration Contracting: Managerial Power, Corporate Payout, and Gender Discrimination. Defence: 14 September 2012. Hired by EM Lyon Business School, France.


14. Yaping Mao (2007-2013) (with Marco da Rin and Fabiana Penas, co-supervisors; funded by the European Investement Bank): Essays on leveraged buyouts. Defence 15 November 2013. Hired by Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland.


15. Elena Pikulina (2009-2014) (with Philippe Tobler, co-supervisor; Funded by Axa Research Fund): Incentives, Behavioural Biases and Risk Taking. Defence: 24 November 2014. Hired by University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.


16. Julien Pénasse (2010-2014): (joint PhD with Essec/Univ. Cergy-Pontoise). Asset Prices and Priceless Assets. Defence: 2 December 2014. Asset Prices and Priceless Assets. Hired by the University of Luxembourg.


17. Joaquim Miranda Sarmento (2010-2014): Public-Private Partnerships. Defence: 16 December 2014. Employed by ISEG (University of Lisbon) and the Catholica University of Lisbon, Portugal.


18. Saverio Stentella Lopes (2011-2015) (joint PhD Univ of Rome Tor Vergata; with Franco Fiordelisi, co-supervisor): Bank Performance and Corporate Culture. Defence: 19 January 2015. Hired by Bangor University, Wales. Currently at Liverpool University, UK.


19. Carlos Eduardo Leon Rincon (2012-2015): Financial Stability from a Network Perspective. Defence: 23 February 2015. Employed by the Central Bank of Colombia.


20. Ljubica Djordjevic (2012-2015): Retail Banking and Household Finance. Defence: 2 June 2 2015. Hired by Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. Currently at the IMF, US.


21. Bernardus van Doornik (2011-2015): (with Olivier De Jonghe, co-supervisor). Essays on the Behaviour of Foreign Banks in Brasil. Defence: 2 June 2015. Employed by the Central Bank of Brasil.


22. Hao Liang (2010-2015): The Foundations of Corporate Social Responsibility. Graduated Cum Laude. Defence: 23 June 2015. Hired by Singapore Management University. (Co-)Winner of: (i) 2016 Moskowitz Prize for best paper on Socially Responsible Investing, (ii) Best paper on Sustainable Finance (Geneva 2014 CSR conference on Finance and Sustainability), (iii) FIR-PRI European Research Award for best PhD thesis on Finance and Sustainability, (iv) Best PhD Thesis award at Tilburg University 2015 (university-wide).


23. Yiyi Bai (2011-2015) (with Steven Ongena; funded by CSC grant): Banking M&As. Defence: 9 September 2015. Hired by Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, China.


24. Geraldine David (2012-2016) (joint PhD ULB; with Kim Oosterlink, co-supervisor): Art as an Investment in a Historical Perspective. Defence 27 June 2016. Postdoc at Yale University, US. Currently director and curator of the Bibliotheca Wittockiana, Belgium.


25. Elisabeth Kempf (2011-2016) (as co-supervisor; with supervisors Alberto Manconi and Oliver Spalt): Essays in Corporate Finance and Financial Intermediation. Graduated Cum Laude. Winner of: (i) Best PhD Thesis award at Tilburg University 2016 (university-wide); (ii) Ruijgrok PhD Award (5-yearly Netherlands-wide award); (iii) KVS-penning of the Koninlijke Vereniging voor Staatshuishoudkunde of the Netherlands (Royal Society for Economics); and (iv) Cubist Systematic Strategies award for the best PhD paper at the WFA (with job market paper). Hired by Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, US.


26. Anna Faelten (2013-2016): Essays on Mergers and Acquisitions. Defence 6 December 2016. Employed by EY, UK.


27. Tamas Barko (2011-2018): Essays on Stakeholdder Relations and Firm Value. Defence 26 February 2018. Hired by the University of Mannheim, Germany.


28. Cara Vansteenkiste (2013-2018). Essays on Corporate Acquisitions. Defence: 18 June 2018. Hired by University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia.


29. Ekatarina Neretina (2014-2019) (funded by the Netherlands Science Foundation, NOW; with co-supervisor Alberto Manconi): Essays in Corporate Finance, Political Economy, and Competition. Defence: 3 June 2019. Hired by the University of Southern California (USC), US.


30. Andinet Worku Gebreselassie (2013-2019) (with Roger Bougie, co-supervisor): On communicating about taboo social issues in least developed countries: The case of Ethiopia. Defence: 4 June 2019. Employed by University of Addis Abeba, Ethiopia.


31. Marshall (Xiaoyin) Ma (2014-2019): Essays on Alternative Investments: Defence 24 June 2019. Hired by Erasmus University, Netherlands. Currently working in fintech: Ant Group, China.


32. Filip Bekjarovski (2015-2019) (joint PhD Toulouse University with Marie Briere and Sebastien Pouget, co-supervisors; funded by French Cifr grant). Active Investing. Defence 24 June 2019. Fund manager at NN Investment Partners, Netherlands.


33. Emerson Schmitz (2015-2019) (with Olivier De Jonghe, co-supervisor). Banking and International Trade. Defence 10 September 2019. Employed by the Central Bank of Brasil.


34. Camille Hebert (2014-2019) (joint PhD Paris-Dauphine; with Edith Ginglinger, co-supervisor): Essays on Corporate Ownership and Human Capital. Winner of Cubist Systematic Strategies award for the best PhD paper at the Western Finance Association conference. Winner of the Prix en Sciences Economiques et de Gestion 2020, Rectorat de l'Académie de Paris. Winner of the best PhD thesis award of Tilburg University. Honorable mention (top 3) for the KVS Award (best PhD thesis defended in the Netherlands over the past 5 years). Defence 11 October 2019. Graduated Cum Laude. Hired by the Rotman School, University of Toronto, Canada.


35. Yuexin Li (2016-2021): Funded by a CSC grant. Pricing Art: Returns, Trust, and Crises. Hired by the Renmin University, Beijing, China.


36. Frederik Verplancke (2017-2021) (joint PhD University of Ghent, with Klaas Mulier and Olivier Dejonghe, co-supervisors): Essays on Corporate Finance. Postdoc Ghent University, Belgium.


37. Emil Uduwalage (2016-2022): (with co-supervisor Kamil Nazliben). Social Board Diversity and Corporate Decision Making in a Country Torn by Civil War. Employed by Wayamba University of Sri Lanka.


38. Daniel Karpati (2017-2023): (co-supervisors Julio Crego and Jens Kvaerner). Essays in Finance and Health. Graduated Cum Laude. Defence: 19 September 2023. Hired by Erasmus University, the Netherlands.


39. Jeroen Verbouw (2020-2024): (joint PhD with University of Ghent; co-supervisors Sophie Manigart and Tom Vanacker), Essays on Entrepreneurial Finance. Defence: 9 September 2024. Hired by IE Business School (Instituto de Impresa) Madrid, Spain


40. Tal Straus (2021-…): (PPP student; co-supervisor Jasmin Gider), The Impact of Cyber Breaches on Financial and Economic Corporate Performance. Employed by the European Central Bank, Frankfurt, Germany


41. Luis Antonio Ettore (2021-…): (joint PhD with University of Sao Paulo), Minority Shareholder Empowerment. 


42. Hulai Zhang (2020-…): (joint PhD with ESCP, co-supervisors Jasmin Gider and Alberta Di Guili): Financial litigation. 


43. Jack (Xiaowei) Lu: (co-supervisor Igor Loncarski): Financial Litigation in China.




Member of PhD committees:

External:


Internal (Tilburg):


Supervision Master students: