La Trobe Business School Executive
The La Trobe Business School is led by an executive team committed to enhancing business learning through education and research that is innovative, engaged, responsible and sustainable.
Professor Suzanne O'Keefe
Professor Suzanne O'Keefe is Dean of the La Trobe Business School. She is a Professor of Economics and recipient of the 2024 Vice Chancellor’s Leadership Excellence Award. Professor O'Keefe has held various leadership positions such as Deputy Dean, and Associate Head, Learning and Teaching in the La Trobe Business School. She is a highly accomplished academic and leader in learning and teaching who has played a key role in designing strategy to foster curriculum innovation, continuous improvement and review. She has been responsible for many innovations in curriculum and has been acknowledged for her skills in cross campus and blended delivery. Professor O'Keefe’s research interests span contexts such as education, local government and water policy. These research contexts have in common the existence of complex institutional and management structures. Her work has focused on the creation and deployment of knowledge, the communication and dissemination of best practice and the use and impact of various incentives.
Dr David Walker
Dr David Walker is the Deputy Dean and the Associate Dean, Learning and Teaching, in the La Trobe Business School, where he leads the strategy to uplift academic programs and the student experience. He is passionate about teaching and learning and has received several awards including the Executive Dean’s Teaching Award in 2014, and Pro Vice-Chancellor’s Award’s in 2015 and 2019. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has led research in teaching the economics curriculum in secondary schools in Victoria and in higher education. Dr Walker has had many leaderships roles in the La Trobe Business School including Director of Learning and Teaching and Academic Program Director (Partnerships). His research interests are in forest, agricultural and resource economics and in the economics of climate change.
Associate Professor Sophia Duan
Associate Professor Sophia Duan is the Associate Dean, Research and Industry Engagement in the La Trobe Business School. She provides strategic leadership in research, research training, and industry engagement to support research excellence among staff and research centres within the School. Associate Professor Duan is an accomplished researcher in business information systems, collaborating with government, industry and community organisations to conduct practice-driven academic research that informs real-world applications in technology adoption, digital transformation, digital work and human-AI interactions. She was named one of Australia’s Top 25 Analytics Leaders by IAPA in 2022 and serves on the executive committee of the Global Responsible AI Community and as the Victorian Vice Chapter Lead of AI4Diversity.
Dr Helen Yang
Dr Helen Yang is the Associate Dean for Academic Partnerships in the La Trobe Business School. A Senior Fellow of Advance Higher Education (UK) and the International Education Association of Australia, and a fully qualified CPA, Dr Yang brings extensive experience across Asia-Pacific countries, holding leadership roles such as Transnational Program Coordinator, Discipline Head at Victoria University, and Accounting Program Director at La Trobe University. Her interdisciplinary research bridges theory and practice, focusing on corporate sustainability, financial reporting in emerging economies and international education. Helen’s work is published in leading international journals. Helen has also been successful in securing prestigious grants, including the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching grants, CPA Australia’s Global Research Perspectives Grant, and the Global Impact Grant from Advance Higher Education.
Professor Stephen Teo
Professor Stephen Teo is Head of the Department of Management and Marketing in the La Trobe Business School. He is a leading scholar and educator in human resource management. Professor Teo’s research focuses on the impact of human resource management practices on employee performance, wellbeing and experience of work (such as workplace mistreatment and work engagement). He has published in leading journals including the Human Resource Management, Human Resource Management Journal, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Work and Stress, Public Management Review, and the International Journal of HRM. Professor Teo is a member of professional associations including the Australian Human Resources Institute (Fellow Practitioner), the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (Chartered Fellow), and the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (Member).
Professor Darren Henry
Professor Darren Henry is Head of the Department of Accounting, Data Analytics, Economics and Finance. 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 Awards for University Teaching Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning. Professor Henry has supervised over 30 PhD students and 40 Honours students to successful 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.