Paul D. Lapides is Co-founder and Director of the Corporate Governance Center in the Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University, where he is a professor of management and entrepreneurship. He serves as a Research Fellow of the Corporate Governance Center at the University of Tennessee and teaches at Directors’ College at the University of Georgia.
Mr. Lapides received the 2000 Kennesaw State University Distinguished Service Award. He has been recognized as one of the leading academic authorities on corporate governance by Corporate Board Member in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. A prolific scholar, he has authored or coauthored several best selling books. He is the Winner of the International Facility Management Association’s Distinguished Author Award for Facility Management, now in its second edition.
His research and teaching interests include corporate governance, entrepreneurial finance, management, real estate, and venture creation. Mr. Lapides has authored or coauthored of more than 100 articles and twelve books. He served as a member of the National Association of Corporate Director’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Audit Committees. The Commission developed recommendations for improving audit committee performance and that published The Report of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Audit Committees: A Practical Guide (1999, 2004).
A frequent speaker at business, professional and academic organizations, his opinions have appeared in more than 500 publications and on national and local television and radio, including, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Forbes, CNBC’s Morning Call, Bloomberg television and radio, NPR, London's Financial Times, Canada’s National Post, The Associated Press, Dow Jones, Bloomberg, Reuters, CBSMarketWatch, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Deal, Director's Monthly, Corporate Board Member, Trustee, and Directors & Boards.
Mr. Lapides coauthored “21st Century Governance and Financial Reporting Principles” issued in March 2002 by the Corporate Governance Center at Kennesaw State University. The Principles have been endorsed by the Institute of Internal Auditors, presented to the New York Stock Exchange, and sent to members of Congress and the White House. The recommendations have been widely cited in research journals, professional publications, and the media. Also, they have been reproduced in their entirety in at least four management text books.
Mr. Lapides is a member of the board of directors of Sun Communities, Inc. (NYSE: SUI), a real estate investment trust; Internet Commerce Corporation (NASDAQ: ICCA), a provider of business-to-business e-commerce solutions; and the Board of Directors Network, Inc. (BDN), whose mission is to increase the number of women on corporate boards. He also serves on the advisory boards of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), the Newman Real Estate Institute at Baruch College, and W. Ray Wallace & Associates, Inc., an Inc. 500 company.
His business and consulting experience includes advising hundreds of start-up, growth and mid-market companies, as well as many of America’s Fortune 500 companies, managing a diversified $3 billion real estate portfolio, raising more than $1 billion in equity capital for start–up and growth companies, and providing litigation services.
A CPA, Mr. Lapides earned a BS with honors in economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from New York University. Prior to joining the faculty at Kennesaw State University, he held faculty positions at New York University and Columbia University.