Dr. Orla Lenihan (BComm, MAcc, FCA, PhD) is Assistant Professor in Corporate Governance at J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, University of Galway. Orla holds a PhD in Corporate Governance (University College Dublin) and she is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland. Orla's research focuses on corporate boards of directors including aspects such as board leadership, board composition, board diversity, board expertise, and executive incentives. Her current work examines board oversight of sustainability issues such as climate change. Orla's work is published in international peer-reviewed journals including Journal of Management and Governance and Accounting, Finance and Governance Review.

Orla teaches in the areas of corporate governance and sustainability at executive and postgraduate level. She has led the design of new modules and innovative assessment methods that align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Orla has won a university teaching excellence award (University of Limerick) in recognition of her engaging classes and teaching style.

Orla has held various leadership and service roles including Programme Director, Student Committee Chair, External Examiner, and Board/Council Member. She is the Programme Director of the University of Galway Executive MBA programme. Orla qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers and she has previously taught on professional accounting courses. Orla has been an invited guest on many panel discussions and she is a regular radio and television commentator on corporate governance matters.

Orla's research focuses on corporate boards of directors, executive incentives, and sustainability governance. She is interested in aspects such as board leadership, board effectiveness, board composition, board structure, board diversity, board expertise, executive incentives, climate governance, and sustainability leadership. Orla is especially interested in the role that boards play in overseeing corporate sustainability strategies, with current projects examining the extent of climate competence on boards and the use of climate metrics in executive pay. Orla's work is published in international peer-reviewed journals including Journal of Management and Governance and Accounting, Finance and Governance Review. Orla was previously awarded the Irish Accounting and Finance Association Scholar Award, a national research award that identifies and funds early-career scholars in the Irish accounting and finance community. Orla has won competitive research funding from the Smurfit Graduate School of Business and the Irish Accounting and Finance Association. She has international conference publications at the European Accounting Association, the American Accounting Association, and the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand. Orla predominantly employs econometric models to analyze archival data.

Orla teaches corporate governance and sustainability at executive and postgraduate level. Her teaching philosophy revolves around three concepts.

(1) Providing students with a value-added learning experience

Orla integrates a number of pedagogical tools such as case studies, commercial databases, websites, corporate examples, and podcasts to provide students with a beneficial learning experience during class.

(2) Promoting active participation during classes

Orla relies on group work, seminar-based discussions, class polls, shout-outs, whiteboard, and presentations to encourage active student engagement with the material.

(3) Making use of disciplinary research to benefit student learning

Orla commits to a research-led teaching approach by integrating peer-reviewed academic literature into class discussions and research assignments.

Orla has won a university teaching award (University of Limerick) in recognition of her teaching excellence including aspects such as her energy in the classroom, the way in which she connects and interacts with the students, the engaging way in which she thinks through how material in her discipline should best be taught, and the hugely positive responses from her students.