She received her Ph.D. in Management and an M.A. in Economics from the University of California at Los Angeles. She also holds a Ph.D. in Business Economics from the Complutense University of Madrid. Before entering graduate school she was an instructor at the Complutense University of Madrid and worked as an intern at McKinsey & Co. in Paris. Professor Villalonga’s research interests are in empirical corporate finance, corporate governance, and strategy. Her current research focuses primarily on the effect of family ownership, control, and management on firm value. Her prior research on the diversification discount, on privatization, and on ownership structure and performance, has been published in leading academic journals.