Francesca Cornelli has been a member of the Ryan Specialty Board since July 2023 and currently serves on the Audit Committee. She is the Dean of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, a professor of finance and holds the Donald P. Jacobs Chair of Finance.

Dr. Cornelli has been the Dean of Kellogg School of Management since 2019. Previously, she was a professor of finance and deputy dean at London Business School. Dr. Cornelli directed and advanced the highly regarded Private Equity Institute of London Business School, building a bridge between academia and practice by partnering with private equity leaders in London, alumni and top academics in the field. Dr. Cornelli has published several papers in the major finance and economics journals, and she gives regular talks at major conferences and universities. Dr. Cornelli is a research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, and previously served as a director of the American Finance Association.

Dr. Cornelli currently serves on several boards including GCM Grosvenor Inc., Edizione, GCP, Civic Consulting Alliance and Lyric Opera of Chicago. She has also served as an independent board member of several global corporations, including Banca Intesa San Paolo from 2016 to 2019, Telecom Italia from 2014 to 2018, American Finance Association from 2013 to 2016, and Swiss Re International and Swiss Re Europe from 2013 to 2019.

In January 2016, Dr. Cornelli helped create and became a board member of AFFECT, a committee of the American Finance Association designed to promote the advancement of women academics in the field of finance.