G. D'Anne Weise
Dr. G. D’Anne Weise is Professor Emeritus of Finance at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, where she dedicated over three decades to teaching, research, and mentoring students. She earned all of her degrees—Bachelor’s, two Master’s, and a PhD—in Finance from the University of Missouri, and began her academic career with appointments at the University of New Orleans and Loyola University New Orleans before returning to St. Louis. Over her 33-year tenure, Dr. Weise contributed extensively to finance research, cultivating a reputation for rigor, clarity, and a commitment to student success.
Following her retirement in 2020, Dr. Weise transitioned her focus to criminal justice reform, driven by personal experience with the legal system involving her son. Her work centers on the human and systemic costs of addiction criminalization, particularly in cases affected by mandatory minimum sentencing and prosecutorial overreach. She is the author of The Criminalization of Addiction, a book that blends personal narrative with research to advocate for evidence-based, compassionate, and restorative approaches to substance use and the justice system.
Based in Pensacola, Florida, Dr. Weise continues to engage in advocacy through organizations such as The First Network and the Prison Policy Initiative. Alongside her professional and reform efforts, she pursues her passions for oil painting and reading, while emphasizing independence, persistence, and empathy in both her personal and professional life. Her story highlights a lifelong commitment to justice, education, and empowerment, seeking to inspire reform and understanding across systems that impact lives every day.
• University of New Orleans - Ph.D.
• The First Network
• Prison Policy Initiative
What do you attribute your success to?
I've always had a drive, and quite honestly, it comes from parental abuse - my father. He was so horrible, and he used money to hang over our heads. You have to do what I want, because I control the money and the person with the money is the one who makes the rules. That motivated me more than anything else to make sure that I was never dependent on a man. I never wanted to be dependent on a man. My mother had told me, I hope when you get married that you marry someone because you love them, not because you have to stay with them for economic reasons. So that's what motivated me through my 20s to get my PhD and to start my professorship - it was just a way to make sure that I never had to depend on a man for anything. I would have a secure job, I would have a secure income, and I could do my research and mind my own business, and everything would be fine. My mother wasn't like my father - she was the sweetest, most loving person, but she was killed in an automobile accident when I was 16, so I never got to share a lot of my adult life with her or my successes.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
My mother told me, I hope when you get married that you marry someone because you love them, not because you have to stay with them for economic reasons. That advice shaped my entire career path and motivated me to ensure I would always have financial independence.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
If a young person wants to get a PhD, the first piece of advice I would give them is don't do it if you think your interests are in teaching. Don't get a PhD, because it's a research degree, and you're going to be really disappointed if you think you're going to get into teaching. You're not. It's not a teaching degree, it's a research degree. So that would be my first word of advice to anybody who's interested in getting a PhD - make sure you're interested in research. Don't get confused and think you're getting into education and all that. You're not. You're getting into research. People with PhDs don't necessarily have studied anything about education. I have never taken a class in the College of Education. All of my education is in finance, and professors are not trained to be educators. They're trained to be specialists in whatever their issue is, their thing is. So I trained to do research in finance, and that's what all my education was about.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest challenges in my field is the widespread misrepresentation of the criminal justice system and the urgent need for meaningful reform. I believe greater public understanding is essential to advancing fair and effective policies.
The opioid and fentanyl epidemic is another pressing issue, particularly the continued criminalization of addiction. I see strong opportunities for advocacy focused on treating substance use as a public health matter rather than solely a criminal issue.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values I hold most important in both my work and personal life are independence, self-reliance, persistence, and a steadfast dedication to justice. These principles guide how I approach challenges, make decisions, and strive to make a meaningful impact.