About the Harris Program

Leadership

Harris Program Academic Director Bilge Yilmaz stands in a sunlit room.

Bilge Yilmaz

Academic Director, Harris Program
Wharton Private Equity Professor

About Bilge

Headshot of Burcu Esmer

Burcu Esmer

Faculty Co-Director, Harris Program
Senior Lecturer of Finance, Finance Department

About Burcu

Research

The Harris Program funds research projects that advance knowledge in the field of alternative investments. This delivers strategic insights used by decision-makers pursuing excellence in investing. Topics selected for research reflect the Program’s research priorities. A core group of Senior Fellows engages in teaching, events, and research that advances the impact and efforts of the Harris Program.

Meet the Harris Program’s current research fellows here.

2024-2025 Research Grants

Private Equity, Corporate Acquirers, & Product Innovation: An Investigation of Corporate Science Acquisitions 1990-2022
Sathya Vijayakumar, PhD Student at the Wharton School
Abstract

Strategic Bootstrapping and Startup Experimentation
Ndubuisi Ugwuanyi, PhD Student at the Wharton School
Abstract

Finance at Wharton Staff

Jill Bazelon, Senior Associate Director of Student Engagement

Evelyn Evans, Coordinator

Lauren Hurray, Managing Director

Zehra Husikic, Associate Director

Jason McCue, Senior Communications Specialist

Elaine Thomas, Senior Associate Director of Research Support

Chris Trollen, Senior Associate Director of Events and Donor Engagement