Associate Professor, Department of Finance
A proud UCF alum turned faculty member, Associate Professor Kevin Mullally brings both academic insight and real-world perspective to the Department of Finance. With a research focus on the asset management industry and a passion for uncovering the hidden truths that shape financial markets, his work has been recognized by top conferences and featured in major financial media outlets. Beyond the classroom, he’s a dedicated mentor, family man, youth coach, and wine enthusiast who thrives on learning, connecting, and helping students launch meaningful careers. Whether on campus or the soccer field, he brings energy, authenticity, and a deep commitment to making a difference.
How long have you been a Knight? 7 years as a UCF faculty member but I graduated from UCF with a Bachelor’s degree in 2005
What is your favorite UCF memory?There are a few students during my time here who have really pushed through challenging circumstances to succeed.
What is your area of research at UCF? I study the asset management industry. Specifically, I focus on asset managers’ incentives and their responses to disclosure requirements.
What professional awards or honors have you earned during your career? The MBA cohorts I taught at the University of Alabama twice voted me MBA Faculty member of the year; my papers have won best paper awards at the Chicago Quantitative Alliance conference and the China Internation Finance Conference.
What do you love about what you do? So many things. I love getting to interact with people from so many different backgrounds since academia is an international profession. I love getting to (more or less) be my own boss and choosing what I get to work on. I love that my job involves me constantly learning. I love pretending that I am still young so that I can relate to and advise my students. I love watching my students use the skills I have taught to obtain the jobs they want.
What do you find most exciting or rewarding about your field of study? What excites me most about conducting finance research is discovering (often nefarious) things about the financial industry that impact society. I have had papers featured in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and other major financial media outlets. It makes me feel like my research is truly impactful when these outlets decide to cover my work.
When you’re not in the classroom, what can we find you doing? Cooking and wine tasting, travel, golf, coaching my son’s baseball team, playing soccer with my buddies on Tuesday nights, spending time with my wife and three kids.
What are some little known facts about you? I can think of two that are reasonably noteworthy. First, I lived in Hawaii for four years as a kid during my dad’s military service. Second, before going to graduate school I coached middle school basketball at a well-known basketball program in Jacksonville, FL. One of my former players played college basketball at Duke and now plays in the NBA.
What is your advice for Business Knights? Finance is an incredibly hierarchical industry, so Business Knights really need to hustle and network to obtain jobs at well-known firms. Aside from that, I would advise students to behave like someone they themselves would want to work with. Once a potential applicant is deemed competent enough for a given position, my sense is that most employers want to hire someone they believe would be a good colleague. Kindness, responsibility, and respect go a long way. Invest in relationships with your classmates here at UCF.