Robert F. Bruner

Education: B.A., Yale University; MBA, DBA, Harvard University 

Bob Bruner is University Professor at the University of Virginia, Distinguished Professor of Business Administration and dean emeritus of the Darden School of Business. He has also held visiting appointments at Harvard and Columbia Universities in the United States, INSEAD in France and IESE in Spain. He is the author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books on finance, management and teaching and has won several teaching awards. Currently, he teaches and writes in finance and management. 

As a financial economist, Bruner is best known for his research on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and financial panics. His books, Case Studies in Finance (now in its eighth edition with Kenneth Eades and Michael Schill), Deals from Hell and Applied Mergers and Acquisitions, have helped numerous practitioners and students toward successful transactions. In 2011, Bruner led a global task force of deans for the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business that produced a comprehensive review of global management education. The resulting book-length report, The Globalization of Management Education, urged educational leaders to rise to the challenges of globalization. He is the author and co-author of over 300 teaching case studies. He comments on life, business and current events in his blog. He has also tweeted on his Twitter account. 

Recently, his writing and teaching have focused on three subjects. The first regards the causes, dynamics, and consequences of financial crises. His book published in 2007, The Panic of 1907: Lessons Learned from the Market's Perfect Storm, with Sean D. Carr, attracted wide attention for its discussion of the underpinnings of financial crises. He has published a collection of teaching case studies and articles on major financial crises. His second area of current work regards the intersection of democracy and capitalism and the frictions associated with the interactions of the two systems. Finally, he studies and writes about the leadership attributes of the U.S. presidents.

As dean of the Darden School from 2005 to 2015, Bruner chartered or led a series of initiatives that prompted the revision of Darden's residential MBA program, launched Darden's EMBA and GEMBA programs, raised the profile of admitted students, led the top talent hiring of many new faculty and staff, improved the diversity of the Darden community, raised over $165 million in new funds, and saw Darden's rankings rise to the Top 10 of U.S. schools. In 2012, Poets & Quants and CNNMoney/ Fortune named him "Dean of the Year." 

He has served on the boards of various for-profit and non-profit organizations. Currently, he serves as a volunteer board member of the Rare Book School of the University of Virginia and the INCAE Foundation, a fund that supports a leading business school in Central America.

For more information and copies of his papers and essays, visit his website. A native of Chicago, Bruner received a B.A. from Yale University in 1971 and the MBA and DBA degrees from Harvard University in 1974 and 1982, respectively.