Maclean Gaulin was born in Edmonton Alberta, Canada, but was raised in Austin Texas, USA. He studied Engineering and Economics in undergrad at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre-Haute Indiana. He worked for five years at National Instruments and then one of their vertical integrators before being accepted into the Jones Graduate School of Business as a candidate in the Accounting PhD program. He is area of focus is financial accounting, specifically financial disclosure and valuation.