Sarah Peck

Associate Professor Emerita of Finance

Dr. Peck’s research interests are in the in the area of ownership structure, leveraged buyouts, board of directors, and other topics in corporate governance. She has published in the Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Corporate Finance, The Journal of Forensic Accounting, among other journals in finance and accounting.  Currently she is investigating the causes of director changes around management buyout announcements as well as exploring ways to measure fiduciary effectiveness.

Dr. Peck has almost twenty years of teaching experience.  She has developed and currently teaches “Investment Management, Ethics, and Society,” believed to be the first course of its kind and offered in Marquette’s Applied Investment Management (AIM) Program, the first undergraduate business program selected as a Program Partner by the CFA® Institute. She has written a textbook, Investment Ethics, Wiley 2010, and ethics cases for the CFA® Institute. 

She serves regularly as a speaker and panel participant in the area of ethics, divestment, and socially responsible investing. From 2007 to 2014, she was a trustee for the Milwaukee County Pension Board with over $1.8 billion in assets, and Chair of its Investment Committee.  Dr. Peck served as Department Chair from 2004 to 2014. She is member of the American Finance Association, The Financial Management Association, Financial Executives International, and The Milwaukee Investment Analysts Society.

Education

• Ph.D. University of Rochester, Finance and Accounting
• M.A. University of Rochester, Economics
• B.A. Yale University, Psychology

Professional Experience

Milwaukee County Pension Board, Member and Trustee, January 2007- present

Investment Management Institute, The Faith-Based Investment Stewardship Roundtable, “Doing Well by Doing Good, ”co-sponsored with Loyola University Shareholder Advocacy Committee, presenter and moderator, Fall 2008.

Investment Management Institute, The Summer Faith-Based Investment Leadership Summit, presenter and moderator, Summer 2008.

Investment Management Institute, The Spring 2007 Public Funds Roundtable, Dafur Divestment, Panel Moderator

Professional Interests

Corporate governance, investment ethics, board of directors, equity ownership structure, buyouts, fiduciary duty

Selected Publications

Investment Ethics (and Instructor’s Manual), John Wiley & Sons, Inc., November 2010: i-xxiii; 1-282.

“Upheaval in the Boardroom:  Outside Director Public Resignations, Motivations, and Consequences,“ co-authored with Micha?l Dewally, Marquette University,  Journal of Corporate Finance,16, 1, 2010: 38-52.

“The structure of debt and active equity investors: The case of the buyout specialist,” co-authored with James F. Cotter, New Mexico State University, Journal of Financial Economics, 59, 2001: 33-62.

“The Influence of Professional Investors on the Failure of MBO Attempts,” Journal of Financial Economics, 40, 1996: 239-266. [Abstract reprinted in The Journal of Economic Literature, XXXIV, 1996: 1670.]