The Wharton-AltFinance Institute Team
Wharton is making the resources and expertise of America’s oldest collegiate business school accessible to promising and talented HBCUs students by introducing them to the emerging and influential alternative finance industry.
Meet the Team
DR. BURCU ESMER
Burcu Esmer is the Academic Director of the Wharton-AltFinance Institute and Senior Lecturer of Finance at the Wharton School. Dr. Esmer earned her BSc in Economics and Minor in Mathematics from the Middle East Technical University (Turkiye) with Highest Honor (Summa Cum Laude), her MA in Economics, and PhD in Finance from the University of Iowa. Dr. Esmer’s primary areas of research are empirical corporate finance, banking, and private equity. She investigates agency conflicts and their impact on corporate policies. Her articles have appeared in leading academic journals such as the Accounting Review, Journal of Banking and Finance, and Applied Mathematical Modelling. Dr. Esmer has presented her work to different audiences at various academic and practitioner conferences and workshops, and she frequently serves as a reviewer for academic journals and conferences. Burcu Esmer is a member of the American Finance Association and European Finance Association.
Dr. Esmer teaches private equity and corporate finance in Wharton Executive Education and degree programs. She is the recipient of the Wharton Teaching Excellence Award for the academic year 2018–2019.
Dr. Esmer works closely with various non-profit organizations that aim to increase diversity in asset management industries. She is the Academic Director of the Wharton-AltFinance Institute and Girls Who Invest (GWI) Summer Intensive Program. Dr. Esmer also serves on the Advisory Board of GWI.
ACADEMIC DIRECTOR OF THE WHARTON-ALTFINANCE INSTITUTE
ANDRÉ DOUGLAS
André Douglas is the Program Manager of the Wharton-AltFinance Institute and manages the overall partnership between Wharton and AltFinance. In this role, he facilitates relationships between faculty, students, and staff amongst HBCUs and Wharton, leads the creation of course and content development, and supports the development of new initiatives, such as increasing access to research resources for faculty.
Prior to his work at Wharton, André has worked with various organizations, leading projects focused on increasing racial and gender equity. André received his BA in English from Franklin & Marshall College and his M.S. Ed. in Higher Education from the Graduate School of Education at Penn.
PROGRAM MANAGER OF THE WHARTON-ALTFINANCE INSTITUTE
LENA ELGUINDI
Lena Elguindi is the Director of Partnership Programs at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She is responsible for Wharton Academy and all Partnership Programs, including Girls Who Invest and the Wharton-AltFinance Institute. Lena has worked within various departments of Wharton since 2014, including Wharton Executive Education and Wharton Interactive.
DIRECTOR OF PARTNERSHIP PROGRAMS
ELI J. LESSER
Eli J. Lesser is the Senior Executive Director for Innovation & Global Initiatives at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He leads a suite of programming for students from high school, undergraduate, and early career. Following years in the classroom, Eli’s first appointment at Penn was in 2003, and he has since been an administrator in four Penn schools. His work focuses on developing new models for student mobility and helping create access points to higher education for individuals of all ages.
SENIOR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INNOVATION & GLOBAL INITIATIVES
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