Zabihollah (Zabi) Rezaee, University of Memphis - Fogelman College of Business and Economics, Crews School of Accountancy

Dr. Zabihollah (Zabi) Rezaee is the Thompson-Hill Chair of Excellence and a tenured Professor of Accounting at the Crews School of Accountancy, University of Memphis. He served on the Standing Advisory Group (SAG) of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) from 2004 to 2006 and has been the editor of the Journal of Forensic Accounting Research from 2019 to 2025. Additionally, he serves as the Honorary Advisor to the Financial Reporting Council in Hong Kong, a position he has held since December 2019 and will continue through September 2026. Dr. Rezaee earned his BS from the Iranian Institute of Advanced Accounting, an MBA from Tarleton State University in Texas, and a PhD from the University of Mississippi. His teaching expertise spans a wide range of topics, including Business Sustainability, Corporate Governance, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting, Financial Statement Analysis, Forensic Accounting, Internal and External Auditing, International and Managerial Accounting, Organizational Ethics, and Accounting Systems Applications including artificial intelligence (AI), across undergraduate, graduate, Executive MBA, International MBA, and PhD programs. Dr. Rezaee has published over 285 articles in prestigious academic and practitioner journals, including recent papers in the Accounting Review (September 2023) and the British Accounting Review (January 2025). He has delivered more than 305 research presentations at universities and regional, national, and international conferences, frequently as a keynote speaker. Dr. Rezaee is highly ranked among leading scientists in business and management, holding positions #510 in the United States and #1095 worldwide according to the 2023 Research.com Ranking of Best Scientists. His work is also recognized in the Stanford-Elsevier 2023 Top 2% Most-Cited Researchers, (www.memphis.edu) and as of May 2024, he is ranked in the top 0.05% of scholars worldwide by ScholarGPS, View your scholar profile and rankings. Dr. Rezaee's research has real-world impact, extending beyond citation counts to drive positive change in the accounting profession and society. He holds numerous certifications, including CPA, CMA, CIA, CFE, CGFM, CSOXP, CGOVP, CGRCP, CGMA, and CRMA. He is the author of 17 books on topics such as Financial Statement Fraud, Mergers and Acquisitions, Corporate Governance, Internal Auditing, Business Sustainability, Organizational Ethics, Audit Committees, Forensic Accounting, Business Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence. Many of these books have been translated into Spanish, Chinese, Persian, and Korean, broadening their global reach. Dr. Rezaee has also contributed to numerous international and national professional organizations and served on various university, college, and departmental committees including chaired the Budget and Finance Committee of the Faculty Senate at the University of Memphis from 2020 to 2024. Recipient of the 2025 High Impact Scholar Award at the University of Memphis.

Igor Lončarski, University of Ljubljana - Faculty of Economics and Business

Igor Lončarski is a full professor of Finance at the School of Economics and Business, University of Ljubljana. He holds a PhD from Tilburg University in the Netherlands (2007). Igor teaches Asset Pricing and Investments courses, Empirical Finance, Corporate Valuation, Corporate Finance, Behavioral Finance, and Sustainable Finance. In addition, Igor is also a program director of MSc in Bank and Financial Management. His research interests are in investments, credit risk, financial markets, market manipulation, and sustainable finance. Igor publishes papers in journals such as Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Corporate Finance, Financial Management, Financial Analysts Journal, Finance Research Letters, Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions & Money, Research in International Business and Finance, and International Review of Financial Analysis. In terms of professional service, Igor is the editor-in-chief of Risk Management journal (Springer), an associate editor of Emerging Markets Review, International Review of Financial Analysis, and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance and subject editor of Journal of Multinational Financial Management.

Tena Prelec, University of Rijeka (UniRi)

Dr. Tena Prelec is an Assistant Professor in Politics and IR at the University of Rijeka (UniRi). Her main research focus rests on transnational linkages in corruption studies, while also examining the intersection of illicit finance and geopolitical competition. She has held positions at the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics and earned her PhD from the University of Sussex’s Centre for the Study of Corruption. Her first co-authored monograph - Indulging Kleptocracy: British Service Providers, Postcommunist Elites, and the Enabling of Corruption - was published by OUP in 2025. She is currently working on her second book titled: Technomanagers: The Pre-Capitalism Capitalists – Yugoslav Elites at the Edge of Worlds (Tehnomenadžeri: Kapitalisti prije kapitalizma - jugoslavenske elite na granici svjetova). She is currently Work Package leader of the Horizon Europe project GEO-POWER-EU, which looks at EU enlargement in a deteriorating geopolitical context, and Principal Investigator of the GI-ACE project Lawyers: Gatekeepers, Enablers or Technicians?. A member of the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group, she is a noted expert on Southeastern Europe, and has published widely in academic and policy outlets. She is also an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Exeter and a former Fellow of the Global Future Council on Integrity and Anti-Corruption, World Economic Forum. Tena is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Marshall Memorial Fellowship (the leadership development programme of the German Marshall Fund of the United States), the ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize (runner up), and the Exeter ‘Fair, Just and Inclusive Society Award’ (winner). Her OUP book has been selected as one of the 'Books of the Year' by the magazine Foreign Affairs in December 2024. Her research has often informed policy in the anti-corruption, higher education and EU enlargement space. She has worked as a consultant for numerous international organisations and geopolitical analysis firms, including as Senior Analyst for Oxford Analytica. As the coordinator of several research grants at UniRi, as well as of the new study programme 'Political Transformations', Tena hopes to contribute to the empowerment of Political Science and IR in her home country of Croatia.