Associate Professor Sofia Johan is a Finance expert at Florida Atlantic University, USA, and holds affiliations with InnoLab at the University of Vaasa and the Tilburg Law and Economics Center (TILEC). She earned her PhD from Tilburg University in the Netherlands and obtained law degrees from both the University of Warwick and the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom. Her research centers on alternative finance—including crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending, and cryptocurrencies—as well as alternative investments, such as hedge funds, venture capital, private equity, real estate investment trusts, and IPOs. An active contributor to the academic community, Prof. Johan is the Co-Editor of Venture Capital: An International Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance and an Associate Editor for the British Journal of Management, British Accounting Review, and International Journal of Finance and Economics. Additionally, she has served as the Academy of Management Entrepreneurship Division’s Representative at Large since 2021 and currently chairs the Global Scholars Development Committee. Prof. Johan will join the event in person, presenting her talk in a hybrid session where both on-site and online audiences will have the opportunity to ask questions.
Professor Antoinette Schoar is the Stewart C. Myers-Horn Family Professor of Finance at MIT Sloan School of Management. Holding a PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago and an undergraduate degree from Germany, her research spans entrepreneurial finance, fintech, consumer finance, and financial intermediation. Recognized with awards such as the Kauffman Prize Medal for Distinguished Research in Entrepreneurship and the Brattle Prize, she also co-chairs the NBER Corporate Finance group and serves as Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Finance. Professor Schoar will participate in the event virtually during a hybrid session, engaging both in-person and online audiences.









