Reena Aggarwal

Reena Aggarwal is an American academic and finance scholar. She is the Robert E. McDonough Professor of Finance and Director of the Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. Her research focuses on global financial markets and market regulation, market microstructure, private markets, initial public offerings (IPOs) and capital raising, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), corporate governance and proxy voting, institutional investors, and digital assets.

Education Aggarwal received a Ph.D. in finance from the University of Maryland and an M.M.S. from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), India.

Career Aggarwal’s work combines empirical research with institutional knowledge about financial market institutions and regulation. Her research and analysis have been cited in media outlets including Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, Financial Times, Forbes, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.

Aggarwal has also served as a Pembroke Visiting Professor in International Finance at University of Cambridge, Visiting Professor of Finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management, as a FINRA Academic Fellow, She was a Visiting Research Scholar at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a Fulbright Scholar to Brazil,

She has served in leadership roles in professional associations, including as President of the Financial Management Association International, and has served on boards of the American Finance Association, Western Finance Association, and European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI). She is a Senior Fellow of the Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research.

In addition to academic work, Aggarwal serves on the boards of financial services firms. Georgetown University President’s Award for Distinguished Scholar-Teachers (2024). Favorite Professors of the ‘Best & Brightest’ Executive MBAs, Poets and Quants (2016). Voted as the Outstanding Professor by EMBA students (2012). BlackRock–National Association of Corporate Directors Global Challenge for Innovation in Corporate Governance Award (2015). Distinguished Alumnus Award by BITS Pilani, 2018. Allan N. Nash Distinguished Doctoral Graduate Award by University of Maryland, 2003.

Georgetown Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy In 2010, Aggarwal founded Georgetown University's Center for Financial Markets and Policy

The center conducts academic research and convenes discussions on financial markets and regulation, with impartial programming that connects research, policy, and practice. At center events, Dr. Aggarwal has interviewed several financial leaders including the CEOs of JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, the chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and vice chair for supervision of the Federal Reserve Board.

Publications

Books Digital Assets: Pricing, Allocation and Regulation (co-edited with Paolo Tasca). Cambridge University Press, 2025. Migrant Labor Remittances in South Asia (with Samuel Maimbo, Richard Adams, and Nikos Passas). World Bank Publications, 2005.

Selected journal articles

Aggarwal, R., Erel, I., Ferreira, M. A., Matos, P. (2011). Does governance travel around the world? Evidence from institutional investors. Journal of Financial Economics, 100(1), 154–182. Aggarwal, R., Erel, I., Stulz, R., Williamson, R. (2009). Differences in governance practices between U.S. and foreign firms: Measurement, causes, and consequences. Review of Financial Studies, 22, 3131–3169.https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w13288/w13288.pdf Aggarwal, R., Dahiya, S. (2006). Demutualization and public offerings of financial exchanges. Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, 18(3), 96–103.

Aggarwal, R., Conroy, P. (2000). Price discovery in initial public offerings and role of the lead underwriter. The Journal of Finance, 55(6), 2903–2922