Dr. David L. Ikenberry is a visionary and seasoned academic leader. He is currently a Professor of Finance at the University of Colorado Boulder Leeds School of Business, where he teaches masters students on investment analysis and portfolio management.
In 2011, David Ikenberry was appointed Dean of the Leeds School of Business at CU. Over the course of his five-year tenure, Dean Ikenberry collaboratively developed and executed a strategic vision that produced positive progress within nearly every element of the School. Under Ikenberry’s leadership, the School launched an extensive business minor program, formed four new one-year masters degree programs, redeveloped its undergraduate curriculum and opened the School’s Evening MBA program. The School also successfully transformed its alumni affairs, corporate relations, development, admissions, career services and mentoring programs.
Dean David Ikenberry
As Dean Ikenberry led the Leeds School through this unprecedented period of positive transformation, the quality of its programs and diversity of its student body increased dramatically. In just five years, the Leeds School achieved significant and quantifiable progress, including:
- Improved national research ranking from 64th to 42nd
- Increased average SAT scores of incoming students by four points
- Doubled the number of enrolled students with diverse multicultural backgrounds — from 16% to 29%
- Expanded Leeds fundraising by a factor of five — from approximately $3 to $15 million annually
David Ikenberry: Research and Scholarly Works
As a researcher, Ikenberry is an empiricist and has examined an array of topics within corporate and investment finance. A large part of his work relates to behavioral finance and to what extent the news is incorporated into market prices. Since the beginning of his career, Ikenberry has been at the forefront among researchers analyzing long-horizon stock returns, specifically returns subsequent to major corporate news events. His most recognized work has analyzed open market stock repurchase programs, an area where he is regarded as an expert.
David Ikenberry is a believer in the idea that the research in our colleges and universities needs to be disseminated more broadly and made more accessible to society. To that end, he has been cited by industry publications like MarketWatch and TheStreet and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Businessweek and The Economist, among others. He has appeared on various radio and television programs like CNBC and often speaks to academic, government, corporate officers and the broader investment communities.
While he serves as a strategic advisor for corporations and investment firms on financial matters, Ikenberry has also been on the Boards of First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) and of Carle Foundation Hospital. He also co-founded the National Forum on Corporate Finance in 1998, a group devoted to bringing leading academics together with Chief Financial Officers, Treasurers and other corporate executives.
Dr. David Ikenberry: Academics. Vision. Leadership.
David is recognized as a renowned educator. At the University of Illinois, he was awarded Teacher of the Year for the Executive MBA Program in spring 2009. At Rice University, he received the business school’s top award for teaching in 1996 and 1999. In 1997 and in 2002, Businessweek magazine named him among the best instructors in the U.S.
Ikenberry holds a B.S. degree from the Pennsylvania State University, an M.M. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. He began his career as an Assistant Professor of Finance at the Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University. In 2002, he served as Chair of the Finance Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2006, he was appointed Associate Dean of Executive Programs.
David and his wife Nancy live in Boulder, Colorado, and have two grown children.