Melissa Fisher
Visiting Scholar, New York University Institute for Public Knowledge
New York
Melissa Fisher, a cultural anthropologist, is a Visiting Scholar at New York University’s Institute for Public Knowledge and a Principal Research Fellow at the Conference Board. She is also an adjunct professor in International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. Her first book, a co-edited volume, Frontiers of Capital: Ethnographic Reflections on the New Economy (Duke University Press, 2006), explored the social and cultural landscape of business. Wall Street Women (Duke Press, 2012), her second book, examines the first generation of women in finance (1956-2010). Her current book project is on the future of work in the wake of social movements (such as Me Too and Black Lives Matter) as well as crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic.
Melissa has given numerous key notes talks nationally and internationally. Her book on Wall Street women received over 25 reviews in academic journals. In addition, her research has been profiled by The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, CNBC, NPR and the BBC. Her writings have appeared in publications such as Bloomberg and Bill Moyer’s Group Think. She appeared in the 2014 PBS documentary Makers: Women in Business. She also played an advisory role in the first female financial thriller film, Equity, a 2016 Sony Classic Pictures release. She is currently a US Delegate to the Women’s 20 that advises the G20 on gender issues.
Prior to joining the faculty at Columbia, Melissa was the Laurits Andersen Professor in Business and Organizational Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen. She has also been a faculty member in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis at NYU and the Department of Anthropology at Georgetown University. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in Anthropology at Columbia University and her B.A. in English at Barnard College.
Working Group Affiliation