Mehdi Haghbaali
(+98) 917-113-4133
mhaghbaali1@gsu.edu
https://sites.google.com/view/mehdihaghbaali
TEACHING & OTHER ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES
Georgia State University, USA:
Corporation Finance (Undergraduate)
Financial Analysis & Introduction to Loan Structuring (Graduate)
Tehran Institute for Advanced Studies (TEIAS), Iran:
Corporate Governance
Empirical Asset Pricing
Applied Econometrics for Finance
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Georgia State University 2016 - 2019
● Corporation Finance (Average Teaching Effectiveness: 4.6/5)
● Financial Analysis and Introduction to Loan Structuring (Average Teaching Effectiveness: 4.6/5)
● Foundations of International Finance (Average Teaching Effectiveness: 4.3/5)
TECHNICAL STRENGTHS
Modeling and Analysis Econometrics, Statistics, Machine Learning
Statistical Packages SAS, STATA, R
Programming Languages Python, SQL, LATE
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS
GTA Teaching Excellence Award, 2016
Scholar at the center of Economic Analysis of Risk, 2013-2019
Travel Grant: Research seminars in Paris Dauphine University (France), 2015
WORK EXPERIENCE
Bana Gostar Karaneh
Management Consultant
● Analyzed and redesigned the overall capital structure of the company
● Designing a control flow for financial internal systems of the company (in progress)
● Contributed to preliminary valuation of the company in order to initiate an IPO
Redwood Wealth Management, Atlanta, GA
Research Analyst · Designed the econo
metric modeling for a project on the performance of mid-cap US Stocks.
● Performed data analysis and regressions for the project.
● Reviewed the related finance literature.
Iranian Banks Investment Company, Tehran, Iran
Investment Banking Analyst
● Analyzed merger and acquisition decisions, assessed investment projects, and prepared reports and presentations for the clients.
● Prepared one of the first reports on the valuation of Irans Telecommunication industry, with details about the prospect of the market competition and future regulatory trends to analyze a block purchase of Hamrah-e-avval, the largest provider of cellular network in Iran.
● Prepared several reports on the future of metals sector in Iran and the valuation of steel industry
WORKING RESEARCH PAPERS & WORK IN PROGRESS
Can Fund Governance Be Improved? Effectiveness of Intense Monitors on Boards
Using a unique dataset of corporate directors with high quality monitoring skills who serve on the boards of mutual funds, I find that the presence of such intense monitors on the board of a fund im?proves the fund governance significantly. Mutual funds with directors who have been involved in a corporate CEO turnover event, have served in an audit committee of a corporation for at least 3 years, or have served in a board of high-quality governance measured by GIM index, exhibit higher man?agerial turnover-performance sensitivity. Moreover, I find that the outflow from institutional investors becomes less sensitive to the performance of the fund in the presence of an intense monitor, suggesting a substitution effect between external and internal governance mechanisms. I find that funds with intense monitors on board exhibit lower negative return gaps, lower window dressing activity, and have higher stock holding horizons compared to the funds without such directors. Moreover, mutual funds return excess volatility declines subsequent to hiring an intense monitor. The relevance and effectiveness of mutual fund boards have been questioned in theory and in empirical studies. The results of this paper suggest that directors with proper skill set can have elevating influence on fund governance. Paper
Can Directors Transfer Information? Evidence from Mutual Funds Holding
In this paper, I test whether directors of mutual funds transfer industry-specific information into mutual funds. To this end, I construct a unique database of mutual fund board directors who also serve on the board of corporations, and I find that when a fund is connected to a specific sector through a common director, it is more likely to hold positions in the stocks of that specific sector, and is more likely to gain abnormal returns from trading in the stocks of connected sectors. Being connected to an industry is associated to increases in the holdings of mutual fund in that sector by 17%. Also, if a fund increases (decreases) its holdings in the connected sector, the sector will outperform (underperform) in the following quarter by an annualized abnormal return of 1.88% (-2.24%). I also find that mutual funds which are indirectly connected to a sector via a common adviser, are likely to overweight in that sector. I conclude that directors of mutual funds, similar to directors of corporations, can convey information into the investment funds.
Common Ownership in Mergers and Acquisitions
With Omesh Kini and Mo Shen
Investment Advisor Public Disclosure and Operational Risk in Hedge Funds
With Vikas Agarwal and Haibei Zhao
PEER-REVIEWED & FORTHCOMING JOURNAL ARTICLES
Abedifar, P., Fahmide Kalatehei, M., & Haghbaali, M. (Forthcoming). Investment Bank’s Valuation and IPO Underpricing. Journal of Financial Intermediation. (Presented at the 30th Annual Multinational Finance Society Conference, Cyprus)
WORKING PAPERS & MANUSCRIPTS UNDER REVIEW
Haghbaali, M. (2024). Mutual fund board governance and performance: The role of high-quality independent directors [Revise & resubmit]. Journal of Corporate Finance.
https://ssrn.com/abstract=4872159 https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4872159
Haghbaali, M. (2025a). Can fund governance be improved? Effectiveness of intense monitors on mutual fund boards [Revise & resubmit]. Journal of Financial Economics.
https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/items/4d903fec-f46d-412f-af2e-84405e71deba
Haghbaali, M. (2025b). Do connected directors diffuse industry information to mutual funds? [Under review]. Journal of Financial Intermediation.
https://ssrn.com/abstract=4218730 https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4218730
Agarwal, V., Haghbaali, M., & Zhao, H. (2024). Investment advisor public disclosure and operational risk in hedge funds [Unpublished working paper]. Georgia State University.
https://ssrn.com/abstract=4987621 https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4987621
Kini, O., Shen, M., & Haghbaali, M. (2023). Common ownership in mergers and acquisitions [Unpublished working paper]. Georgia State University.
https://ssrn.com/abstract=4765123 https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4765123
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS &SEMINAR TALKS
Abedifar, P., Fahmide Kalatehei, M., & Haghbaali, M. (2024). Investment Bank’s Valuation and IPO Underpricing. 30th Annual Multinational Finance Society (MFS) Conference, Paphos, Cyprus.
Haghbaali, M. (2019). The Effectiveness of Intense Monitors on Mutual Fund Boards. PhD Job Talk Series: Georgia State University, Tehran Institute for Advanced Studies, Sharif University of Technology.
Haghbaali, M. (2015). Do Connected Directors Diffuse Industry Information? Research Seminar, Université Paris Dauphine, France.
DOCTORAL DISSERTATION
Haghbaali, M. (2019). The Effectiveness of Intense Monitors on Mutual Fund Boards (PhD Dissertation). Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Advisor: Professor Omesh Kini
Dissertation Committee: Professors Vikas Agarwal, Haibei Zhao, Scott Murray, and Zhongjin Lu
RESEARCH PROJECTS & GRANTS
Mutual Fund Governance and Board Monitoring Effectiveness (Principal Investigator)
Funding: Tehran Institute for Advanced Studies Research Grant (2021–2025)
Focus: Impact of high-quality independent directors on fund performance, fees, and risk-taking.
Corporate Governance Spillovers: From Public Companies to Mutual Funds (Co-Investigator)
Funding: Georgia State University Dissertation Research Grant (2017–2019)
Focus: Cross-sector governance spillovers via shared directors.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
Conference Presentations and Discussions
· Financial Management Association conference, San Diego, 2018
· Georgia State University Seminar Series, 2018
· Financial Management Association conference, Boston, 2017
REFERENCES
Professor Vikas Agarwal Professor Omesh Kini
H. Talmage Dobbs, Jr. Chair Distinguished Professor of Finance
Distinguished Professor of Finance J.Mack Robinson College of Business
J.Mack Robinson College of Business Georgia State University
Georgia State University Email: okini@gsu.edu
Email:vagarwal@gsu.edu Phone: (404) 413 7343
Phone: (404) 413 7326
Professor Conrad Ciccotello Professor Zhen Shi
Professor of Finance Assistant Professor Of Finance
Director of Reiman School of Finance J. Mack Robinson College of Business
Daniells College of Business Georgia State University
University of Denver Email: zshi@gsu.edu
Email:Conrad.Ciccotello@du.edu Phone:(404) 413 7349
Phone:(303) 871 2282