Corporate Purpose: The Shifting Heart of Governance

Professor Emeritus, Ph.D. Columbia University, 1991, M. Phil. Columbia University, 1989, MBA University of Northern Iowa, 1984, B.S. Tennessee Technological University, 1974

Bert Cannella started his adult life as a farmer in middle Tennessee and north Georgia. He also operated a welding and machine shop that offered metal fabrication and general repairs. In 1984, he earned his MBA from the University of Northern Iowa. In 1986, he entered the strategic management Ph.D. program at Columbia University in New York. He joined the faculty at Texas A&M University in 1989, Arizona State in 2004, Tulane University in 2007, and returned to Arizona State in 2012 and to Texas A&M in 2016. Dr. Cannella’s research is focused on executives, corporate governance, and entrepreneurship. He has published some 75 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management, and Journal of Financial Economics, among others. He teaches entrepreneurship, strategic management, and research methods. He has chaired more than 20 Management PhD dissertation committees.

He served as Director of the Texas A&M Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship from 2000 to 2004. Other service roles include President of the Business Policy and Strategy Division of the Academy of Management, Associate Editor of Academy of Management Review (1999-2002) and ASU Management Department Head (2006-2007). Honors and awards include an Association of Former Students Outstanding Teaching Award in 1994, College and Graduate School of Business Outstanding Research Award in 1996, a Fish Camp Namesake in 1997 and the Ricky W. Griffin Outstanding Research Award in 2020. He was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Management in 2008.

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