Risk is part of life. How one deals with it—whether in the workplace, on Wall Street or in personal life—can make the difference between anxiety and healthy thinking. Financial risk-takers—business people, entrepreneurs and investors alike—try to mimic successful predecessors in making money, often without realizing those folks made their fortunes in vastly different ways. The […]

As members of one of the nation’s top research universities, Owen faculty always have something interesting on their minds. Here’s a portion of what two faculty members are currently considering. MARKETING: JENNIFER ESCALAS Who: Jennifer Escalas, associate professor of marketing. Escalas came to Vanderbilt in 2004 after eight years as a professor at the University […]

Around noon on March 8, news reports of an American tourist killed in a terrorist attack outside of Tel Aviv began to circulate around the Vanderbilt campus and among Owen students who were on spring break. Nearly three hours later, a message from Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos confirmed the unthinkable: Taylor Force, a first-year MBA […]

Richard Willis Who: Richard Willis, the Anne Marie and Thomas B. Walker Jr. Professor of Accounting. The West Texas native joined the Owen faculty in 2006. Willis earned his MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in 1992 and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1998. He was an associate […]

Mario Avila received his MBA from Vanderbilt three years ago, but when he returned to the school in late July as director of the new Turner Family Center for Social Ventures, it seemed—at least for a moment—that no time had passed. Avila says stepping back in the school brought a flood of memories of the […]