Sam Lee

Sam Lee is an Associate Professor of Finance at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business. His research focuses on applied contract theory, corporate governance, financial markets, and risk management. He holds a Ph.D. from the Stockholm School of Economics and a B.A. from Goethe University in Frankfurt. Prior to SCU, he was an assistant professor at New York University. His work has been published in top journals like the Review of Financial Studies and Journal of Finance, and he serves as a Research Fellow at the Swedish House of Finance and Research Associate at the European Corporate Governance Institute.

• Education:
  • Ph.D. in Finance, Stockholm School of Economics (Sweden)
  • B.A. in Business Administration, Goethe University (Germany)
• Research Interests: Corporate finance governance, hedge fund activism, informal finance, bankruptcy law, and social networks analysis in financial contexts.
• Awards:
  • Hackworth Grant Recipient (2016)
  • Intesa Sanpaolo Finance Prize (2025)
• Key Contributions: Pioneering analysis on corporate control mechanisms, rival information dynamics in social networks, and the intersection of violence and economic regulations in prostitution markets.

His recent work explores evolving markets for corporate control, bankruptcy law reforms, and theoretical frameworks for social relationships in informal financing. Lee's publications often bridge theoretical models with real-world corporate governance challenges.