Atul Saxena

Dr. Atul Saxena joined GGC in 2007. From 1993–2007 he taught in the undergraduate (BBA) and MBA programs (traditional, executive and physicians) at Mercer University.

Teaching:

He regularly teaches courses on corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, portfolio management, investments, international finance, and financial markets and institutions. He has also taught courses in economics, management and statistics. In the classroom, he likes to bridge theory with practice, requiring students to do hands-on projects and research using data from real firms. He encourages students to participate in various national and international academic tournaments. Several students successfully participated in MindSumo Challenge sponsored by Pearson Publishers. A team of students from his Security Analysis and Portfolio Management class participated in the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute’s International Research Challenge. Another team ranked 4th in the nation in an Investment Challenge game. He is passionate about incorporating current financial events in his courses, therefore the Wall Street Journal is an integral part of his classes. For several years he also served as an adjunct faculty member and subject matter expert (SME) for Stalla CFA Review, writing questions, editing study guides and tutoring candidates for the CFA examinations.

Study Abroad:

He brings a wealth of international experience from his years at Mercer. He taught at Hong Kong Baptist University's Summer Institute from 1997–2000. For more than 10 years he designed and led study abroad trips to different countries, including Scotland and England; Australia and New Zealand; India and Thailand; Holland, Denmark and Sweden; Brazil; and Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria. In 2002 he designed and led a study abroad under the theme “Central Banks of the World.” Students visited the central banks of the U.S.A., Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Poland and the newly established European Central Bank. One of his greatest honors was his assignment for a semester as Mercer University's exchange professor at Seinan Jo Gakuin University in Japan. 

Research:

His research interests are in the areas of banking, dividend policy, agency theory, educational pedagogy and international finance. He has published several papers in peer-reviewed journals, presented research papers at leading national and international conferences and edited and reviewed for journals and conferences. 

Non-Academic Experience:

Prior to joining academia he served as a manager for over six years at two big commercial banks. He consults for local businesses and individuals and manages financial portfolios for his clients.

Other interesting tidbits:

He enjoys traveling across the globe. He has climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge, sailed an America's Cup yacht and gone black water tubing in New Zealand, trekked the Himalayas, and fished piranhas in the Amazon Rain Forest. He enjoys watching sports, listening to music, playing chess and playing bridge with a group of neighbors.

• Doctorate – finance (collateral area: economics) – University of Tennessee, Knoxville
• Master's – production/operations management, MIS, human resource management – University of Georgia
• Master's – history – University of Delhi, India
• Bachelor's – physics, mathematics and chemistry – Meerut University, India

• Corporate finance
• International finance
• Investments/portfolio analysis
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Financial markets and institutions

• Mercer University's exchange professor to Seinan Jo Gakuin University, Japan