Research Overview

My research lies at the intersection of corporate governance, shareholder activism, and board structure.

I study how institutional design and language shape power inside firms, using large-scale archival data, econometrics, and textual analysis of proxy disclosures.

My work combines rigorous empirical methods with real-world relevance to investor decision-making and corporate policy.

Working Papers

    • Examines whether shareholders push back more aggressively when boards are harder to replace

    • Uses proposal-level voting data (2010–2021)

    • Shows shareholders vote strategically, concentrating effort on rights that reopen governance channels

  • (with Choonsik Lee)

    • SSRN Link

    • Studies activist-appointed board observers and firm outcomes

    • Evidence on performance, strategic change, and market reactions

    • Presented at FMA 2025

    • Featured on Columbia Law School Blog

    • Examine who wins the boardroom argument battle?

    • Voices of Shareholders vs. Management

    • Uses textual analysis of proxy disclosures

    • Shows how tone and persuasive language affect voting outcomes

Research Motivation

𝘐 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳.

𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘐 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘫𝘰𝘣 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳:

𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦:

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘥𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘱𝘶𝘴𝘩 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘰?

𝘚𝘰 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘹𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘥.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴:

→ 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 (𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥), 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘰 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵.

→ 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘳.

→ 𝘚𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺:

𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺.

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳.

𝘐’𝘮 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘫𝘰𝘣 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭-𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨.

𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭-𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵.