Department of Accounting, Data Analytics, Economics and Finance Leadership

Professor Darren Henry

Professor Darren Henry is Head of the Department of Accounting, Data Analytics, Economics and Finance in the La Trobe Business School. Professor Henry has extensive experience in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and research student supervision. He is renowned for authentic teaching and learning, and capstone subject development, including being awarded a 2020 Australian Award for University Teaching Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning. Professor Henry has supervised over 30 PhD students and 40 honours students to completion. His research interests include mergers and acquisitions, empirical corporate finance, corporate governance, behavioural finance and market-based accounting issues. He has over 40 publications in leading Australian and international journals and serves on the editorial boards of the European Management Journal and the Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change.

Professor Damminda Alahakoon

Professor Damminda Alahakoon is Professor and Discipline Lead of Business Analytics and Artificial Intelligence, and Director of the Research Centre for Data Analytics and Cognition. Professor Alahakoon has over 15 years’ experience as an academic in several Australian universities as well as over 10 years in the IT and finance industries. He specialises in machine learning, artificial intelligence, advanced data analytics, text and social media analytics. His research has been published in over 150 peer reviewed articles and adopted in a range of domains including in healthcare, utilities, smart cities, education, industrial optimisation and national security. Professor Alahakoon has received over $5 million in research grants from the Australian Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Corporate Research Centre Program and Australian Federal Government, and over $1 million in direct industry funding for R&D projects.

Professor Suzanne O’Keefe

Professor Suzanne O'Keefe is Professor and Discipline Lead of Economics in the of Department of Accounting, Data Analytics, Economics and Finance. Professor O’Keefe is a highly-accomplished academic leader with recognised expertise in learning and teaching, who has developed strategies to drive curriculum innovation, continuous improvement and review. Her research interests span education and water policy, with a focus on complex institutional and management structures. Other research interests include the creation and deployment of knowledge, the communication and dissemination of best practice, and the use and impact of various incentives. Professor O’Keefe has published in journals such as the Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Water Resources Research, and Australian Journal of Labour Economics.

Associate Professor Muhammad Ali

Associate Professor Muhammad (Jahangir) Ali is Associate Professor and Discipline Lead of Accounting in the Department of Accounting, Data Analytics, Economics and Finance. He is a member of CPA, CMA and IPA. Associate Professor Ali has extensive experience in teaching, coordinating, and organising courses in a wide range of accounting subjects at the undergraduate, honours, and postgraduate levels. He is also an experienced researcher and has published extensively on corporate governance, financial reporting, international accounting, sustainability, auditing and capital markets. He has published over 45 papers in leading international referred journals. He has been invited to present his papers nationally and internationally. Associate Professor Ali is Associate Editor of Accounting Research Journal and Asian Journal of Business and Accounting. He is also on the editorial board of Accounting and Finance, International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation and Research in Accounting in Emerging Economies.

Read our Statement of Strategic Intent.

Find out more about the La Trobe Business School’s Strategic Plan and Overview, 2023-2025.