Dr. Fran Lawrence is Professor and Chair of the Personal Financial Planning Department at the University of Missouri. Previously, she held the Gerald Cire and Lena Grand Williams Alumni Professorship and the Ourso Professorship of Communication Studies at Louisiana State University’s E. J. Ourso College of Business where she served as Associate Dean. She received numerous honors at LSU including the University Distinguished Faculty Award.

Dr. Lawrence conducts research related to personal financial management, teaches undergraduate and graduate financial planning courses, and serves as the Director of the CFP Board-Registered Programs. She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning, Journal of Financial Planning, and Financial Planning Review and is on the steering committee for the CFP Board’s Academic Research Colloquium for Financial Planning and Related Disciplines.

Dr. Lawrence was selected as a Fellow with the SEC Academic Leadership Program and has held various leadership positions in honorary organizations such as Phi Kappa Phi and Gamma Sigma Delta, in professional societies such as the Academy of Financial Services, American Council on Consumer Interests, Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education, Financial Planning Association, and Society of Financial Services Professionals, and in the international sorority, Alpha Phi.

Dr. Lawrence earned her BS from Virginia Tech and PhD and MS from Florida State University where she received the Centennial Laureate Award