David Wessels (Ph.D) is an adjunct professor of finance and a director of executive education in the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Wessels teaches courses on corporate valuation, venture capital and performance management to undergraduates and MBAs in Philadelphia and San Francisco, along with global executive audiences.

Wessels has been recognized by his students with Wharton’s MBA excellence in teaching award, and has been acknowledged nationally for his research on organizational structure and financial performance. His co-authored book, Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies, is accepted as the seminal text for students of corporate valuation and investment banking.

Wessels has served on the executive development and training faculties at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Coca-Cola, Ericsson, Estee Lauder, Home Depot, Lockheed Martin, McKinsey & Company, Microsoft, Philips, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Siemens and UPS.

Before joining the Wharton School, Wessels served on finance faculty of the Goizueta Business School at Emory University. Prior to Emory, he was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company and a technology analyst for Harbourvest Venture Partners in Boston.

Education

Ph.D. Finance, UCLA Anderson School of Management

B.S. Economics, University of Pennsylvania

B.S. Computer Science, University of Pennsylvania

Prof. Chris Erickson of the UCLA Anderson School of Management studies various aspects of industrial relations in the local, national and world economies.His research focuses on comparative industrial relations systems, industrial relations and labor market transformation in different regions of the world, wage determination, collective bargaining, innovations in union organizing, and skills development. He was Senior Associate Vice Provost and Director of the UCLA International Institute from 2013-2021 and has also been associated over the years with the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, the UCLA – National University of Singapore Executive MBA, the UCLA Anderson Center for Global Management, the UCLA Center for International Business Education and Research and the Labor and Employment Relations Association. He has been at UCLA Anderson since 1991, and was previously a faculty member at the Cornell Industrial and Labor Relations School. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT and a B.A. from Yale where he was in Trumbull College and is also a graduate of John W. North, University Heights and Highland schools in Riverside, California

Professor Walton joined Goizueta Business School in the Fall of 1996. After receiving his PhD in 1993 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Steve served on the faculties of North Carolina A&T State University and Baylor University. Steve’s efforts in the classroom have been highlighted by 11 teaching awards, including The Emory Williams Distinguished Teaching Award, a university-wide honor, and the Adler Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Before coming to Emory, Steve also worked for IBM.

Steve’s current interests include strategic execution, operational decision making and the impact of leadership on operations outcomes. Steve has published in Journal of Operations Management, European Journal of Operational Research, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, International Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management and the Proceedings of the Decision Sciences Institute. Professor Walton also serves as a reviewer for Decision Sciences, Journal of Operations Management, the Journal of Supply Chain Management and Organization Science.

Steve’s consulting clients include Sony, First Data, UPS, The Home Depot, Delta Air Lines, Usher’s New Look Foundation, SunTrust, Panasonic, McKesson Information Solutions, The Arthur M. Blank Family Office, Siemens Medical Systems, Synovus and others.

Education

PhD in Operations Management, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

MA in Industrial Management Clemson University