We model a blockholder as a fund manager caring about others' assessment of his stock-picking ability. Such a reputation-conscious fund manager acts like a "long-term" investor who buys and holds, in order to positively influence how his ability is perceived. The consequent reduction in trading...

This paper explores the career consequences of the decision to ally oneself with an activist investor/hedge fund in a proxy contest. Using 102 observations where an existing director reveals themselves to be a ‘dissident director' (i.e. agrees to help an activist in a proxy contest against an...

This paper shows that proxy contests have a significant adverse effect on careers of incumbent directors. Following a proxy contest, directors experience a significant decline in number of directorships not only in the targeted company, but also in other non-targeted companies. The results are...

We study the effects of multi-layered governance on firm risk by focusing on the interaction of two types of career concerns. Two Delaware court decisions, the validation of poison pill defenses (the Unitrin decision) implemented by staggered boards (the Wallace decision), reduced...

Using an international sample of firms, we investigate the career prospects of directors of firms experiencing negative ESG issues. By tracking the same director at the same firm over time, we document a significant drop in seats held at other public firms’ boards following intense negative...

This paper examines the impact of government bailouts on bank CEOs' careers. Exploiting the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) of 2008, we find that CEOs of banks that received TARP funds temporarily remained in their positions in the years 2008-2010. However, after this period, they were more...

We provide evidence on how personal shocks that plausibly reduce a CEO's career horizon, triggered by either the CEO's diagnosis of a serious illness or an illness or death of a close relative, affect key corporate policies. We validate our identification strategy by showing that these events...