2025 Best 40-Under-40 MBA Professors: Suhas A. Sridharan, Goizueta Business School, Emory University

Suhas A. Sridharan
Goizueta Business School, Emory University

“Professor Suhas did what no professor had done yet for me: make accounting fun. While it sounds funny to read, I mean it earnestly. From keeping case examples relevant to current news, bringing in treats for the class that cemented our learning, and offering over 40 hours of face-to-face time before midterms and finals, Professor Suhas clearly cares deeply about her students. While I struggled with the content of the course, it was for no shortcoming of her caring, and speaks volumes that she saw past my struggling as someone who strove to do well.” – Maddie McMurray

Suhas A. Sridharan, 38, is an Associate Professor of Accounting at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School and an affiliate fellow at the Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She earned her Ph.D. in Business Administration from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and holds a B.A. in Economics, Mathematics, and Computer Science from Emory University. Prior to joining Emory in 2015, she served on the faculty at UCLA Anderson School of Management.​ 

Professor Sridharan’s research focuses on the role of information in capital markets, particularly how innovations in financial markets affect the assessment of firm risk and the resolution of investor uncertainty in the price discovery process. Her recent work investigates the role of information in assessing and mitigating firm risks arising from an increasingly polarized political system.

Her research has been published in leading academic journals such as The Accounting Review, Management Science, and Review of Accounting Studies. She also serves on the editorial board of The Accounting Review. Her work has also garnered attention from major media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and Bloomberg News.​  

BACKGROUND

At current institution since what year?: 2015

Education: PhD, Stanford Graduate School of Business, BA Emory University

List of MBA courses you currently teach: Financial Reporting and Analysis, Corporate Political Strategy

TELL US ABOUT LIFE AS A BUSINESS SCHOOL PROFESSOR

I knew I wanted to be a business school professor when… I grew up in an academic family, which made me more comfortable with the idea, but I wasn’t completely convinced until I took undergraduate financial accounting with Professor Molly Mercer. She was so dynamic and engaging in class and I wanted to be just like her. 

What are you currently researching and what is the most significant discovery you’ve made from it? Like a lot of my work, it’s very interdisciplinary, pulling from accounting and finance and political science all the same time. Essentially, it’s an investigation of the recent introduction of “voting choice” programs by the Big Three asset managers (Blackrock, State Street, and Vanguard) to understand how much/little those programs and the policy choices they offer reflect the actual views of the general or investing publics.  

For background, it’s helpful to know a little bit about shareholder governance. If you directly own a common share of Apple, you are entitled to vote on a variety of questions including who should serve on the board of directors and whether to adopt to implement a net zero emissions policy. However, if you own the same share through a mutual fund or ETF, you automatically delegate your votes to the fund manager. 

That’s been the status quo for quite some time, but it’s come into the limelight as ETF ownership becomes a larger part of equity markets. Some policymakers are worried that fund managers might not appropriately represent their clients. Recognizing this, asset managers designed voting choice programs to give shareholders more control over proxy voting, but it’s a relatively new business practice with lots of unknowns. Our study shows that while voting choice programs give the appearance of increased investor agency, they often fall short of adequately representing the diverse preferences of the investing public. We also highlight some straightforward ways in which the programs could be modified to increase alignment. 

If I weren’t a business school professor… I would be a baker. I enjoy baking for friends and family – for example, this weekend I baked 4 dozen cupcakes and a 6-layer rainbow cake for my 6 year old’s birthday party. 

What do you think makes you stand out as a professor?  I try to meet each of my students where they are. I know accounting is not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s essential for business leaders to be proficient in the language of accounting. For the students who don’t quite share my passion for accounting, I try to anchor every day’s discussion to something happening in the real world. I think that helps them relate to the material and stay engaged. I’m also not afraid to make fun of the accounting system – or myself! 

One word that describes my first time teaching: Nervous. I was 26 years old and, in retrospect, still had a lot to learn about teaching. Fortunately, I had very understanding and patient students. 

Here’s what I wish someone would’ve told me about being a business school professor: It’s a lot more like being an entrepreneur than you might expect – lots of long hours and very blurred work/life boundaries. But there’s also nothing as exhilarating as solving a puzzling research problem or as rewarding as helping a student understand a difficult concept. For me, it’s the best job in the world and I feel so lucky to have it. 

Professor I most admire and why:  My dad, who was on the faculty of Clemson University for 36 years. He was my first academic role model and was extremely dedicated to both his students and his scholarship.

TEACHING MBA STUDENTS

What do you enjoy most about teaching business students? How passionate they are about improving businesses and the world. 

What is most challenging? Teaching them how to say my last name —sri (as in sriracha) + the + run. We practice it on day one …. but in truth I mostly go by Prof. Suhas. 

In one word, describe your favorite type of student: Hardworking

In one word, describe your least favorite type of student: Disengaged

When it comes to grading, I think students would describe me as… tough but fair.

LIFE OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM

What are your hobbies? I love traveling, photography, biking, and listening to music. In more humbling pursuits, I am also learning to ski alongside my young children. They are 4 and 6 years old and already MUCH better than me. 

How will you spend your summer? The secret of academia is that summer is when all the research happens. I am looking forward to working on several research projects and spending more time with my kids in between their camps. 

Favorite place(s) to vacation: This is a hard question, because I love traveling but I try to prioritize visiting new places each time. Perhaps the most beautiful hotel I’ve ever visited was the Lake Palace hotel in Udaipur, India. It’s literally in the middle of a lake and is absolutely stunning. 

Favorite book(s): The books I probably reference the most (and recommend to every new parent) are the parenting series by Emily Oster: Expecting Better, Cribsheet, + The Family Firm. I love her economics-based approach to parenting. In a similar vein, I also encourage every working parent to read Fair Play by Eve Rodsky. 

What is currently your favorite movie and/or show and what is it about the film or program that you enjoy so much? As a working parent, TV is a rare luxury …. but when I do it’s almost always a comedy. I love classics like the Office and most recently have been enjoying Abbott Elementary.

What is your favorite type of music or artist(s) and why? I’m a huge fan of The National. Spotify also tells me I’m in the top 1% of Taylor Swift fans which I can hardly believe, but I guess data don’t lie.

THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS

If I had my way, the business school of the future would have much more of this… interdisciplinary coursework. I’d particularly love to see more emphasis on the links between business and government. Businesses don’t exist in silos and we should help our students learn the best ways to engage proactively with policymakers and government agencies. 

In my opinion, companies and organizations today need to do a better job at… transparently reporting their performance. I tell my students this all the time: it is really hard to decipher financial statements, but it shouldn’t be. I also wish firms would embrace the idea that a broader stakeholder focus does not need to sacrifice shareholder value.  This is true for academic research too, in my opinion. 

I’m grateful for… so many things. As I get older, I get more appreciative for simple but fundamental blessings like good health and clean air/water. But perhaps most of all, I am grateful for the village that raised me and continues to support my work. Countless family and friends, excellent co-authors and colleagues, and of course the best students in the world! 

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