Biography

Josef Zechner is Professor of Finance and Investments at WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business) and Speaker of the PhD Program at the Vienna Graduate School of Finance (VGSF). He is a Full Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, a Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), and Research Affiliate of the Financial Markets Group (FMG), London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Before joining WU, he held academic positions at the University of Vienna and at the University of British Columbia in Canada.

His research spans a broad range of topics in corporate finance, banking, asset management, and financial regulation and has been published in leading academic journals. His pioneering contributions lie at the intersection of corporate finance and asset pricing, including research on dynamic capital structure decisions, the effects of shareholders’ values on corporate policies, and shareholder activism.

From 2003 to 2012, he served as Editor of the Review of Finance. He is a former President of the Western Finance Association (WFA), the European Finance Association (EFA), and the German Finance Association (DGF). He currently serves as Chair of the EFA.

CURRICULUM VITAE