John J. Maher
880 West Campus Drive
Blacksburg, VA 24061
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Biography
John J. (Jack) Maher Ph.D. holds the endowed Tom Wells/Kathy Dargo Professorship. A member of the Virginia Tech community since 1985, Maher served as Department Head of Accounting and Information Systems from July 2016 to December 2021. During his tenure as Department Head, Maher hired 17 of the 32 current full time ACIS faculty members. Immediately prior to becoming Department Head, Maher was Director of the ACIS Ph.D. program for 15 years. He is a three-time recipient of Pamplin College’s Business Teaching Excellence Award and was recognized as Pamplin’s Outstanding Faculty in Doctoral Education in 2009, having chaired or served on more than 25 dissertation committees.
Professor Maher has written more than 50 published papers, book chapters, and proceedings in his career. He has presented his research to audiences around the world and has been an active member of his academic profession with a long and active history of service on editorial boards and as a reviewer for many of the top journals in his field. His research applies decision modeling to accounting and auditing, particularly in debt markets and has been published in leading journals such as The Accounting Review; Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance; Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory; and many others.
In giving back to the community, Maher has spent many years volunteering his time and talent as coach of youth soccer and basketball programs at various levels. He has also been a 20-year member of the Recreation Advisory Board in his community. Finally, Professor Maher has helped build houses for Habitat for Humanity and has been active in his church as a member of the Finance Council and Sunday lector.
Maher has worked as a public accountant in New Zealand and as an internal auditor and management accountant in Pennsylvania. He received his bachelor’s degree and M.B.A. from the University of Scranton and a Ph.D. from The Pennsylvania State University.