Bol invested as inaugural holder of PwC Professorship

Jasmijn Bol’s research focuses on the subjective side of compensation contracting, exploring how managerial discretion influences performance assessment, contract design and promotion decisions. Now, as the inaugural holder of the PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Professorship in Accounting at the A. B. Freeman School of Business, Bol hopes to build on that research with support from the world’s largest professional services firm.

“It’s an honor to be associated with such a prestigious organization and I’m appreciative of the confidence they feel in me and my research,” says Bol, associate professor of accounting. “Hopefully, my research can benefit them and provide insights that will be helpful.”

Bol was formally invested as the initial holder of the PwC Professorship in a ceremony held at the business school last Thursday (Nov. 15). Dean Ira Solomon of the Freeman School introduced Bol and presented her with a plaque recognizing her new title, and Dana Mcilwain (BSM ’84), vice chairman and leader of PwC’s U.S. advisory services practice, spoke on behalf of the company, which was also represented by Kathy Nieland, managing partner of the firm’s New Orleans office. The ceremony concluded with remarks from Jerry Greenbaum (BBA ’62), chairman of CentraArchy, who spoke on behalf of the Business School Council, the Freeman School’s advisory board.

The professorship was funded with donations from Tulane alumni and friends at PricewaterhouseCoopers along with matching gifts from the PwC Foundation. Partner Casey Herman (BSM ’86), who serves as PwC’s firm relationship partner with Tulane and who led fundraising effort within the firm, says the gift strengthens what was already a close relationship between the Freeman School and PwC, which in the last three years has hired more Freeman graduates than any other company.

“I’m very proud of the fact that we’ve been able to grow Tulane and Freeman as a great source of talent for PwC over the last 10 years,” Herman says. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that the value of a Tulane education comes from the faculty, so we were happy to contribute to that effort, and after having met Jasmijn, I was even more committed. It’s just a great opportunity for the school to hire a teacher and scholar of her caliber.”

Bol earned her PhD in management in 2007 from Spain’s IESE Business School and joined the Freeman School in July 2012 after spending five years at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, widely regarded for one of the nation’s top accounting programs. In August, Bol received the American Institute of CPAs Best Early Career Researcher Award in recognition of her scholarly work in the first five years of her career.