Mission & Vision

The Neel Corporate Governance Center at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business was founded in 2003 following the wake of corporate scandals that preceded the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Our mission is to conduct and disseminate nationally recognized research on corporate governance. Faculty members from accounting, entrepreneurship, finance, information management, marketing, and the College of Law collaborate to provide an interdisciplinary view on a variety of topics:

  • Audit committees
  • Audit and risk management
  • Boards of directors
  • Cybersecurity
  • Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)
  • Executive compensation
  • Insider trading and securities fraud
  • Institutional investors
  • Labor markets for directors and executives
  • Regulatory oversight
  • Shareholder activism, shareholder voting and proxy advisors

Through our Governance Insights Speaker Series, the Neel Center addresses a broad range of issues to bring diverse perspectives to the governance challenges currently facing corporate America. Research efforts are often motivated by these presentations, which focus on a variety of current topics in corporate governance including the audit process, executive compensation, board structure and firm performance.