Alex Edmans

Alex Edmans is Professor of Finance at London Business School and President-elect of the Western Finance Association, specialising in responsible business, sustainable investing, and behavioural finance. A Fellow of the British Academy and the Academy of Social Sciences, he has won 30 teaching awards and was named Professor of the Year by Poets & Quants, whilst his TED talk on navigating a post-truth world has reached over 2 million viewers. Author of the award-winning Grow the Pie and May Contain Lies, with The Madness of Markets due in September 2026, Alex equips leaders and investors with evidence-based frameworks to challenge biases, balance purpose with profit, and make smarter decisions that drive sustainable organisational success.

After earning his doctorate from MIT Sloan as a Fulbright Scholar, Alex Edmans joined Wharton's faculty in 2007, won 14 teaching awards in six years, gained tenure in 2013, and moved to London Business School, where he now serves as Professor of Finance and has been elected President of the Western Finance Association for 2026-2027. His academic journey began at Oxford University and included formative years at Morgan Stanley in investment banking and fixed income trading, experiences that grounded his later research in the realities of financial markets. This blend of rigorous scholarship and practical insight has shaped a career dedicated to challenging conventional wisdom about how companies create value, how investors make decisions, and how leaders can balance purpose with profit in an increasingly complex world.

Alex's research in corporate finance, responsible business, and behavioural finance has been published in the field's most prestigious journals, including the American Economic Review, Journal of Finance, and Journal of Financial Economics. He has won the Moskowitz Prize for Socially Responsible Investing and the FIR-PRI Prize for Finance and Sustainability, and Yale University named him a Rising Star of Corporate Governance. His academic leadership extends across multiple roles: Managing Editor of the Review of Finance, Associate Editor of the Journal of Financial Economics, Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research, and Fellow of both the British Academy and the Academy of Social Sciences. Beyond academia, he serves as a non-executive director of the Investor Forum and sits on advisory boards for Morgan Stanley's Institute for Sustainable Investing and Royal London Asset Management. His books include the award-winning Grow the Pie, which featured in the Financial Times Best Business Books of 2020, May Contain Lies, and the forthcoming The Madness of Markets, due in September 2026. His TED talk on navigating a post-truth world has reached over 2 million viewers, and he has presented to audiences ranging from the World Economic Forum in Davos to the UK Parliament and the World Bank Board of Directors.

Alex equips leaders, investors, and organisations with evidence-based frameworks that cut through bias and misinformation to drive smarter decision-making. His work demonstrates how investing in employees, customers, and communities creates measurable financial returns, not just social good, challenging the false choice between doing well and doing good. Whether addressing boardrooms, investment committees, or public audiences, he combines academic rigour with practical application, helping organisations rethink strategy, reshape culture, and build sustainable success. With 30 teaching awards to his name and recognition as Professor of the Year by Poets & Quants, Alex transforms complex financial concepts into actionable insights that resonate long after the event ends, empowering audiences to make decisions that grow the pie for all stakeholders while delivering lasting competitive advantage.