Karin S. Thorburn is Research Chair Professor of Finance at NHH Norwegian School of Economics and Adjunct Full Professor of Finance at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. She regularly publishes her research, which focuses on takeovers, credit, distress, and governance, in the top journals. 

Thorburn is a CEPR Research Associate and an ECGI Research Affiliate. She has served as Council member of the SFS, Director of the Executive Committee of the EFA, and Director of FMA International. She is a Director of the Board of several corporations, and regularly serves on government-committees in Norway related to financial regulation and the investment strategy of the Government Pension Fund Global.

Thorburn holds a PhD in financial economics from Stockholm School of Economics.

Stefan Ruenzi is a Professor of Finance at the University of Mannheim since 2009. Before, he studied Economics at the University of Konstanz, got his PhD in finance from the University of Cologne and was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Professor Ruenzi's research areas are broad and cover empirical capital markets research, gender and diversity, asset management, sustainable finance, financial advice, and machine learning applications in finance.

He regularly publishes in the top finance journals (Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies), presents at the leading conferences in his field and has given keynote speeches at international conferences. He received various prizes for his research and his results are regularly covered in the international public press (e.g., New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, NZZ, FAZ).  Professor Ruenzi teaches in the Bachelor, Master, and PhD program as well as in MBA programs in German and English. He was director of the graduate school of economics and social sciences and the PhD finance program at the University of Mannheim for several years.