Ralph Walkling, PhD

Dr. Walkling is internationally known for his research involving corporate governance and corporate acquisitions and for his ability to communicate financial concepts with clarity and in an exciting, effective fashion. He is a regular consultant to industry and a leading contributor to the top refereed journals in his field including The Journal of Financial Economics, The Journal of Finance, The Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis and The Rand Journal of Economics.

Dr. Walkling has been listed in the top 1% of more than twelve thousand finance authors in terms of academic citations to their work. He has received numerous awards for best papers in corporate finance and excellence in graduate teaching. In 2008 the Eastern Finance Association awarded him their scholar of the year award.

Dr. Walkling currently serves as associate editor of The Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, The Journal of Empirical Finance, The Journal of Applied Finance, and The Journal of Corporate Finance. He is a past associate editor of Financial Management. He is a member of the Board of Trustees and immediate Past President of the Financial Management Association, an international organization of over 7,000 academics and practitioners. Prior to joining Drexel, Dr. Walkling was Dean’s Research Professor of Finance in the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University. He received his B.S. from Towson State University and his MBA and Doctorate from the University of Maryland.

As the founder and Executive Director of the Center for Corporate Governance at Drexel University, Dr. Walkling directs the Center’s advisory board comprised of leading area CEOs and executives. He has organized and moderated numerous conferences covering diverse issues such as rules of engagement for CEO and boards in the Sarbanes-Oxley era and corporate governance failures contributing to the subprime meltdown and subsequent lending crisis. In addition to his academic research Dr. Walkling writes a column for Directors and Boards magazine.