Professor Emeritus Bill Halal and his wife, Carol Lynn, have made a generous six-figure gift to establish the William Halal Research Fund at the GW School of Business. The new fund will grant awards to faculty researchers in the field of Stakeholder Collaboration for three years, continuing Bill’s legacy of conducting and championing innovative, forward-thinking scholarship.
Bill Halal, Professor Emeritus of Management, Technology, and Innovation, co-founded the Institute for Knowledge & Innovation as a collaborative effort between the GW School of Business and the School of Engineering during his tenure at GW. He is also the founder of TechCast, a web-based system that pools the knowledge of experts to forecast breakthroughs in technology, social trends, and wild cards to assist decision makers in planning for a changing world. Before GW, Halal was an aerospace engineer on the Apollo Program, a Major in the U.S. Air Force, and a Silicon Valley business manager.
The William Halal Research Fund, administered by the GW Business Institute for Corporate Responsibility (ICR), supports faculty research in Stakeholder Collaboration, a field which advocates for organizational shifts from shareholder-centric models to more inclusive, stakeholder-oriented approaches that aim to balance economic success with social responsibility.
“Stakeholder management remains a bedrock imperative for corporations as they seek sustainable growth and achieve their strategic goals, all while operating in turbulent markets,” said John Forrer, Director of the ICR and Associate Research Professor of Strategic Management and Public Policy at the George Washington University School of Business.
“Professor Halal's early work on the Democratic Enterprise still resonates and offers inspiration for research on how to understand the evolving roles played by corporations today. The research projects funded from the William Halal Research Fund are a major enhancement to the Institute for Corporate Responsibility's goal of providing guidance to corporations on how best to respond to their stakeholder management challenges."
ICR develops and disseminates scholarship, including research and teaching, focused on corporate responsibility. Since receiving its charter from the George Washington University in 2006, the institute’s research has bridged academia, business, government, and civil society, with a focus on fostering sustainable and ethical business practices.
Thanks to Bill and Carol Lynn’s generosity, five 2025 William Halal Research Fund Grant awardees have been selected and will receive grants to support their research. They will be asked to present their findings at an event scheduled for the end of the 2026 spring semester.
2025 William Halal Research Fund Grant Awardees
- Jenny Giedt, "Stakeholder Collaboration in Corporate Strategic Reviews."
- Sunghun Chung, "Incentivizing Collaboration: CEO Pay Design and Stakeholder Value."
- Joel Gehman, "Advancing Stakeholder Collaboration: Lessons from Social Enterprises."
- Vikram Bhargava, "Stakeholder Collaboration and Artificial Intelligence: The Foundations of Voluntary Relationships."
- Vontrese Pamphile, "Between Commitment and Retrenchment: Chief Diversity Officers and the Rise and Retreat of DEI."
To learn more about the William Halal Research Fund and selection criteria, please visit the website here.