Wei Wang

Associate Dean (Professional Graduate Programs), Director (Master of Finance – Beijing), Professor & Distinguished Professor of Finance

Overview

An expert on global corporate restructuring, bankruptcy, and leveraged finance, and an award-winning instructor.

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Academic Area

  • Finance

Interest Topics

  • Finance & Investment
  • Governance
  • Mergers & Acquisitions

Faculty Details

Profile

Full Bio

Dr. Wei Wang is a Professor & Distinguished Professor of Finance at Smith School of Business at Queen's University, and the founding director of Smith's Master of Finance Beijing program (in collaboration with Renmin University of China). He is also the Associate Dean, Professional Graduate Programs at Smith.

His primary research expertise is in corporate restructuring, bankruptcy, leveraged finance and high-yield bonds, and distressed investing. His research papers have been published in top finance journals and featured in prominent media such as the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires.

His joint book with Professors Edward I. Altman, Edith Hotchkiss, "Corporate Financial Distress, Restructuring, and Bankruptcy", was published by Wiley Publishing House in March 2019. Since 2012, he has been invited to write finance case packages for the Harvard Business School and have published many cases. These cases are adopted by many business schools internationally.

He was an adjunct professor at the Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania, and taught corporate restructuring, distressed M&A, and distress investing in their undergraduate, MBA, EMBA, and Exec Ed programs. He was a visiting associate professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Business School from 2015 to 2016.

Academic Degrees

Ph.D. in Finance
Queen’s School of Business, Queen’s University (2006)

Ph.D. Program in Economics
Department of Economics, York University (2001)

MA in Economics with Distinction
University of Liverpool (1999)

BSc in Urban Planning and Civil Engineering, and Diploma in International Finance
Northwest University (1998)

Academic Experience

Smith School of Business, Queen’s University
Professor of Finance (2020 - Present)
RBC Fellow of Finance (2017 - 2021)
Director, Queen’s Master of Finance (Beijing) Program (2012 - Present)
Distinguished Faculty Fellow of Finance (2011–2017)
Associate Professor of Finance (2014–2020)
Assistant Professor of Finance (tenure-track (2013–2014; non-tenure-track, 2007–2013)

Publications

Journal Articles

Financial Costs of Judicial Inexperience: Evidence from Corporate Bankruptcies, 2021, with Ben Iverson, Joshua Madsen, and Qiping Xu, forthcoming, Journal of Financial and Quantitative

  • Featured in Oxford Business Law Blog, Harvard Law School Bankruptcy Roundtable, and The Wall Street Journal.
  • FMA Best Paper Award (Corporate Finance), Semi-finalist.

Bankrupt Innovative Firms, 2021, with Song Ma and Joy Tong, in press, Management Science.

  • Featured in Harvard Law School Bankruptcy Roundtable and Tuck Forum on Private Equity and Venture Capital
  • An executive summary of the paper is published by ABI (American Bankruptcy Institute) Journal, 2021 (November)

Dissecting Bankruptcy Frictions, 2021, with Winston Dou, Luke Taylor, and Wenyu Wang, Journal of Financial Vol. 142, 975-1000.

  • This was published in December of 2021Winner of 2020 Wharton School Jacobs Levy Outstanding Research Paper Prize
SEC Scrutiny Shopping, 2021, with Paul Calluzzo and Serena Wu, Journal of Corporate Finance, 67.

Senior Lender Control: Cross-Monitoring or Creditor Conflicts? 2018, with Bo Li and Lynnette Purda, Journal of Law, Finance and Accounting, Vol. 3, No.2, 373-411.

Provision of Management Incentives in Bankrupt Firms, with Vidhan K. Goyal, 2017, Journal of Law, Finance and Accounting, Vol.2., No.1, 87-123

  • Best Conference Paper Award at 2012 NTU International Conference on Finance; Featured in the Wall Street Journal; podcast with American Bankruptcy Institute.

Executive Lawyers: Gatekeepers or Strategic Officers? 2016, with Adair Morse and Serena Wu, Journal of Law and Economics, Vol. 59, 847-888.

  • Best Conference Paper Award at China International Conference in Finance 2015 Meeting; Featured on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance (September 30, 2014); Lawyer Watch by Richard Moorhead (February 16, 2017).

Debtor-in-Possession Financing, Loan-to-Loan, and Loan-to-Own, with Kai Li, 2016, Journal of Corporate Finance, Vol. 39, 121-138.

How Costly is Corporate Bankruptcy for the CEO? with B. Espen Eckbo and Karin Thorburn, 2016, Journal of Financial Economics, Vol. 121, 210-229.

  • Best Conference Paper Award at European Financial Management Association 2012 Meeting; featured on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance. 

Debt Maturity and Asymmetric Information: Evidence from Default Risk Changes, with Vidhan K. Goyal, 2013, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Vol. 48, No.3, 789-817.

Endogenous Bankruptcy and Expected Recovery, with Wulin Suo and Qi Zhang, 2013, Journal of Fixed Income, Vol. 23, No.2, 114-131.

Hedge Funds and Chapter 11, with Wei Jiang and Kai Li, 2012, Journal of Finance, Vol. 67, 513-560. 

  • Featured in Dow Jones Newswires, Allaboutalpha.com, Business Week Dealscape, Te Temps, The Globe and Mail, Vancouver Sun, and National Post; A short version appeared in Finance and Accounting Memos Vol.1, 30-37;
  • Reprinted in Institutional Investor Activism, edited by William W. Bratton and Joseph A. McCahery, 2015, Oxford Press

What’s in a “China” name? A Test of Investor Attention Hypothesis, with Kee-Hong Bae, 2012, Financial Management Summer, 429-455. 

  • Featured in The Wall Street Journal; The National Post, and The South China Morning Post.

Recovery and Returns of Distressed Bonds in Bankruptcy, 2011, Journal of Fixed Income, Vol. 21, No.1, 21-31.

Working Papers

Selling Innovation in Bankruptcy, 2020, with Song Ma and Joy Tong

  • Featured in Harvard Law School Bankruptcy Roundtable and Tuck Forum on Private Equity and Venture Capital

Financial Costs of Judicial Inexperience, 2020, with Ben Iverson, Joshua Madsen, and Qiping Xu

  • Featured in Oxford Business Law Blog, Harvard Law School Bankruptcy Roundtable, and the Wall Street Journal.
  • FMA Best Paper Award (Corporate Finance), Semi-finalist

SEC Scrutiny Shopping, 2020, with Paul Calluzzo and Serena Wu

  • Featured in the Financial Executives International Daily (July, 2015)

Rent Extraction by Super-Priority Lenders, 2020, with B. Espen Eckbo and Kai Li.

  • Featured in Harvard Law School Bankruptcy Roundtable

The Real Effects of Implicit Government Guarantee: Evidence from Chinese Defaults, 2020, with Shuang Jin and Zilong Zhang

Debt-Equity Simultaneous Holdings and Distress Resolution, 2020, with Yongqiang Chu, Ha Diep Nguyen, Jun Wang, and Wenyu Wang

Lawyer Judge Connections in Corporate Bankruptcies: Does Familiarity Matter? joint with Vidhan Goyal and Joshua Madsen

Harvard Business School Case Packages*

*All case packages include the case, teaching notes, and spreadsheets for students and instructors

William E. Fruhan and Wei Wang, Burton Sensors, Inc., #918-539, June 2018

William E. Fruhan and Wei Wang, Pinewood Mobile Homes, #915-547, March 2015

William E. Fruhan and Wei Wang, Landmark Facility Solutions, #915-527, September 2014 Carliss Y. Baldwin and Wei Wang, Paramount Equipment, #914-557, July 2014

William E. Fruhan and Wei Wang, Newfield Energy, #914-541, February 2014

William E. Fruhan and Wei Wang, Jackson Automotive Systems, #914-505, July 2013 William E. Fruhan and Wei Wang, New Earth Mining, Inc., #913-548, March 2013

W. Carl Kester and Wei Wang, Polar Sports, Inc., #913-513, August 2012

Books

Corporate Financial Distress, Restructuring, and Bankruptcy (fourth edition), Edward I. Altman, Edith Hotchkiss, and Wei Wang, Wiley, March, 2019

Study in Britain (Chinese), Fudan University Press, 2002 (more than 5,000 copies sold)

Other Teaching Material Development

PowerPoint slides for all chapters of Ross et al. Corporate Finance (6th Canadian ed.) with McGraw-Hill Ryerson (2010).

Reviewer for Corporate Finance by Berk, Dermarzo, and Stangeland (2nd and 4th Canadian ed.) (2010, 2015) 

Teaching

Queen’s University (Smith School of Business)

Master of Finance Beijing Program (2014-Present)

  • Investment Banking (Instructor Rating: 5/5 (2018))
  • Financial Statement Analysis and Corporate Finance II (Instructor Rating: 5/5 (2016), 4.9/5 (2015), 5/5 (2014))

Full-Time MBA Program (2007-2011, 2017)

  • Financial Strategy (Instructor Rating: 4.6/5 (2018), 4.9/5 (2017), 4.2/5(2011), 4.2/5(2010), 4.7/5 (2009), 4.3/5 (2008), 4.2/5 (2007))

PhD/MSc Program (2009-2012)

  • Corporate Finance: Empirical (No Formal Rating)
  • Math Prep Course (Instructor Rating: 4.5/5 (2012), 4.6/5 (2011), 4.5/5 (2010), 4.6/5 (2009))

Commerce Program (2007-2014)

  • Corporate Finance II (Instructor Rating: 4.6/5 (2014), 4.4/5 (2013), 4.4/5 (2012), 4.6/5 (2011), 4.6/5(2010), 4.5/5 (2009), 4.4/5(2008), 4.0/5 (2007))

University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) (2015-2018)

Undergraduate, MBA, EMBA, and ExecEd Programs

  • Corporate Restructuring (2018 Instructor Rating: 3.6/4)
  • Corporate Restructuring and Distress Investing (2017 Instructor Rating: UGD: 3.4/4; MBA 3.0/4)

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Business School (2015-2016)

  • Advanced Financial Management (UGD) (Instructor Rating: 94%) – Dean’s recognition for teaching excellence
  • Fixed Income Analysis (MSc) (Instructor Rating: 92%) – Dean’s recognition for teaching excellence
  • Advanced Corporate Finance (MBA/MSc) (Instructor Rating: 89%) – Dean’s recognition for teaching excellence
  • Advanced Topics: Debt Restructuring (MBA/MSc) (Instructor Rating: 91%) – Dean’s recognition for teaching excellence

York University 

  • Principles of Microeconomics and Corporate Finance II

Supervision

  • Christopher Amaral, Matt Boland, Bo Li, Chen Liu, Samir Saadi, Yan Yang, Shu Zhang (PhD thesis supervision and committee member)
  • Changjie Hu, Akshay Maria, Matt Murphy, Calvin Zhu, Jason Zhong (MSc thesis supervision)
  • Carmen Chen, Jeff Gallant, Andrew Iu, Tom Kewley, Thomas Lee, John Lin, Payton Liske, Robbie Mitchnick, Mitch Schinbein, Vania Shi, Rohan Wadhwa, Cathy Wang, Tony Xing, and Eric Yan (BComm independent study supervision)

Visiting Positions

Visiting/Adjunct Associate Professor of Finance
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
2015, 2017, 2018

Visiting Associate Professor of Finance, Finance Department
School of Business and Management, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology 
2015–2016

Visiting Scholar
Lindenauer Center for Corporate Governance, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College 
2011

Presentations

Conference Presentation, Discussion and Participation

2020

SFS Cavalcade -  one paper

AFA – two papers

2019

NBER Corporate Finance program – one paper

FMA annual meetings – one paper

NFA annual meetings – one paper

UBC Summer Finance Conference – one paper

China International Conference in Finance (Guangzhou) – two papers, one discussion, and chairing

FIRS Conference (Savanah) – two papers

AFA – two papers

2018

FMA (San Diego) – one paper and one discussion

China Financial Research Conference (CFRC) – one paper

SFS Cavalcade – two papers

South Carolina Fixed Income Financial Institutions conference – one paper

AFA – one paper

2017

Penn Law Bankruptcy Symposium (Philadelphia) – participation 

FMA (Boston) – one paper and one discussion

NFA (Halifax) – two papers

China International Conference in Finance (Hangzhou) – one paper, one discussion, and chairing

EFMA (Athens) – one paper and one discussion

Journal of Law, Finance, and Accounting International Conference (Hong Kong) – two papers

Economic of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Conference – one paper (participation, coauthor presenting)

Midwest Finance Association annual meetings (Chicago) – one paper

NYU/PENN Conference on Law and Economics - participation 

2016

NFA (Quebec) – one discussion and chairing

UBC Summer Finance Conference (Vancouver) – participation

FIRS Conference (Lisbon) – one paper

2015

HKUST Finance Symposium – one discussion

EFA (Vienna) – one discussion 

China International Conference in Finance (Shenzhen) – one paper 

FMA European Conference (Venice) – one paper and one discussion

Journal of Law, Finance, and Accounting Conference (Hong Kong) – one paper

FIRS Conference (Iceland) – one paper

Drexel Corporate Governance Conference (Philadelphia) – one paper (early idea)

NBER Law and Economics Meetings (Boston) – one paper (participation, coauthor presenting)

2014

Washington U Corporate Finance Conference (St. Louis) – one paper 

NFA (Ottawa) – two papers 

FMA European Conference (Maastricht) – one discussion 

LBS Summer Finance Symposium (London) – one paper 

FIRS Conference (Quebec City) – one discussion 

AFA (Philadelphia) – two papers 

2013

NFA Annual Meeting (Quebec City) – one paper and one discussion 

EFA Annual Meeting (Cambridge) – one paper and one discussion 

UBC Summer Finance Conference (Vancouver) – one paper 

China International Conference in Finance (Shanghai) – two papers and one discussion  Frontier in Finance Conference (Banff) – one paper  MFA (Chicago) – one paper and one discussion.

2012

Conference on Empirical Legal Studies (Stanford) – one paper 

NFA (Niagara Falls) – one paper 

EFA (Copenhagen) – one paper and one discussion 

UBC Summer Finance Conference (Vancouver) – one paper  Paris Spring Corporate Finance Conference – one paper 

Drexel Corporate Governance Conference – one paper

2011

NFA (Vancouver) – one discussion 

WFA (Santa Fe) – one paper 

2010

FMA (New York) – two papers, one discussion and chair 

UT Austin AIM Center Institutional Investors Conference – one paper 

NFA (Manitoba) – two papers and one discussion 

EFA (Frankfurt) – one paper and one discussion 

FMA Asia Conference (Singapore) – one paper and one discussion 

China International Finance Conference (Beijing) – two papers and two discussions 

FIRS Conference (Florence) – two papers and one discussion 

FMA Napa Conference in Financial Markets Research – one paper.

2008-2009

UBC Summer Finance Conference – one paper 

China International Finance Conference (Guangzhou) – one discussion 

EFMA (Milan) – one paper and one discussion 

Third International Conference on Credit and Operational Risks (HEC Montreal) – one paper 

NFA (Vancouver) – one paper and one discussion

FMA Annual Meeting (Chicago) – one paper, chair, and one discussion

External Seminars

Australian National University (2016)

CFA Society Beijing and CFA Society Shanghai (2019)

Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (2015)

City University of Hong Kong (2015)

Concordia University (2012)

Hong Kong University (2011, 2016)

Nanyang Technological University (2015)

Peking University Guanghua School of Management (2019)

Renmin University of China (2014)

Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (2018, 2019)

Simon Frasor University (2018)

Singapore Management University (2012)

Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management (2014, 2018)

Tsinghua University PBC School (2015)

University of Alberta (2015)

Western University (2019)

Wharton (2015, 2017)

York University (2012)

Awards

Teaching Awards

Professor of the Year Award – Master of Finance (2018, 2019)

Research Awards

New Researcher Achievement Award, Queen’s School of Business (2012)

Other Awards

Best Conference Paper at China International Conference in Finance, Shenzhen (2015)

Best Conference Paper at NTU International Conference on Finance, Taiwan (2012)

Best Conference Paper at European Financial Management Association Annual Meeting, Barcelona (2012)

Grants & Funds

Insight Grant – Project: Redeployment of Intellectual Properties in Bankruptcy (2017) 
SSHRC | $70,070

Insight Development Grant – Project: Creditor Control Rights, CEO Personal Bankruptcy Costs, and Chapter 11 Sales (2012) 
SSHRC | $67,600

Major Research Grant (2010) 
CA Queen’s Center of Corporate Governance

Research Grant – Project: Hedge Funds and the Changing Nature of Chapter 11 (2010)
SSHRC | $71,500

Fund for Scholarly Research and Creative Work, Queen’s University (2007-2011) 

Service

Ad hoc refereeing for Canadian Journal of Administrative Studies; Economic Journal; European Financial Management; Financial Research Letters; Financial Review; Journal of Banking and Finance; Journal of Corporate Finance; Journal of Credit Risk, Journal of Empirical Finance; Journal of Finance; Journal of Financial Economics; Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis; Journal of Financial Research; Journal of Financial Stability, Management Science; Pacific Basin Finance Journal; Review of Finance; Review of Financial Studies; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada; and Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong   

Organizing the first China Corporate Restructuring International Forum

Serving on the Large Corporations Committee of the Bankruptcy &COVID-19 Working Group

Serving on the program committee of China International Conference in Finance, Financial Management Association annual meetings, Midwest Finance Association annual meetings, Northern Finance Association annual meetings, and Summer Institute of Finance.

Services at Smith School of Business: Principal’s Advisory Committee for Dean Search (2019); Board Member of

QUAAF (Queen’s University Alternative Asset Fund) (2011-); Coordinator of Finance Seminar Series and Brown Bag Workshops (2009-2010; 2019-); Database Committee (2019); Undergraduate Curriculum and Progress Committee (2008-2010); Database Committee (2019-); Finance Group Representative for Career and Course Orientation Week (2009-2011); Faculty Advisor for Queen’s Team Competing at Citi-HKUST Case Competition (2015) and Rotman International Trading Competition (2011-2013); Judging Queen’s Entrepreneur Competition, DECA Queen’s Case Competition, Inter-Collegiate Business Case Competition, and Queen’s Business Competition; Investment Workshop for ACE Queen’s.