Les Coleman

Les Coleman is a Senior Lecturer in Finance at the University of Melbourne, and has taught to undergraduate, honours and postgraduate students since 2004. He has published seven research monographs, four book chapters and over 25 journal articles.

His main research interest is financial decision making by investment funds and firms, with a particular focus on risk and sustainability as decision stimuli. Les is a member of the editorial boards of two academic journals, is a joint recipient of a 2006 Australian Research Council linkage grant, and has received research and teaching awards. He has been a regular contributor to the media and delivers executive education programs in Australia and overseas.

Les trained originally as an engineer, and spent over 20 years in senior management positions with resources, manufacturing and finance companies in Australia and overseas. More recently he completed a PhD in Management at the University of Melbourne where his thesis was published as "Why Managers and Companies Take Risks" (Springer, 2006). The PhD and his practitioner background led to an applied research interest around the broad topic of developing a body of theory to explain decision making by firms and institutional investors, and how this can lead to uncertainty and loss of value. For instance, "Risk Strategies: Dialling up optimum firm risk" (Gower, 2009) sets out tools that enable managers and investors to leverage risk strategically (in much the same way as human physiology and physical sciences support modern medical and engineering techniques, respectively). Other research interests include returns from investment in agriculture, behavioural corporate finance, climate change, wagering markets, and crisis management. His papers have been published in numerous journals including Accounting & Finance, Applied Economics, Applied Financial Economics, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Energy Policy, Financial Review, International Journal of Managerial Finance, Journal of Banking & Finance, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, Journal of Gambling Business and Economics, Journal of Knowledge Management, and Journal of Prediction Markets.

Prior to entering academia, Les worked as a mining engineer in Zambia with Anglo American Corporation, spent 26 years with Mobil Corporation in a variety of roles in Australia and overseas including four years in the international planning group at headquarters near Washington DC, Australian EHS policy manager, and regional treasurer for ExxonMobil Australia for six years to 2002. He has been a trustee of three superannuation funds, and a director of ten companies involved in finance, retail and distribution. He has written and spoken widely on finance and investment strategies, and for four years was a weekly columnist with The Australian newspaper.