As part of our sesquicentennial celebration, the university is highlighting 150 people you should know. Robert J. Waller, the first dean of the School of Business, is among the first to be recognized. In addition to being the first dean, he invited the Economics Department to join the college and wrote several successful books, including Bridges of Madison County. Even more, Waller played a foundational role in shaping the economic impact that the Wilson College of Business has on Iowa today, particularly through our outreach arm, Business and Community Services (BCS).

A little‑known chapter of our history is that in the late 1970s or early 1980s, Waller took a sabbatical to work directly with economic development organizations across Iowa and beyond. Long before AACSB expected business colleges to have a societal impact, he championed the belief that business colleges should actively strengthen the economies they serve. I shared this story at the October 2025 Iowa Center for Employee Ownership Conference. I encourage you to watch that reflection here.

As we honor his legacy, consider how partnering with BCS can enrich your teaching, scholarship and service while continuing the impactful work Dean Robert J. Waller envisioned.

Leslie K. Wilson
Dean

Ken Brown Next Wilson College Dean

Dr. Ken Brown has been selected to serve as the next Wilson College of Business dean beginning July 15, 2026. Leslie will continue as dean until that time. Leslie will work with Ken, the Leadership Team and the dean’s office staff to ensure a positive transition. Please congratulate and welcome Ken back to the Cedar Valley. 

#LivePurpleGiveGold 2026 is THURSDAY (April 16)

We need 150 donors to the Wilson Fund for Excellence (WFFE) to unlock at least $25,000 in challenge gifts, the largest in our history! The WFFE supports students, faculty, staff, alumni and partnerships, funding everything from student competitions and faculty/staff conference travel to alumni and key community and international engagement events.

Each year, we aim to raise $150K+ for the WFFE, and #LPGG helps us reach that goal by emphasizing participation, not gift size. If you plan to give to another fund, consider adding $5 or more toward the WFFE to help us reach 150 donors.

HERE is where you can give. You don’t have to wait until Thursday! Be counted today and help us start strong.

Consider this your reminder that to encourage giving, I’m willing to dance … on camera! Remember my 2024 moves??? Happy! Happy! What might I do this year?

Leslie

Q12 Employee Engagement Survey

Again, help us ensure Wilson College is a great place to work! Q12 will provide insight to do just that. The survey is open through April 24. It’s confidential and short, taking less than 10 minutes of your time. Results will be discussed in the college over the summer and in the fall. Your voice is important to our success! Please take the survey today!

Financial Goals

BCS is instrumental in helping us achieve our societal impact goal: supporting economic growth in the Cedar Valley and beyond! Consider how you can engage in that work.

Advancing Employee Ownership Research

Activities associated with the Iowa Center for Employee Ownership (IA-CEO), the newest center within the BCS umbrella, showcase numerous ways in which faculty can engage with BCS centers while pursuing their scholarship. The Ford Foundation has supported our efforts, donating $465,000 toward IA-CEO and research activities. From a research perspective, thus far:

• Atul Mitra assumed the role of research champion to elevate faculty interest.

• Three Fellows were financially supported by Rutgers or the Ford Foundation, including Andres Cuadros-Meñaca (Economics), who has already presented that research at Oxford.

• Wilson College hosted a research panel featuring renowned employee-ownership scholars and leaders: Dr. Doug Kruse (Rutgers), Dr. Gangaram Singh (CSU East Bay), Dr. Mike Palmieri (Kent State), and Ms. Melissa Hoover (Rutgers).

Initiatives have grown from this work. The next IA-CEO Conference will include a joint panel featuring leading Employee Ownership scholars and executives from Iowa-based ESOP firms. Sessions will promote dialogue between researchers and practitioners, offering executives evidence-based insights into their organizational challenges and for academic attendees, ideas about where research is needed. We expect strong interest from executives, managers, faculty, and students—please save the date, October 1.

To further encourage Employee Ownership scholarship, Atul led collaborative discussions with faculty and offered financial incentives, funded by the Ford Foundation, to faculty who submitted research proposals for the Rutgers Fellowship program for AY 2026–27. These efforts resulted in six proposals by seven Wilson College faculty members! We hope at least one is funded. The process is VERY competitive! Brief proposal descriptions follow.

Optimal Employer Stock Concentration in Retirement Plans

Dr. Robin Chen, Department of Economics, proposes developing and estimating a model to determine the optimal share of employer stock that workers should hold in their retirement portfolios, recognizing that the ideal concentration depends on firm volatility, worker characteristics, productivity gains from employee ownership, and the correlation between employment income and firm performance.

Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and Institutional Ownership

Dr. Mian Wei, Department of Finance, proposes to investigate how the adoption and size of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) influence institutional investors’ ownership choices and monitoring behaviors, filling a gap in existing research that has mainly focused on firm-level outcomes rather than investor reactions.

Understanding ESOPs: Trends and Financial Performance

Dr. Ronnie Chen, Department of Finance, examines how Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) have changed over the past 25 years. His project explores whether these shifts are linked to broader trends, such as economic downturns, changes in population characteristics, or the growing role of state‑level centers that promote employee ownership.

Ownership Structure, Attitudes, & AI Adoption: Firm- and Employee-Level Factors

Drs. J. Jobu Babin and Arti Mann, Department of Management, propose to investigate how employee ownership structures, particularly Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), shape the adoption, use, and return on investment (ROI) of artificial intelligence tools. In addition, the project aims to identify the key drivers of successful AI implementation and assess whether ESOP firms hold a systematic advantage in leveraging emerging technologies.

ESOPs and Employer-Employee Relationship: The Moderating Role of Employee Ownership Breadth

Dr. Zheng Cheng, Department of Management, examines how Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) influence employer–employee relationships, arguing that the effects depend on ownership breadth, or how widely ownership is distributed among employees.

US Multinational Enterprises and the Benefits of ESOPs

Dr. Nick Bailey, Department of Management, investigates whether employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) offer U.S. multinational companies transferable ownership benefits that boost their performance in foreign markets, filling a gap in international business research.

One Wilson College societal impact area is economic growth. The work highlighted above will provide ample evidence of our integration of research and practice on employee ownership in the next AACSB review. This work has already elevated our reputation nationally among circles focused on the topic. The next challenge is to ensure our students learn more about employee ownership in our curriculum.

Atul Mitra
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company Professor
Management Head

Submit suggestions for the next Wilson Wire monthly newsletter by emailing wilson.wire@uni.edu.