Shuai Yan is a Ph.D. candidate at the Ivy College of Business of Iowa State University. His research interests center on the marketing strategy with an emphasis on understanding how firms leverage business-to-government (B2G) relationships to enhance market and financial performance. His research agenda includes a project that investigates how government contractors can gain superior value through merger and acquisition activities (invited to be revised and resubmitted to Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science). He is also interested in exploring political connections in the business-to-government market. His primary focus is to analyze firm-level data using multiple methodologies such as quantitative empirical modeling and event study.

Before Shuai Yan joined Iowa State University, he had been working at the largest Chinese company in the palm oil industry and responsible for the management of financing assets. Previously, He also earned an MBA at Quinnipiac University, Connecticut, and a master's degree in Business English.