THE ROBERT T. LECLAIR FINANCE DEPARTMENT SEMINAR SERIES

The Robert T. LeClair Finance Department Seminar Series extends the curriculum by inviting leading scholars to speak with VSB students on leading issues within the finance industry. Past topics have included responsible investing and investment decision-making; the costs and benefits of Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) for university endowments; and the pitfalls of central clearing in the derivatives markets. 

SPRING 2026 SEMINAR SERIES

Seminars are held on Fridays at 1:45 p.m. in Bartley 2010.

PRESENTER BIOGRAPHIES

Yiming Qian is Professor and the Toscano Family Chair in Finance at University of Connecticut. She earned her Ph.D. in Finance from the Stern School of Business at NYU. Before joining UConn, she taught at University of Iowa. She has also been a visiting scholar in Asia, Australia and Europe.

Yiming’s research focuses on varying topics in corporate finance, including initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, behavioral finance, and emerging markets. She is widely published in leading finance journals including the Journal of Financial Economics, the Review of Financial Studies, Management Science, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and Review of Finance, among others.

Yiming has served as a board member of Midwest Finance Association. She is on the editorial board of Journal of Empirical Finance and Quarterly Journal of Finance. She has also served on the program committees for many international finance conferences. 

Zhi Da is the Howard J. and Geraldine F. Korth Chair in the department of Finance at University of Notre Dame. He currently serves as an associate editor at top finance journals such as Journal of Finance, Management Science, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Critical Finance Review, and Journal of Banking and Finance. He is also a co-Editor for Finance Research Letters.  

His research focuses on empirical asset pricing and investment. He has received numerous competitive research grants from Moody’s KMV and Morgan Stanley. After gaining a BBA and an MSc from National University of Singapore, he worked at the interest rate and exotic derivative trading desk in DBS Bank. He subsequently earned a Ph.D. in Finance from Northwestern University.