Karen Wruck

Karen Wruck is Dean’s Distinguished Professor and Professor of Finance at the Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University. Prior to her appointment at Ohio State, Wruck served on the faculty of the Harvard Business School. Her research and teaching are in the fields of financial and organizational economics, with special emphasis on corporate finance, restructuring, financial distress, governance, and management compensation. She has published numerous articles in leading academic journals and developed highly successful courses for delivery to MBAs and executives. In addition, her work and opinions have been highlighted in business periodicals. Professor Wruck has served as an associate editor of the Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Journal of Financial Research and European Financial Management and an ad hoc referee for many other academic journals. She has served as an academic director of the Financial Management Association and the Turnaround Management Association, a consultant to major corporations and has worked on a number of high-profile corporate litigation projects as a subject matter expert.

During her time at Ohio State, Professor Wruck has served in senior leadership positions at the Fisher College of Business, including Associate Dean and Senior Associate Dean with responsibility for all Fisher’s degree granting academic programs and major operating units within the College. In addition, as a senior leader of the College, she worked on significant issues including strategy, centers of excellence, AACSB reaccreditation, curriculum design, semester conversion, new minors and degree granting programs, budget, faculty appointments, compensation, workload and a variety of special projects and initiatives. In recognition of her leadership and service, Professor Wruck received Ohio State’s Mary Ann Williams Award, which recognizes a woman exhibiting extraordinary leadership, and Fisher’s Bostick-Georges Pacesetter Service Award, which recognizes exceptional leadership and service to the College of Business. In addition, Professor Wruck has on multiple occasions been selected as outstanding professor by Ohio State’s full-time and executive MBA programs.

Professor Wruck holds an A.B. from Davidson College, Phi Beta Kappa, in Economics, and both an M.S. in Applied Economics and a Ph.D. in Finance and Accounting from the University of Rochester.

Awards and Honors

• Mary Ann Williams Award, recognizes an Ohio State University woman who exhibits extraordinary leadership
• Outstanding Elective Faculty Award, full time MBA program, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University
• Bostick-Georges Pacesetter Service Award, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, for exceptional service to the College
• Multiple time winner of the Outstanding Core Faculty Award, full time MBA program, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University
• Academic Director, Member of Nominating Committee, Financial Management Association
• Two publications (Warner, Watts and Wruck (1988) and Wruck (1989)) recognized as Journal of Financial Economics “All-Star” papers based on top two papers per volume in terms of citations for papers published between 1974 and 1995
• Outstanding Faculty Award, Executive MBA program, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University
• Westerbeck Graduate Teaching Award, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, for exceptional contribution toward graduate student intellectual and cultural growth
• Turnaround Management Association, Academic Director
• Beta Gamma Sigma (Business Honor Society)
• State Farm Companies Foundation Fellowship for Doctoral Dissertation in Business
• Earhart Foundation Fellowship for Doctoral Dissertation in Business
• American Accounting Association Doctoral Consortium Fellow
• University of Rochester fellowship and full tuition waiver
• Phi Beta Kappa (Undergraduate Honor Society)
• Omicron Delta Epsilon (Economics Honor Society)
• Lunsford Richardson Honors Scholarship, Davidson College

• PhD, Finance, Accounting, Economics, University of Rochester, Simon Graduate School of Business Administration
• MS, Applied Economics, University of Rochester, Simon Graduate School of Business Administration
• AB, Economics, Davidson College

• Wruck, K. H., Wu, Y. (2022). Relative versus Absolute Performance Evaluation and CEO Decision-Making,  Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 57(7) 1-51.
• Wruck, K. H., Wu, Y. (2021). The relation between CEO equity incentives and the quality of accounting disclosures.  Journal of Corporate Finance, 67.
• Li, Zhi, Lingling Wang, and Karen H. Wruck, 2020, Accounting-based Compensation and Debt Contracts, Contemporary Accounting Research, 37(3), 1475-1511.
• Wruck, Karen H. and Yilin Wu, 2009, Relationships, Corporate Governance, and Performance: Evidence from Private Placements of Common Stock, Journal of Corporate Finance, 15(1), 30-47.
• Wruck, Karen H., 2008, Private Equity, Corporate Governance and the Reinvention of the Market for Corporate Control, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Vol. 20, No. 33, pp. 8-21, based on an original presentation, given at the American Enterprise Institute, Conference on The History, Impact and Future of Private Equity: Ownership, Governance and Firm Performance, November 27, 2007, Washington D.C.
• Wruck, Eric G. and Karen H. Wruck, 2002, Restructuring Top Management: Evidence from Corporate Spinoffs, Journal of Labor Economics, 20, S176-S218.
• DeAngelo, Harry, Linda DeAngelo and Karen H. Wruck, 2002, Asset Liquidity, Debt Covenants and Managerial Discretion in Financial Distress: The Collapse of L.A. Gear, Journal of Financial Economics, 64, 3-34.
• Wruck, Karen Hopper, 2000, Compensation, Incentives and Organizational Change: Ideas and Evidence from Theory and Practice, Breaking the Code of Change, Michael Beer and Nitin Nohria, eds., Harvard Business School Press, Boston.
• Kaplan, Steven N., Mark L. Mitchell, and Karen H. Wruck, 2000, A Clinical Exploration of Value Creation and Destruction in Acquisitions: Organization Design, Incentives and Internal Capital Markets, Productivity of Mergers and Acquisitions, Steven Kaplan, ed., National Bureau of Economic Research, Conference Volume.
• Dyck, I.J. Alexander and Karen H. Wruck, 1998, The Government as Venture Capitalist, Organizational Structure and Contract Design in Germany's Privatization Process, European Financial Management.
• Wruck, Karen Hopper and Michael C. Jensen, 1998, The Two Key Principles Behind Effective TQM Programs, European Financial Management, volume 4, 401-423.
• Dyck, I.J. Alexander and Karen H. Wruck, 1998, Organization Structure, Contract Design and Government Ownership: A Clinical Analysis of German Privatization, Journal of Corporate Finance: Contracting, Governance and Organization, volume 4, pp. 265-299.
• Weiss, Lawrence A. and Karen H. Wruck, 1998, Information Problems, Conflicts of Interest, and Asset Stripping: Chapter 11's Failure in the Case of Eastern Airlines, Journal of Financial Economics, volume 48, pp. 55-97.
• Wruck, Karen Hopper and Michael C. Jensen, 1997, Science, Specific Knowledge and Total Quality Management, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Summer, volume 10.
• Wruck, Karen Hopper, 1995, Financial Policy as a Catalyst for Organizational Change: Sealed Air Corporation's Leveraged Special Dividend, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, volume 7, pp. 20-37.
• Wruck, Karen Hopper and Michael C. Jensen, 1994, Science, Specific Knowledge and Total Quality Management, Journal of Accounting and Economics, volume 18, pp. 247-287. Reprinted in The Practice of Quality Management, 1996, edited by Uday Karmarkar and Phillip Lederer, (Kluwer Academic Publishers).
• Wruck, Karen Hopper, 1994, Financial Policy, Internal Control, and Performance: Sealed Air Corporation's Leveraged Special Dividend, Journal of Financial Economics, volume 36, pp. 157-192.
• Wruck, Karen Hopper, 1991, What Really Went Wrong at Revco?, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Summer 1991, pp. 79-92. Reprinted in The New Corporate Finance: Where Theory Meets Practice, 1993, edited by Donald Chew (McGraw Hill).
• Baker, George P., and Karen H. Wruck, 1991, Lessons from a Middle Market LBO: The Case of O.M. Scott, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Spring 1991, pp. 46-58. Reprinted in The New Corporate Finance: Where Theory Meets Practice, 1993, edited by Donald Chew (McGraw Hill).
• Wruck, Karen Hopper, 1990, Financial Distress, Reorganization, and Organizational Efficiency, Journal of Financial Economics, volume 27, pp. 419-444. Reprinted in Bankruptcy and Distressed Restructurings: Analytical Issues and Investment Opportunities, 1992, edited by Edward I. Altman (Business One Irwin Publishers).
• Baker, George P., and Karen H. Wruck, 1989, Organizational Changes and Value Creation in Leveraged Buyouts: The Case of O.M. Scott & Sons Company,Journal of Financial Economics, volume 25, pp.163-190. Reprinted in The Challenge of Organizational Change, 1992, edited by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Barry A. Stein and Todd D. Jick, (Free Press, New York), pp. 349-365,Performance Measurement, Evaluation, and Incentives, 1992, edited by William J. Bruns (Harvard Business School Press, Boston), and Management Buyouts, 1994, edited by Mike Wright (Dartmouth Publishing Company Limited, Hampshire, England).
• Wruck, Karen Hopper, 1989, Equity Ownership Concentration and Firm Value: Evidence From Private Equity Financings, Journal of Financial Economics, volume 23, pp. 3-28. (Journal of Financial Economics "All-Star" paper based on top two papers per volume in terms of citations for papers published between 1974 and 1995).
• Warner, Jerold B., Ross L. Watts, and Karen H. Wruck, 1988, Stock Prices and Top Management Changes, Journal of Financial Economics, volume 20, pp. 461-492. (Journal of Financial Economics "All-Star" paper based on top two papers per volume in terms of citations for papers published between 1974 and 1995).

Published Comments and Book Reviews

• Wruck, Karen H., 1997, Review of Corporate Bankruptcy: Economic and Legal Perspectives, edited by Jagdeep S. Bhandari and Lawrence A. Weiss, Cambridge University Press, Journal of Finance, volume 52, pp. 1752-1755.
• Wruck, Karen H., 1993, Stock-Based Incentive Compensation, Asymmetric Information and Investment Behavior: A Comment, Journal of Accounting and Economics, volume 16, pp. 373-380.

Classroom Materials

• Paine, Lynn S. and Karen H. Wruck, Sealed Air Corporation: Globalization and Corporate Culture Case Series.
  • Sealed Air Corporation: Globalization and Corporate Culture (A), Harvard Business School Case N9-398-096.
  • Sealed Air Corporation: Globalization and Corporate Culture (B), Harvard Business School Case N9-398-097.
• Wruck, Karen H. and Sherry P. Roper, American Cyanamid Case Series.
  • American Cyanamid (A): Board Response to a Hostile Takeover Offer, Harvard Business School Case 9-897-048 (Rev. 12/3/97).
  • American Cyanamid (B): Management's Response to the (A) Case, Harvard Business School Case 9-897-178 (Rev. 12/3/97).
  • American Cyanamid (C): Epilogue, Harvard Business School Case 9-897-064 (Rev. 12/3/97).
  • Teaching Note, American Cyanamid (A, B & C), Harvard Business School Case 5-897-161.
  • American Cyanamid (A & B) Combined, Harvard Business School Case 9-898-120 (12/3/97).
• Wruck, Karen H. and Sherry P. Roper, Cytec Industries' Spin-Off Case Series.
  • Cytec Industries' Spin-Off (A): Sink or Swim?, Harvard Business School Case 9-897-053 (12/8/97).
  • Cytec Industries' Spin-Off (B): Managing the Challenges of Success, Harvard Business School Case 9-897-054 (2/12/98).
  • Teaching Note, Cytec Industries' Spin-Off (A & B), Harvard Business School Case 5-897-195.
• Dyck, I. J. Alexander and Karen H. Wruck, Germany's Evolving Privatization Policies: The Plaschna Management KG, Harvard Business School Case 9-795-120 (3/15/95).
  • Teaching Note, Germany's Evolving Privatization Policies: The Plaschna Management KG , Harvard Business School Case 5-796-036.
• Baker, George P., Perry Fagan, Michael C. Jensen and Karen H. Wruck, Value Creation, Harvard Business School Case 1-396-089.
• Baldwin, Carliss Y., Michael C. Jensen and Karen H. Wruck, The Case of the Colored Post-It Notes, Harvard Business School Case 9-897-069 (12/6/96).
• Wruck, Karen H. and A. Scott Keating, Sterling Chemicals Inc. Quality and Process Improvement, Harvard Business School Case 9-493-026 (Rev. 12/1/97).
  • Teaching Note, Sterling Chemicals Inc. Quality and Process Improvement, Harvard Business School Case 5-897-160 (Rev. 12/1/97).
• Wruck, Karen H. and Steve-Anna Stephens, Safeway, Inc.'s Leveraged Buyout Inc. Case Series.
  • Safeway, Inc.'s Leveraged Buyout (A), Harvard Business School Case 9-294-139 (Rev. 12/1/97).
  • Safeway, Inc.'s Leveraged Buyout (B), Harvard Business School Case 9-294-140 (Rev. 12/1/97).
  • Safeway, Inc.'s Leverage Buyout (C): Media Response, Harvard Business School Case 9-294-141 (Rev. 12/1/97).
  • Teaching Note, Safeway, Inc.'s Leverage Buyout (A), (B) and (C), Harvard Business School Case 5-897-184 (Rev. 12/1/97).
• Wruck, Karen H., Revco D.S. Inc Case Series.
  • Revco D.S., Inc. (A), Harvard Business School Case 9-294-125 (Rev. 12/5/97).
  • Teaching Note, Revco D.S., Inc. (A), Harvard Business School Case 5-897-166 (Rev. 12/5/97).
  • Revco D.S., Inc. (B) and Zell/Chilmark Partners, with Perry Fagan, Harvard Business School Case 9-294-126 (Rev. 12/5/97).
  • Teaching Note, Revco D.S., Inc. (B) and Zell/Chilmark Partners, Harvard Business School Case 5-897-167 (rev. 12/5/97).
• Wruck, Karen H., Sealed Air Corporation Case Series.
  • Sealed Air Corporation's Leveraged Recapitalization (A), Harvard Business School Case 9-294-122 (Rev. 12/5/97).
  • Sealed Air Corporation's Leveraged Recapitalization (B), Harvard Business School Case 9-294-123 (Rev. 12/5/97).
  • Teaching Note, Sealed Air Corporation's Leveraged Recapitalization (A) & (B), Harvard Business School Case 5-295-143 (Rev. 12/5/97).
• Baker, George P. and Karen H. Wruck, The O.M. Scott & Sons Company, Harvard Business School Case 9-190-148 (Rev. 9/28/90).
  • Teaching Note, The O.M. Scott & Sons Company, Harvard Business School Case 5-191-216.
• Jensen, Michael C. and Karen H. Wruck, Fighton Inc. Case Series.
  • Fighton, Inc., (A), Harvard Business School Case 9-391-056 (Rev. 10/1/92).
  • Fighton, Inc., (B), Harvard Business School Case 9-391-265.
  • Teaching Note, Fighton Inc., (A) & (B), Harvard Business School Case 5-491-111.
• Wruck, Karen H., Siemens Electric Motor Works Case Series.
  • Siemens Electric Motor Works (A): Process Oriented Costing, with Robin Cooper, Harvard Business School Case 9-189-089 (Rev. 6/28/93).
  • Teaching Note, Siemens Electric Motor Works (A): Process Oriented Costing, with Robin Cooper, Harvard Business School Case 5-189-127 (Rev. 1/7/93).
  • Siemens Electric Motors (B): Pricing Interdivisional Sales, Harvard Business School Case 9-189-090 (Rev. 12/27/89).
  • Teaching Note, Siemens Electric Motor Works (B): Pricing Interdivisional Sales, Harvard Business School Case 5-190-128 (Rev. 3/1/89).
  • Siemens Electric Motor Works (A) and (B) Combined, Harvard Business School Case 9-190-052.

• Wruck, Karen H. and Yilin Wu, 2015, Stock Liquidity Risk and CEO Incentives, Unpublished Working Paper, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, 6/18/15.

Editorial Activities

• Associate Editor:
  • Journal of Corporate Finance
  • Journal of Financial Economics
  • Journal of Financial Research
  • European Financial Management
  • Formerly, two terms for the Journal of Accounting and Economics
• Advisory Editor:
  • Social Sciences Electronic Publishing (http://www.ssrn.com)
  • FEN-Educator Electronic Journal
  • Organizations and Markets Electronic Journal
• Ad Hoc Referee:
  • Financial Management
  • Journal of Accounting and Economics
  • Journal of Business
  • Journal of Corporate Finance
  • Journal of Economics and Management Strategy
  • Journal of Finance
  • Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis
  • Journal of Industrial Organization
  • Journal of Industrial Economics
  • Journal of Law
  • Economics and Organizations
  • Journal of Management Studies
  • Managerial and Decision Economics
  • Rand Journal
  • Review of Financial Studies