Fabrizio Ferri, the Regina Pitaro Associate Professor of Business and Accounting at Columbia Business School, has won the 2015 Best Paper Award from the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. His paper, “Understanding Director Elections: Determinants and Consequences,” co-authored with Yonca Ertimur of the University of Colorado at Boulder and David Oesch of the University of Zurich, was presented at the Weinberg Center’s annual symposium on March 17. It was one of two winning papers.
“The research in the paper was truly outstanding. It was very timely and relevant,” explains Ann Mulé, associate director of the Weinberg Center. “We believe that the paper will truly have an impact on the corporate governance field.”
Professor Ferri’s study focused on the voting behavior of shareholders in director elections, finding that corporate boards do indeed react to shareholder votes, while shareholder voting, in turn, is influenced heavily by proxy advisors’ recommendations. Ultimately, this means faulty advice or other negative external forces that influence shareholders could have profound effects on corporate governance.
“The questions that [Ferri] raises in the paper are outstanding,” Mulé says. “His paper hit it on all corners. It’s just a real contribution to the field.” Professor Ferri intends to continue researching this area of corporate governance.
The John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance was founded in 2000 as part of the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics at the University of Delaware. Its mission is to provide a forum for business leaders, board members, shareholders, academics, students, and others to learn about and improve corporate governance. This year the Weinberg Center received 70 papers from around the world for consideration. The symposium committee selected four papers to be presented at the event.
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