Expert Advisory Committee
Professor Michael Pagano
Dr. Pagano is The Robert J. and Mary Ellen Darretta Endowed Chair in Finance at Villanova University where he has received awards for both teaching excellence and academic scholarship, including the University-wide Outstanding Faculty Research Award.  He currently serves as the Co-Editor of The Financial Review and his research focuses on financial markets, financial institutions, risk management, and sustainable finance / ESG investments.  Prof. Pagano is also involved with various professional organizations such as the Board of Directors at Citadel FCU and the Board of Trustees of the Alpha Architect ETF Trusts.  In addition to financial consulting work he has performed in recent years, he holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®) designation and has prior experience both in private banking activities at Citibank and in investment valuation analysis at a financial information firm, International Capital Markets Corp., as well as Reuters PLC.  Professor Pagano has also been interviewed by various media sources such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, Associated Press, CNBC, and Bloomberg TV.
Associate Professor Tina Yang
Tina Yang is an Associate Professor of Finance at the Kate Tiedemann School of Business and Finance of Muma College of Business of the University of South Florida. She holds a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Georgia. She has taught at Villanova University, Clemson University, and the University of Georgia. Her research interests span a wide range of corporate finance topics including corporate governance, environmental, social and governance (ESG), innovation, institutional investors, risk management, and mergers and acquisitions. She has published in academic journals including Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Managerial Science, American Business Law Journal, Journal of Corporate Finance, and Journal of Banking and Finance. She was the recipient of various awards including Financial Services Exchange Research Award, Oxford-Yale Research Grant, and China National Natural Science Foundation research grant. Tina was the invited expert of the Shanghai M&A Financial Research Institute. She is the co-editor of the Financial Review, the official journal of the Eastern Finance Association, the President of the 2023 Southern Finance Association, and an ECGI Research Member.
Professor Douglas Cumming
Douglas Cumming, J.D., Ph.D., CFA, is the DeSantis Distinguished Professor of Finance and Entrepreneurship at the College of Business, Florida Atlantic University. Douglas has published over 180 articles in leading refereed academic journals in finance, management, and law and economics, such as the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and Journal of International Business Studies, and has been cited over 15,000 times according to Google Scholar. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Management (2020-2022) and the Journal of Corporate Finance (2018-2020). He is the Founding Editor of Annals of Corporate Governance, and a former Co-Editor of Finance Research Letters and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. His most recent book is Crowdfunding: Fundamental Cases, Facts, and Insights (Elsevier Academic Press, 2019) complete with companion materials. He is the coauthor of Venture Capital and Private Equity Contracting (Elsevier Academic Press, 2nd Edition, 2013), and Hedge Fund Structure, Regulation and Performance around the World (Oxford University Press, 2013). He is the Editor of the Oxford Handbook of Entrepreneurial Finance (2013), the Oxford Handbook of Private Equity (2013), the Oxford Handbook of Venture Capital (2013), the Oxford Handbook of Sovereign Wealth Funds (2018), the Oxford Handbook of IPOs (2019), the Research Handbook of Finance and Sustainability (2018), and the Research Handbook of Investing in the Triple Bottom Line (2018). Douglas’ work has been reviewed in numerous media outlets, including The Economist, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, the Wall Street Journal, the Globe and Mail, Canadian Business, the National Post, and The New Yorker.