Asper School of Business announces prestigious professorship appointments, funded by CN, BMO

The Asper School of Business has appointed its latest distinguished professorships to two faculty members.

Dr. Paul D. Larson now holds the CN Professorship in Supply Chain Management, and Dr. Gady Jacoby now holds the Bank of Montreal (BMO) Professorship in Finance.

“Congratulations to Paul and Gady on their well-deserved recognition. These professorships represent research excellence at the Asper School of Business—they honour the hard work, dedication and expertise of our highly qualified faculty, and they demonstrate CN’s and BMO’s commitment to supporting the work we do as educators and researchers. Thank you to the Canadian National Railway Company and the Bank of Montreal for investing in business education, student success and faculty leadership,” says Asper School of Business dean, Dr. Bruno Silvestre.

CN Professorship in Supply Chain Management: Dr. Paul D. Larson

Dr. Paul D. Larson, CN Professor of Supply Chain Management

Dr. Larson is a professor in supply chain management (SCM) at the Asper School of Business.

This professorship is possible thanks to a generous gift made to the Asper School of Business by the Canadian National Railway Company (CN) in 2006. It is granted to an established academic who is a leading expert in transportation, logistics and supply chain management.

Having served as head of the SCM department at Asper and the director of the UM Transport Institute (2005-2011), Dr. Larson has led impactful research in his field. During his time as director, he was the principal investigator on a five-year, million-dollar research grant from the Province of Manitoba.

His work has been published and cited widely in prestigious SCM journals, and he has led projects focused on supplier diversity including The State of WBE Certification in Canada and The State of Supplier Diversity Programs in Canada: The Buyers’ Perspective.

Most recently, he secured government funding for a project which aims to understand the barriers preventing women-owned businesses from accessing supply chains and to create tools to address these barriers.

During his three-year term as CN Professor of Supply Chain Management, Dr. Larson will encourage and stimulate research and programming within the department, the Asper School of Business and the University of Manitoba, leading an impactful research agenda in SCM and supporting graduate students.

BMO Professorship in Finance: Dr. Gady Jacoby

Dr. Gady Jacoby, BMO Professor of Finance

Dr. Jacoby is a professor of finance and former dean (2018-2021) of the Asper School of Business. He returned to UM in July 2023 after serving as dean of the School of Economics at the College of Management Academic Studies in Israel (2021-2023).

This professorship is possible thanks to a generous gift from the Bank of Montreal in 2006.

As the BMO Professor of Finance, Dr. Jacoby will act as a research leader within the School, the University and the broader community. With a storied leadership history at Asper—serving as associate dean (research and graduate programs), interim dean and finally dean of Asper—Dr. Jacoby has demonstrated his ability to proudly represent the school in academic and business communities.

During his tenure as dean, Dr. Jacoby spearheaded many initiatives at Asper, including the establishment of the Indigenous executive-in-residence position and the creation of the Master of Finance program.

Dr. Jacoby’s research focuses on asset pricing, behavioural finance, sustainable finance and international finance. His work has been published widely in quality journals and has been funded five times by the prestigious and highly selective Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada.

During his five-year term, he will continue to advance initiatives to support an outstanding student experience, engaging his demonstrable research achievements to develop an impactful research agenda in finance.

Asper Staff