Fotis Grigoris
Assistant Professor of Finance
Q1 What are you reading? I’m currently rotating between “The Gene: An Intimate History” by Siddhartha Mukherjee (tackles questions including what it means to be human in a world where we can edit our genes); “Nuclear War: A Scenario” by Annie Jacobsen (scary account of how the world is within about an hour of nuclear winter at all times); and "Fixed" by John Campbell and Tarun Ramadorai (details how the financial system often benefits financial providers instead of ordinary people and proposes ways to fix key problems).
Q2 Who is inspiring you? My wife. She works as a maxillofacial prosthodontist (a dental sub-specialist who spends long days helping patients with head and neck cancer, birth defects, and trauma), but maintains an almost unlimited reserve of energy for our family.
Q3 What is the best part of your day? Drinking my first cup of coffee while wondering what mischief our 16-month-old son is going to get into. He’s just discovered the joys of climbing and jumping and is testing the limits of every piece of furniture we own.
Allison Pendroy (MBA10)
President & CEO of WesleyLife
Q1 What are you reading? I’m currently reading “Joyspan” by Dr. Kerry Burnight. Instead of focusing only on how long we live, it looks at how we can expand the years filled with real joy, purpose, and connection. This resonates deeply with my work at WesleyLife, where we are focused on redefining the aging experience.
Q2 Who is inspiring you? Betty. She is 101 and has called one of our communities home for 30 years. She is sharp, gracious, and continues to live independently in her beautiful apartment, fully engaged socially and grounded in purpose. Her perspective embodies what we all wish for our aging experience: vitality, gratitude, and fullness of life.
Q3 What is the best part of your day? I love mornings, especially sunrise. The beginning of each day is filled with promise and opportunity.
Arindam Majumdar (MBA10)
Chief Risk Officer, Bank OZK | Finance Advisory Council member
Q1 What are you reading? Andrew Ross Sorkin’s “1929.” I was drawn to this book because the author explains one of the most important financial disasters in a way that humanizes the crash without compromising on the rigor of the analysis.
Q2 Who is inspiring you? Jamie Dimon [CEO of JPMorgan Chase] because of his leadership style, insights on banking and finance based on first principles, and his keen focus on risk-adjusted decision making.
Q3 What is the best part of your day? I have two: Catching up with my wife and son at the dinner table and learning one new thing every day.
This article appeared in the 2026 issue of Exchange magazine.