Leading the next generation: Prof. Orly Sade on finance, education, and opportunity

Professor Orly Sade, Dean of the Hebrew University Business School, is the first woman to hold a senior finance professorship at Hebrew University, and is widely known for her research on behavioral and experimental finance and the design of financial markets.

“We believe that we are training the future leaders of Israel,” she says. “Talking about financial literacy can provide added value, no matter what one plans on doing in life.”

Prof. Sade was a Visiting Associate Professor at the Stern School of Business, NYU, and has been a visiting Associate Professor at leading universities worldwide. She has received letters of recognition for excellent teaching, and her research has been published in leading international academic journals and has been presented at leading academic conferences.

One of her main areas of research centers on the psychology of finance, exploring how people make financial decisions throughout their lives and how they deal with the obstacles that arise. “One obstacle is the lack of knowledge,” she explains, “The overall aspect of financial literacy is quite important.” A second type of obstacle, she explains, is a psychological bias. “People may be familiar with financial terminology and may have the capacity and the knowledge of many things that are related to finance, and yet they may have behavioral biases that can affect their ability to operate in different circumstances.”

As the first woman to hold a senior finance professorship at Hebrew University, Sade acknowledges that it is never easy to enter a new field as a member of a minority. “It requires determination, and it requires the ability to challenge some assumptions. If it’s interesting, if it’s worth doing, then I’m in favor of challenging assumptions. I’m in favor of providing evidence that it can be done.”