Experts
Kenneth M. Eades
Professor Emeritus of Business Administration
Eades’ broad expertise covers corporate finance issues including dividend policy, mergers and acquisitions, investments, defined benefit pensions and pricing of convertible securities. He is also the author of 50 Darden cases.
In 2013 Eades wrote “Best Practices in Estimating the Cost of Capital: Survey and Synthesis” with Todd Brotherson, Robert Harris, and Robert Higgins in the Journal of Applied Finance. He also contributed to the popular book The Portable MBA, Fifth Edition, with Timothy Laseter, Ian Skurnik, Peter Rodriguez, Lynn Isabella and Paul Simko.
B.S., University of Kentucky; Ph.D., Purdue University
Allison Elias
Assistant Professor of Business Administration
Elias teaches communication and negotiation, with particular expertise in storytelling, careers, and conflict. Her research investigates historical and contemporary issues of gender and diversity in occupations and organizations, with a focus on the influence of social movements on corporate practices. Elias’ book was named a Best Summer Book of 2023: Business by the Financial Times and was a finalist for the Hagley Prize, awarded by the Business History Conference, for the best book in business history.
Before coming to Darden, Elias taught at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; the Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University; the SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University; and the ILR School, Cornell University.
B.A., Ph.D., University of Virginia
Lillien Ellis
Assistant Professor of Business Administration
As an expert in creativity and innovation, entrepreneurship, and ethical decision-making, Lillien Ellis investigates where creative, cutting-edge ideas come from and how they are advanced successfully. Ellis is particularly interested in the psychology of intellectual property ownership, protection, and theft, and the consequences of “idea theft” in contemporary knowledge work.
Ellis has received several grants and awards for research conducted by her lab, the Ellis Idea Lab, which she founded in 2017. In 2020, she was awarded the General Mills Award for Exemplary Teaching at Cornell University. She plays an active role in the intellectual property community as an adviser and research consultant to inventor organizations and entrepreneurs. Her work has been published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, as well as The Oxford Handbook of Group Creativity and Innovation. It has also been featured in industry outlets such as Inc.
B.S., M.S. and Ph.D., Cornell University
Richard B. Evans
Donald McLean Wilkinson Professor of Business Administration
Professor Evans’ research and teaching focus is investment decision-making. He explores risk taking by mutual fund managers, the role of broker intermediation in mutual fund investing, the impact of commission bundling and other trading costs on portfolio performance and retail and institutional-investor behavior.
Evans has been cited by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Forbes magazine and published in the top finance journals: Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies and the Journal of Financial Economics. He has also taught Executive Education courses for investment professionals from Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Citizens Bank.
B.S., M.S., University of Utah; M.A., Ph.D., Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania