CNU Professor Thomas Hall Selected to Present Research at
the Yale School of Management
News Release - May 4, 2009
Media Contacts:
Lori Jacobs
University Relations
lori.jacobs@cnu.edu
(757) 594-7961
(NEWPORT NEWS, VA) – Dr. Thomas W. Hall, associate professor of economics and finance at the Christopher Newport University's Luter College of Business and Leadership, has been selected to present a research paper about the company that founded Jamestown in 1607. The paper, "Shareholder Activism in the Virginia Company of London, 1606-1624," was chosen competitively for presentation at the Origins of Shareholder Advocacy conference which is scheduled to take place at Yale University, November 6-7, 2009. In association with the conference invitation, Dr. Hall was also awarded a research grant to peruse original documents relating to the Company located at Magdalene College, Cambridge University in England this summer.
Dr. Hall said, "When I came to CNU a few years ago, there was a lot of excitement about the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, even including a personal visit by the Queen of England to Hampton Roads. As a financial economist, I was fascinated to find out that a joint-stock company, the Virginia Company of London, was responsible for the founding of the colony. Over the past few years, I'd done some work on this topic as a side project to my more mainstream finance research. When I read the conference announcement last year, I thought it would be a perfect match with what the organizers were looking for."
Papers were selected by a committee including scholars from Yale University's School of Management; the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University; Universiteit Utrecht; APG Investments; and the University of Alberta's School of Business.
"In fact, the Virginia Company of London was an abject failure. Many colonists died due to corporate mismanagement. Shareholders of the company complained of an excessive salary for the CEO, there were calls for the government to bail the company out, and a lot of recriminations and personal animosity were associated with its eventual dissolution in 1624. Sound familiar?" commented Dr. Hall. One of the topics in the paper relates to how corporate governance - the interaction between owners and managers - has involved similar problems for many centuries, even up to the present day.
The organizers will publish the 8 or so papers presented at the conference as a Yale University Press book, provisionally titled Origins of Shareholder Advocacy. The theme will be how early joint-stock companies in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere set the foundations for the modern practices of shareholder activism and corporate governance.
"I've always been fascinated with history; it is one of the things that attracted me to CNU and the Hampton Roads region. When I first arrived here, CNU's president Paul Trible gave a speech during a lunch for new faculty about how Christopher Newport was the captain of the ships that brought and resupplied the Jamestown colonists. That was one of the things that got me interested in the project, and I was later fascinated to learn that Radcliffe, Wingfield, and other CNU buildings were named after early colonists. It is very unusual that personal interests coincide with professional opportunities; I feel honored that my proposal was selected by the committee," Dr. Hall said.
Dr. Hall holds a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California and a B.A. and M.A. from Johns Hopkins University. He teaches intermediate corporate finance, financial management, macroeconomics, and entrepreneurial finance and economic development. His research interests include corporate finance, financial markets and institutions, venture capital, and entrepreneurial finance and private equity.
Christopher Newport University is a four-year public university in Newport News, Virginia. CNU enrolls 5,000 students in rigorous academic programs through the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Joseph W. Luter III College of Business and Leadership and offers great teaching, small classes and an emphasis on leadership, civic engagement and honor. Visit us at www.cnu.edu.