Many MBA applicants feel that they are purchasing a brand when they choose a business school to attend, but the educational experience itself is what is crucial to your future, and no one will affect your education more than your professors. Each Wednesday, we profile a standout professor as identified by students. Today, we profile Andrew Metrick from the Yale School of Management.
Twice distinguished with Excellence in Teaching awards during his time at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Yale undergrad alumnus Andrew Metrick (’89) (“The Financial System”) first joined the Yale School of Management (SOM) faculty in 2008 as a professor of finance. In 2009, he was named the Theodore Nierenberg Professor of Corporate Governance and made faculty director of the Millstein Center for Corporate Governance. Then, in 2010, he became deputy dean for faculty development and the Michael H. Jordan Professor of Finance and Management.
Metrick’s interest in venture capital reportedly began when he volunteered to take over a course in the study area while at Wharton and led to the eventual publication of his textbook Venture Capital and the Finance of Innovation (with Ayako Yasuda; Wiley, 2010). His work now focuses on financial stability.
In his biography on the Yale SOM Web site, Metrick states, “Watching what happened to Bear [Stearns] in March 2008—seeing how fast a large and powerful financial institution can collapse—had a profound effect on my research interests. Since then, I have been spending much of my time trying to understand financial crises. I don’t expect to finish this project anytime soon.” Moreover, Metrick notes in his faculty biography that the financial crisis also triggered something of a career shift for him, which “led to a complete change in my teaching, with all my courses now relating in some way to the functions and regulation of the financial system, especially when that system goes awry.”
Metrick stepped away from the Yale SOM briefly in 2009–2010 to serve as an economist on President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors, then returned to the school in the fall of 2010. A recent SOM graduate described her experience with Metrick in a “Learning From the Experts” video on the school’s site, saying, “It was great to get to be exposed to him and the work that he’s been doing.”
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