IMD business school for management and leadership courses

Michel Demaré is Chairman of the Foundation and Supervisory Boards at IMD and Chair of the Board at AstraZeneca Plc. He is also a member of the supervisory boards at Vodafone Group Plc and Louis-Dreyfus Company International Holdings B.V.

He was Chair at Syngenta AG from 2013 until the Company was sold to ChemChina in 2017, and was Vice Chair at UBS Group AG from 2009 until 2019. He was also the Chair at SwissHoldings from 2013 to 2015.

Before his supervisory career, Demaré was Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President at ABB from 2005 to 2013, serving in addition as the company’s President of Global Markets between late 2008 and March 2011. He also served as ABB’s acting Chief Executive Officer during most of 2008. Previously he had been Chief Financial Officer Europe at Baxter International Inc. He joined Baxter in 2002 after 18 years at the Dow Chemical Company, where he held a number of Finance and Strategy roles in Europe (including Switzerland) and the USA.

He holds a license in applied economics from the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) and an MBA from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL) in Belgium.

Hanne de Mora is Vice Chairperson of the IMD Foundation and Supervisory Boards at IMD and Co-Founder of a-connect, which she created in 2002. With eight offices and more than 2,200 certified independent professionals, a-connect helps companies execute critical projects by leveraging its network of specialists. Based in Zurich, she takes an active role in client service with a specific focus on advising senior leaders on strategy and corporate governance.

De Mora is a Non-Executive Director at Nestlé (chair of the Sustainability Committee), a Member of the Board of Directors at AB Volvo, and is also Chair at Microcaps AG. In the past, she has been a Member of the Board of Directors at Sandvik, where she held the Audit Committee chair, and Metso Outotec Oyj.  She has also served as a non-executive director at Telenor, Tomra, and Valora.

Prior to a-connect, de Mora was a partner at McKinsey & Company based in Switzerland. She started her career as a credit analyst with Den Norske Creditbank in Luxemburg and subsequently held brand management and controller roles at Procter & Gamble.

She holds an MBA from IESE, Barcelona, and a Bachelor’s degree in business from HEC, Lausanne.

In addition, Gilbert Achermann is Vice Chair at the SwissMedTech association, an investor in Start-Ups and a jury member at Venture Kick.

Before, Achermann served as Chair, CEO and CFO at Straumann Group, the listed global leader in implant dentistry and runner-up in dental aligners. His previous positions include Board member at Julius Baer, a listed wealth manager; Chair and Co-CEO of the Vitra Group, a family-owned furniture and shopfitting company. He also held positions as Chair at Siegfried, a listed pharma service company and API manufacturer, as well as Vice Chair at the Moser Group, a privately owned luxury watch company. He began his career at UBS in investment banking.​

He holds an EMBA from IMD (2000) and joined IMD in July 2016 as Executive-in-Residence.​

Christoph Aeschlimann has been Head of Swisscom (Switzerland) Ltd and Chief Executive Officer at Swisscom Ltd since June 2022. He has a degree in computer science from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and an MBA from McGill University, Canada.

He began his professional career as a software developer at financial services provider Odyssey. After a short period with innovation services provider Zühlke, he returned to Odyssey, where he held a number of management positions. He then joined software development company ERNI, where he worked in various managerial positions, initially as Managing Director Switzerland, then as CEO of the group.

Aeschlimann joined Swisscom in 2019 as Head of the IT, Network and Infrastructure division and member of the Group Executive Board.

Hana Al Rostamani is Group CEO & Head of Personal Banking at First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB). As the only female Group CEO of a major UAE-headquartered bank and publicly listed corporation within the UAE, Al Rostamani is recognized for being a change leader and for her forward-thinking vision with a focus on embedding a culture of innovation, diversity, and inclusion in her leadership.

A seasoned C-suite executive with more than 20 years’ experience in banking and financial services, she previously served as Deputy Group CEO and Head of Personal Banking at FAB, responsible for leading the transformation of FAB’s consumer bank, instilling a customer and digital-first mindset.

A graduate of George Washington University in the US, Al Rostamani is currently Chair of the Global Council on the Sustainable Development Goals, with a key interest in Development Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy. She is also a member of MasterCard Advisory and has served as an independent director in Emirates Integrated Telecommunication Company (Du) and Vice Chair at the Emirates Institute for Banking and Financial Services.

Her most recent accolade includes her nomination in Forbes Middle East, being ranked third as featured in the Middle East’s Power Business’ Women 2021 list.

Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko is President and CEO at Marimekko Corporation, a leading Finnish design house renowned for its bold prints and colors. She was appointed President of the company in 2015 and became also CEO a year later. Prior to her current role at Marimekko, Tiina served as the company’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing Officer, among others.

Alahuhta-Kasko has an MSc in Economics from the Helsinki School of Economics, a CEMS Master’s in International Management from Groupe HEC Paris and Helsinki School of Economics, she has completed further studies at both Harvard and IMD, and has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Technology from Aalto University. She serves as a Member of the Board in Kesko Corporation, Aalto University and Climate Leadership Coalition.

Alahuhta-Kasko has been recognized, for example, in the listing of Leaders50 (2024) and as Finland’s Most Distinguished Transformation Leader of the Year by the Boston Consulting Group (2021).

Abdulrahman Aljadhai is the former CEO of Elm, a leading Saudi-based company focusing on digitizing governments and enterprises, he was the CEO for the period 2012-2024.

He is currently a board member at Riyadh Airports company, the National Real Estate Registration company, Obeikan Industrial company, and Wadi Jeddah company.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from King Saud University, and a PhD in computer science from the University of Pittsburgh in the United States.

His focus is on entrepreneurship and deep tech. In particular, the link between research and the commercial world.

As President of IMD, a position he has held since September 2024, David Bach is focused on making IMD the world’s most impactful business school. Together with his leadership team and the entire IMD community, he is working to broaden and deepen IMD’s global impact through learning innovation, excellence in degree- and executive programs, and applied thought leadership.

Recognized globally as an innovator in management education, Bach previously served as IMD’s Dean of Innovation and Programs. Under his leadership, the school won multiple awards for groundbreaking pedagogy and executive programs. Before joining IMD in 2020, he was Deputy Dean at Yale School of Management where he led the successful expansion of the school’s degree program portfolio and the creation of Yale Center Beijing. He is one of the principal architects of the Global Network for Advanced Management, an alliance of 32 top global business schools from five continents, of which IMD has been a member since 2012.

As Nestlé Professor of Strategy and Political Economy, Bach helps leaders navigate the myriad political challenges facing business today. A celebrated teacher, his course ‘The End of Globalization?’ received the 2018 Ideas Worth Teaching Award from the Aspen Institute. His research on nonmarket strategy, stakeholder management, and global politics has been published in leading practitioner and academic journals, including Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, Rotman Management, International Organization, Journal of European Public Policy, Governance, and the Review of International Political Economy. He has published case studies on companies including TSMC, Rio Tinto, Volkswagen, IBM, AXA, Golden Agri, Playboy, Endesa, and BP.

Bach earned a B.A. magna cum laude from Yale University and holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from the University of California at Berkeley.

Joan Beets is a partner at KennedyFitch, a boutique executive search and management consulting firm. She has 20 years’ HR experience within leading organizations in various industries including Saudi Aramco, The Adecco Group and Givaudan, and has worked and lived in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East in roles focused on HR strategy, change, and transformation.

She completed her MBA at IMD in 2012, winning the Welsh Women’s Award for best all-round female in the MBA class. She has been a volunteer coach and mentor for current and alumni MBAs since 2013, a member of the IMD Alumni Advisory Committee since 2018, and Chair of the Committee since 2021. She is the Alumni Representative on the IMD Foundation Board.

Martijn Brenninkmeijer is Chair of the Board at COFRA Holding AG, a position he has held since 2018. Brenninkmeijer has previously held the positions of CEO at COFRA Holding AG, CEO at C&A Europe, and CEO at Anthos.

He holds a BA in economics and philosophy from Georgetown University in Washington DC and an MBA (with Honors) from IMD Business School in Lausanne, where he also received the 1999 MBA Class Award.

Richard Carey is a Managing Member at Redwood Technology Ventures, an investment and advisory firm focused on opportunities in supply chain automation, which he co-founded in 2019.

Prior to Redwood, he was a partner at Permira, starting the firm’s business in the US in 2002. He was at times a member of the firm’s portfolio review committee and co-head of investments in the industrial and services sector. He joined Permira’s London office in 2000 and left the firm in 2018.

Carey started his career with Arthur Andersen (1986–1997) based in both Australia and the UK. From 1998 to 2000 he worked closely with a number of venture-backed companies in Europe, most notably AU System based in Sweden.

He has a graduate degree in economics and commerce from the University of Melbourne (1986) and a MBA (Honors) from IMD (1996). He is based in New York.

Boris Collardi started his career as an intern at Credit Suisse in Geneva in 1993. For 12 years he held various positions, including CFO of the Private Banking division and COO Europe, Middle East and North Africa. In 2006, he joined Bank Julius Baer as its COO and later became CEO of the Investment Solutions division. He was named CEO of Julius Baer Group and Bank in 2009.

Collardi has spent most of his career abroad, including five years in Asia, after working in London and a number of European countries. He was managing partner of the Pictet Group between June 2018 and September 2021.

He has held the following external mandates:

• Member of the Board – EFG International AG
• Member of the Board and the Committee of the Governing Board of the Board of Directors of the Swiss Bankers Association
• Member of the Strategic Advisory Board of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
• Member of the Advisory Board of the Wealth Management Institute of the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore
• Honorary Member of the Board of the INTERPOL Foundation for a Safer World

Alain Dehaze is Chairman and board member at GGE and EIFFEL and former CEO at Adecco Group, the world’s leading workforce solutions partner best known for its international brands Adecco, Modis, Badenoch & Clark, Spring Professional, Lee Hecht Harrison, Pontoon, Adia, and YOSS.

Dehaze, a Belgian national, graduated as a commercial engineer at the ICHEC Brussels Management School before rising through the ranks at Henkel and ISS. He joined the workforce solutions sector in 2000, when he was appointed Managing Director at Creyf’s Interim in Belgium. His path took him to the CEO position at Solvus, COO at USG People – when the latter took over Solvus – and CEO at the Dutch staffing services company Humares between 2007 and 2009. He joined the Adecco Group in 2009 as member of the Executive Committee, responsible first for Northern Europe, then for the Group’s largest market France before taking on the CEO position in September 2015.

Dehaze plays an active role shaping the labor markets of tomorrow as a member of the ILO Global Commission on the Future of Work, board member at the Global Apprenticeship Network (GAN) and as Steward of the World Economic Forum Center for the New Economy and Society. Before becoming CEO at the Adecco Group, he also held board positions at sector level with the World Employment Confederation, including the vice presidency of the World Employment Confederation Europe (formerly EUROCIETT).

Jahangir Doongaji is CEO at Hilti. He has been a member of the Executive Board since 2014, being responsible for the Electric Tools & Accessories Business Area and Corporate Research (until end of 2021) and is the designated CEO successor as of January 2023.

Born and raised in India, Doongaji started his Hilti career in 2000, initially leading customer service in the Swiss market organization. He moved to corporate headquarters in Schaan in 2002 where he has since held various positions in different Business Units.

From 2006 to 2013, he headed the largest business unit, Power Tools & Accessories, before moving to the Executive Board. He has been leading a review of Hilti Group strategy since 2021.

Professor Anna Fontcuberta i Morral is the President of EPFL since 1 January 2025.

Prior to this appointment, she served as Associate Vice-President for Centers and Platforms at EPFL between 2021 and 2024. From 2015 to 2024 she also served at the Swiss National Science Foundation in Division IV and in the Specialized Committee on International Cooperation, over which she presided from 2021 to 2024.

After studying physics at the University of Barcelona, she earned a PhD in materials science from Ecole Polytechnique in Palaiseau, France. She later completed a postdoc at the California Institute of Technology, where she co-founded the company Aonex Technologies. Before becoming full professor in both materials science and engineering and physics at EPFL in 2008, she was a CNRS researcher at Ecole Polytechnique and a team leader at the Technical University of Munich.

She has also served in the Swiss Quantum Commission. Among her recognitions are the Emy Noether award of the European Physical Society, the FEDEPE prize for leadership and the ERC Starting Grant.

Barbara Frei joined Schneider Electric in 2016 as Country President of Germany and expanded her scope to Zone President of DACH in 2017 (including Germany, Austria and Switzerland). In 2019, she was appointed Executive Vice President, Europe Operations and a member of the Executive Committee.

She started her career as a development project manager for motors and drives at ABB Schweiz AG. She held various senior management positions at ABB Group, including regional responsibility as Country Manager Czech Republic, Regional Manager for the Mediterranean in Italy, and leadership of the worldwide drives business.

Frei holds a PhD in electrical machines from ETH Zurich, and an MBA from IMD Lausanne.

Laurent Freixe has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer Nestlé S.A. since September 1, 2024. He joined Nestlé in France in 1986. He successfully managed Zone Europe during the financial and economic crisis, from 2008 until 2014. He then took over as CEO of Zone Americas, where he accelerated growth. Following the creation of Nestlé’s new Zone structure in 2022, Laurent Freixe was named CEO Zone Latin America, where he has been successfully leading through challenging conditions. Additionally, Laurent Freixe is committed to developing future leaders and talents, as evidenced by his active role in the Nestlé Leadership and Training Programs as well as the Nestlé Needs YOUth initiative, which promotes youth employment.

Harsh Goenka is Chairman at RPG Enterprises, a leading industrial group in India with interests in tyres, infrastructure, information technology and other diversified segments. Harsh is also Chair of the boards of major companies in the group including KEC International, CEAT, Zensar Technologies, RPG Lifesciences and Raychem RPG. Formerly, Harsh has served as Chair of the boards of the group’s joint ventures with Bayer, Goodyear, Vodafone, Sprint and Sulzer. A fifth generation entrepreneur, Harsh was also the chief executive of CEAT, the group’s flagship company, before being appointed Chair of RPG Enterprises in 1990.

Harsh is a distinguished business leader known for his strategic vision, governance and ability to steer a multi-sector conglomerate towards growth and innovation. He has played a pivotal role in expanding the group’s presence across various industries. Harsh is passionate about people and has been the driving force behind the group’s industry-leading people practices. Under his leadership over the past three decades, the group has gained wide reputation for its customer centricity and global competitiveness.

Harsh is a graduate in Economics from St Xavier’s College, India and is an MBA from IMD. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry and a Trustee of Breach Candy Hospital.

Michael Hengartner is President at ETH Board. He studied biochemistry at the Université Laval in Québec City. After earning his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Nobel Laureate H Robert Horvitz, he became head of a research group at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the US (1994-2001).

In 2001, he was appointed Professor for Molecular Biology at the newly created Ernst Hadorn Chair at the Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zürich. From 2009 to 2014, he acted as Dean of the Faculty of Science and from 2014 to 2020 as Rector at the University of Zürich. From 2016 to 2020, he also served as President at swissuniversities.

Hengartner holds an Executive MBA from IMD Lausanne (2008) and is the recipient of several awards for his groundbreaking research on the molecular basis of apoptosis, among them the Swiss National Latsis Prize. In 2010 he was awarded the Credit Suisse Award for Best Teaching at UZH and in 2016 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Sorbonne University in recognition of his research in molecular biology and his services to society.

Frédéric Herman is Rector at the University of Lausanne (UNIL). After training as a civil engineer at the University of Liège in Belgium and the University of Bristol in the UK, he moved to Canberra to do a PhD at the Australian National University. During his PhD, he started working on the interactions between climate, erosion, and tectonics.

After a postdoctoral fellowship at the California Institute of Technology, where he worked mainly on tectonic and erosional processes in central Nepal, Herman joined the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich in 2007. As a lecturer, he had the opportunity to work with several Master’s, PhD, and postdoctoral students over a period of five years and to develop a research program on the interactions between climate and earth surface processes.

In 2012, Herman moved to the University of Lausanne to set up a research group at the Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, first as a professor funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and then as an associate professor. He was promoted to full professor in 2019 and held the position of Dean of the Faculty of Geosciences and Environment from 2018 to 2021, when he became Rector at the University of Lausanne.

Karen Huebscher is Non-Executive Director and Vice-Chair at Sandoz. She is also Founder and Managing Director at FibulaMedical AG. She is an accomplished board-level executive with a strong record in the life sciences industries.

A Swiss/British citizen, Huebscher served as CEO at Solvias from 2014 to 2021. Solvias is a service provider to pharmaceutical, biotech, generics, medtech, and cosmetics businesses. As CEO, she managed the turnaround and transformation of the privately held company, enabling an exit for its shareholders through a sale to Private Equity in 2020. She remains a significant shareholder in the company.

She spent 15+ years at Novartis, where she held global top 400 positions in the Group such as Global Head of Investor Relations, member of the Divisional Executive Committee and of the Innovation Board for Vaccines and Diagnostics.

In addition to her executive track record, Huebscher is a committed champion of Swiss excellence in life sciences and technology/engineering.

As IMD EMBA alumni, she also holds a Master’s degree in animal sciences and a PhD in natural sciences, both from the ETH Zürich.

Ilham Kadri is CEO and President of the Executive Committee at Syensqo, a materials, chemicals and solutions company which, through its science, innovations, and purpose, contributes to protecting the climate, preserving resources, and fostering a better life.

Under her mandate to unleash Syensqo’s potential and her purpose-driven leadership, the group launched its strategy G.R.O.W. to drive growth, cash, and returns through distinct business mandates, a unifying operating model, and a forceful customer culture: its holistic and bold Syensqo One Planet sustainability objectives to drive superior long-term value creation, as well as Syensqo’s Purpose and Compass: We bond People, Ideas and Elements to Reinvent Progress with the vision to create sustainable shared value for all.

Kadri is a world citizen who has worked across four continents with leading chemical and packaging multinationals like Dow and Sealed Air, and in markets ranging from automotive and aerospace to water desalination, hygiene and healthcare. Before Syensqo, she was CEO and President at US-based hygiene and cleaning solutions provider Diversey, having led its purposeful turnaround and growth, subsequent spin-off and divestiture.

She is an independent board member at A.O. Smith and L’Oréal. She is an Executive Committee member at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, steering committee member at the European Round Table of Industrialists, and a permanent member of the International Business Council, part of the World Economic Forum.

The common themes in Kadri’s personal and professional life are education, inclusion, and diversity as well as sustainability: topics she strongly advocates to help create more equal opportunities, prosperity, and a healthier planet for future generations. She is committed to promoting women in STEM. She is the founder of the ISSA Hygieia™ Network, a US-based foundation championing women in the hygiene industry. In 2020, soon after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, she created the Solvay Solidarity Fund, building followership with employees and shareholders to support Solvay colleagues and their families in need. In a matter of weeks, the Fund collected €12m and the initiative inspired other companies to follow suit.

In 2019, Kadri entered Fortune’s list of Most Powerful Women in International Business, ranking 21st out of 50.

She holds a degree in chemical engineering from L’École des Hauts Polymères in Strasbourg and a PhD in macromolecular physico-chemistry from Strasbourg’s Louis Pasteur University.

Liselott Kilaas is Chair at Coala Life. She has over 20 years’ international top management experience, resulting in a proven track record in strategic and operational performance development across a broad spectrum of businesses. She has spent more than a decade in the healthcare sector and was CEO at Aleris from 2013 to 2017.

Kilaas has extensive non-executive board and committee experience including central banking, investment funds, telecom, technology, branded consumer goods, healthcare, medical technology, aluminum, media, and shipping. Her first two board assignments were with the Central Bank of Norway (also responsible for the Norwegian Sovereign Fund), a position she held for 12 years, and Telenor, a position she held for 10 years.

She is currently working with companies that are listed, private equity owned, and governmental owned. She is currently a member of the board of directors at Norsk Hydro ASA, Orkla ASA, Ambea AB, Peab AB, Nobina AB, Norwegian Sovereign Fund, and Chair of the Board of Directors at Coala Life, Implantica AG, and Avonova AB.

She has a Master’s in mathematical statistics from the University of Oslo, Norway, and is an IMD MBA.

Jørgen Vig Knudstorp is the former CEO & President of the LEGO Group (2001-2016) and Executive Chair of the LEGO Brand Group (2017-2023). In 2024, he acts as special partner to the LEGO Brand Owner Family with responsibility for Business and Brand Development. He is a board member of the LEGO A/S Group and Starbucks.

Jørgen’s work life prior to LEGO Group leadership was with McKinsey & Company, which followed an academic career as a PhD in business & economics, following a couple of years of work as a kindergarten teacher. As such he has a lifelong passion for learning and seeing people grow through education.

Michel Liès is Chair at Zurich Insurance. He has 40 years’ experience in global insurance and reinsurance, life insurance, and property and casualty insurance. He has held a number of positions in the industry, including Group CEO at Swiss Re. He began his career at the reinsurer in 1978, working first in the life market in Latin America before moving to Europe in 1983, where he held a number of senior positions within Swiss Re’s life businesses.

In 1994, Liès moved into Swiss Re’s non-life sector with responsibility for southern Europe and Latin America. From 1998-2000 he served as Swiss Re’s Head of Latin America Division until he was appointed Head of the Europe Division of its Property & Casualty Business Group. In 2005 he became Swiss Re’s Head Client Markets with responsibility for client relationships worldwide, and was also appointed as a member of the reinsurer’s Group Executive Committee.

From 2011 to 2012 he served as Swiss Re’s Chair of Global Partnerships, which works with governments, international development bodies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to mitigate and address global risks and increase resilience. He was appointed Swiss Re’s Group CEO in February 2012 and served in that role until his retirement from Swiss Re in 2016. He became Chair of the board at Zurich Insurance Group Ltd and Zurich Insurance Company Ltd in April 2018, with committee memberships including the Governance, Nominations and Sustainability Committee (Chair) and the Remuneration Committee. He was also Director at Zurich Insurance Company Ltd.

Liès is Chair at Avenir Suisse, a board member at the Institute of International Finance (IIF), and a Trustees Board member at the Swiss Institute of International Studies. He is also a member of the European Financial Services Round Table and a member of the Board of Trustees at the Lucerne Festival and a member of the steering committee at the Insurance Development Forum.

He holds a Master’s degree in mathematics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH).

Margarita Louis-Dreyfus is Chairperson of the Board at LDC Board Louis Dreyfus Commodities. She has served on the Louis Dreyfus board since 2007. She has been a Member of the Supervisory Board of Louis Dreyfus Commodities Holdings B.V. since April 2011 and was appointed Deputy Chair in 2013.

She has held a number of positions in accountancy, sales, and marketing and graduated with a diploma in accounting from St Petersburg School of Commerce in 1981.

Louis-Dreyfus is also founder and President of the Paris-based Louis Dreyfus Foundation, founder of the MOVEO Foundation, and a member of the Weidenfeld Scholarships Advisory Board at Oxford University.

Geraldine Matchett is a non-executive board member at Nestlé, ABB and SwissRe. She is former Co-CEO of dsm-firmenich (formerly Royal DSM), where she was also CFO and member of the Managing Board since joining in 2014.

Before DSM, she worked for the SGS Group from 2004 and was appointed Group CFO in 2010. In this role, she was voted CFO of the year in Switzerland in 2014. Prior to SGS, Matchett worked for Deloitte in Switzerland and KPMG in the UK.

In addition to her non-executive director mandates, Geraldine is currently the inaugural chair of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP) Steering Committee, an NGO dedicated to ensuring reliable measurement and reporting of Greenhouse Gas emissions, and she is Strategic Advisor to FCLTGlobal (Focusing Capital on the Long Term) after serving eight years on their Board of Directors.

She is a Chartered Accountant and former financial auditor, holds a Masters in Sustainable Development from Cambridge University, and has a Bachelor’s degree in Geography.

Loïc Moutault is Global President, Petcare at Mars, Inc.. Through comprehensive veterinary care, nutrition, diagnostics, wearable health monitoring, DNA testing, and platform businesses, Mars Petcare’s 100,000 associates across more than 130 countries work towards one purpose every day: a better world for pets.

Moutault first joined Mars, Inc. as an intern in the finance department after completing an MBA at the Burgundy School of Business and a postgraduate in emerging markets economy at the Prague University of Economics. He held several finance positions in France and Eastern Europe before rising through the ranks to become Corporate Finance Staff Officer for Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

He then moved into general management for Mars in Switzerland before leading the Petcare business in Germany and serving as Regional Director Asia Pacific for Royal Canin, a subsidiary of Mars Petcare. He was promoted to President of Royal Canin in 2014 and held the role until he took his current role in 2022.

During his eight years leading Royal Canin, the turnover of the business doubled and went through a significant transformation in digital and direct to consumer (D2C). Under his leadership, Royal Canin also evolved to be a global leader in health through nutrition, embracing a model that has a positive impact on society.

Moutault lives in Brussels with his wife, their two children, and their high-spirited boxer, Coco.

Martin M Naville is CEO at the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce, a leading business association with 1,800 business members (Swiss and American companies) which facilitates business between Switzerland and the USA. The Chamber also speaks for multinational companies based in Switzerland – large and small, Swiss and foreign.

Before taking over Swiss Amcham in October 2004, Naville spent 16 years with Boston Consulting Group in Munich, Zurich, and New York. In 1995, he was elected Partner and Director of Boston Consulting Group. At BCG, he specialized in the fields of wealth management and telecommunications. He started his professional career in 1984 as a corporate banker with JP Morgan in Zurich and New York

Naville has been Chair of the board at Zurich Zoo since 2004. He is also a senior advisor at Morgan Stanley (Switzerland), President at Komitee Weltoffenes Zürich, and a member of the Global Advisory Board at ETH Zurich.

He holds a Master of Law from the University of Zurich.

Bernhard Nuesser is CEO at Héron Optique et Audition. Previously, he was President at AMERA (Asia, Middle East, Russia, Africa) and President of Online and Digital at Essilor. He joined the company in 2013 and was promoted to President of Essilor Europe and President of Global Instruments in 2014. In 2016, he was mandated with the acceleration of the group’s digital agenda comprising both global e-commerce activities and the development and implementation of the group’s digital transformation roadmap. He is also a member of their Group Executive Committee.

Nuesser, who is based in Singapore, started his career in commercial and investment banking, working in several European countries for UBS. After his MBA from IMD in 1998, he joined the Executive Committee at GrandVision, a global leader in optical retailing, where he held various CEO positions including CEO of Vision Express in the UK from 2003 to 2008. Subsequently, he became CEO and Investor at Mondottica Ltd, a global, fast-growing Hong Kong-based eyewear company.

He serves on the boards at several high-profile joint ventures of the EssilorLuxottica group, such as Nikon-Essilor in Japan and MJS, China’s fastest-growing optical franchise. From 2015 to 2018 he served as President at EUROM1, the European Federation of the Optical Industry.

Adolfo Orive is President and CEO at Tetra Pak, the world’s leading food processing and packaging solutions company. Tetra Pak is a privately owned company with more than 25,000 employees in 160 countries and net sales of €11.14bn (2021).

Orive brings 26 years of international experience at Tetra Pak to his current leadership role. Most recently he served as Cluster Vice President of their North, Central & South America division. Prior to this, he served as Cluster Vice President of Europe & Central Asia, and, earlier on, as Managing Director of Tetra Pak Iberia and Managing Director of Tetra Pak Colombia. He joined Tetra Pak in 1993 as a commercial director in Mexico.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the Universidad Iberoamericana and a Master’s degree in business administration from the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico.

Sami Rahal is CEO at Deloitte Central Europe. He served as Managing Partner of the Financial Advisory business (2010–2017), EMEA M&A TS Leader, and HR Director and Chief Strategy Officer before taking up his duties as President of Deloitte France and French-speaking Africa in 2017.

He was appointed CEO at Deloitte Central Europe GmbH in 2021, a combination of Austria, Central Europe, France & Francophone Africa, Germany, Portugal, Luxemburg, and Turkey Member Firms. He connects the breadth and depth of capabilities of over 34,100 people and 1,400 partners in 42 countries.

Before joining Deloitte in 2006, Rahal, then a key account audit associate, co-founded and developed the M&A Transaction Services line at a ‘Big 4’ firm where he advised industrial and service groups and investment funds on their M&A issues.

Päivi Rekonen is a board director currently serving as Chair of the Board of Directors at Amina Bank AG and on the boards of Konecranes Plc and  Wipro Ltd. She is a member of various board committees, including audit, strategy, and HR/Nomination.

Päivi Rekonen has broad global expertise in technology innovation, digital transformation, strategic planning, and international market expansion.

Previously, she served on the boards of WithSecure Plc., Alma Media Plc and Efecte Plc. Prior to joining boards, she held global leadership roles at companies such as UBS, Adecco, Cisco, and Nokia.

She holds a MSc in Economics and Business Administration and a MSc in Social Sciences from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland.

Thomas Schinecker was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Roche Group in 2023. He began his career at Roche in 2003 as part of a management development program, followed by various roles across six countries and three continents.

Throughout his time at Roche, Schinecker served as Head of Marketing and Sales in Austria, Lifecycle Leader for Diagnostics’ Sequencing Solutions, and General Manager of Roche Diagnostics in Sweden and Germany. For two years, he led Roche Diagnostics’ largest business unit including Research and Development, before taking over the Diagnostics Division, which he led from October 2019 to December 2022.

Schinecker was born in Germany with German and Austrian citizenship and grew up in Singapore. He studied genetics in Salzburg, Austria, and received his PhD in molecular biology from New York University in 2003.

Thomas Schmidheiny is Honorary Chair of the Board of Directors at Holcim. He was elected as a member of the board in 1978 and served until 2018. That year, in recognition of his many years of service to LafargeHolcim, the Board of Directors named him Honorary Chair of the Group.

Schmidheiny studied mechanical engineering at the ETH Zürich and complemented his studies with an MBA from IMD Lausanne in 1972. In 1999, he was awarded an honorary doctorate for his services in the field of sustainable development from Tufts University, Massachusetts.

He began his career in 1970 as technical director with Cementos Apasco and in 1976 was appointed to the executive committee of Holcim Ltd, where he held the office of Chair from 1978 until 2001. He was Chair of the Board of Directors at Holcim Ltd from 1984 until 2003 and a Member of its Nomination & Compensation Committee until 2015.

Schmidheiny’s other mandates include Chair of the Board of Directors at Spectrum Value Management Ltd and at Schweizerische Cement-Industrie-Aktiengesellschaft, both in Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland. He also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Cambridge, Massachusetts, US.

Ulrike Schwarz-Runer is Managing Director and Senior Partner at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where she holds the role of Global General Counsel. As a member of the BCG Executive Committee, as well as all other core committees and company boards, she is involved in the firm’s critical business priorities including assessing new arenas and markets.

Prior to joining BCG, she was General Counsel and a board birector at Grosvenor, one of the largest family-owned businesses in the UK. She also served as general counsel of a sovereign wealth fund in the Middle East and as Executive Director at Goldman Sachs, advising ultra-high-net-worth individuals and family-owned businesses.

Earlier in her career, Schwarz-Runer was a corporate lawyer at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Vienna and at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York. She has also held a number of non-executive director roles in the financial services industry.

She holds a Doctor of Law and a Master of Arts in political science and public communications from the University of Salzburg, Austria, and a Master of Law in international taxation from New York University School of Law. She is qualified to practice law in England and Wales, New York, and Austria.

Stefan Seiler is Head of Group Human Resources & Group Corporate Services at UBS Group AG and has been a member of its Group Executive Board since May 2023. Seiler joined UBS in 2011 and has held various senior roles in human resources, including Global Head of HR for the Corporate Center, Head of HR for UBS Switzerland, and Head of Group Human Resources. Prior to joining UBS, Seiler spent five years at the Swiss Military Academy at ETH Zurich and Nanyang Business School in Singapore, and four years at Credit Suisse in Zurich and New York. He holds a PhD in educational psychology from the University of Fribourg.

Based in Zurich, Seiler holds several additional mandates, including Adjunct Professor for Leadership and Strategic Human Resource Management at the Nanyang Business School, Singapore, Chairman of the Foundation Board of the Swiss Finance Institute, member of the UBS Center for Economics in Society at the University of Zurich Foundation School, and member of the Foundation Board of the UBS Swiss Pension Fund.

Feike Sijbesma is a member of the Supervisory Board at Philips and Co-Chair at the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA). He served as CEO and Chair of the Managing Board of Directors at DSM from 2007 till 2020, when he transitioned to the role of Honorary Chair at Royal DSM.

He sits on the boards of Philips, Unilever, and the Dutch Central Bank, and Co-Chairs the Global Centre for Adaptation with former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. He is member of the Board of Trustees at the World Economic Forum, and has several roles as an advocate for businesses tackling climate change. He also steers the expansion of Africa Improved Foods, addressing malnutrition by resilient local food production.

In 1987, Sijbesma joined Gist-brocades, where he was responsible for strategic planning and business development in the Industrial Pharmaceuticals Division. He then held various management positions within the company including Marketing and Sales Director, Industrial Pharmaceuticals Division (1990–1993), Director Savoury Ingredients, Food Specialties Division (1993–1995), and Director Food Specialties Division (1995–1998). Following the acquisition of Gist-brocades by DSM in 1998, he became Director of the DSM Food Specialties business group, and joined DSM’s Managing Board of Directors in 2000.

He studied medical biology at the University of Utrecht (the Netherlands) and business administration at Erasmus University (the Netherlands).

Woods Staton is Executive Chair at Arcos Dorados (NYSE: ARCO), the world’s largest independent McDonald’s franchisee. Arcos Dorados operates or franchises more than 2,200 restaurants, with over 100,000 employees and greater than US$3bn in revenue across 20 countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Often recognized as one of the best companies to work for in Latin America, every year Arcos Dorados generates first-time, formal employment opportunities for tens of thousands of young people in the region.

Born in Medellín, Colombia, Staton’s business life has focused on consumer goods in Latin America. His grandfather founded Panamco, which became the largest Coca-Cola bottler in the world with operations in seven Latin American countries. After many years in the family business, he branched out, starting his entrepreneurial career as McDonald’s joint venture partner in Argentina. He later served as President of McDonald’s South Latin America Division. He founded Arcos Dorados in 2007 when he led a consortium of investors in the purchase of McDonald’s Corporation’s operations in Latin America. In April 2011, Arcos Dorados executed a successful IPO on the New York Stock Exchange.

Staton is actively involved in several non-profit organizations. He is Co-Founder of Endeavor Argentina, promoting entrepreneurship, as well as a founding partner of Ashoka Argentina, a global organization committed to investing in innovative solutions through social entrepreneurship. He is a member of the Chair’s International Advisory Council of the Council of the Americas and currently serves as the Chair for the Latin American Program’s Advisory Board at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a think tank in Washington DC.

Stausholm joined Rio Tinto in September 2018 as Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer and became Chief Executive Officer in January 2021. As CEO, he uses his strategic, commercial, and governance expertise to oversee the implementation of strategy. He is committed to building trust with communities, governments, and other stakeholders, improving operational performance, and decarbonization.

Stausholm has worked globally in senior finance roles for more than 20 years. From 2012 until 2018, he worked for AP. Moller-Maersk, the world’s largest shipping company, where he was Chief Strategy, Finance and Transformation Officer – first for Maersk Line and later the broader Maersk Group. In 2008, he moved back to his native Denmark as Group CFO of the global facility service provider ISS. Before that, he spent 19 years working for Shell across Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific.

From 2009 to 2016, Stausholm served as a non-executive director of Statoil (now Equinor), with the last six years as Chairman of the Audit Committee. He served as a non­-executive director of Woodside Petroleum between 2006 and 2008.

Stausholm grew up in the city of Nyborg, Denmark, the son of a civil engineer and a teacher. He made his start in business working at Shell’s Danish head office while studying at the University of Copenhagen.

He is married with three children and divides his time between homes in Denmark, Mallorca, and London. An avid cyclist, his favorite way to get to know a place while on business is through early morning bike rides.

Mostafa Terrab is Chairman and CEO of the OCP Group, a global leader in crop nutrition solutions headquartered in Morocco. OCP develops Morocco’s world-leading reserves of phosphorus – a vital element in all plant, animal and human life – into an increasingly diverse range of products for farmers on five continents.

Starting in 2006, he took OCP’s predecessor entity – a Moroccan state agency founded in 1920 – on a profound journey of transformation from one with a primary focus on mining with modest amounts of downstream product development to the world’s largest and most efficient producer in its field, recognized worldwide as a leader.

As Chairman of the OCP Group, he oversaw the establishment of the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, a world-class research and teaching university in Morocco that enjoys strategic partnerships with some of the most prestigious universities in the world and aims to be a major driver of Africa’s economic development and diversification as well as the strengthening of its human capital.

From 2002 to 2006, at the World Bank, he served as a key advisor to developing countries – particularly in Africa – on liberalizing and diversifying their telecoms sector, at a time when demand for mobile phones was exploding in these countries, where he also led the Information for Development Program (infoDev). These efforts built upon his hands-on experience in Morocco from 1998 to 2002 creating, building and leading Morocco’s telecom regulatory authority. Before that, he was a member of the team of experts in the Cabinet of the late King Hassan II for six years.

He earned Master’s and PhD degrees in engineering and operations research from the Massachusetts Institute in Technology after an engineering degree from the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees in Paris. Early in his career, he worked for three years at Bechtel Civil and Minerals in San Francisco (1983-85), at the Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts (1988-1992), and as an assistant professor at the Rensellaer Polytechnic Institute (1990-1992).

Su-Mei Thompson is CEO at Media Trust, a non-profit organization based in London that works with media industry partners to give charities, under-represented communities, and young people a stronger voice.

Thompson started her career as a corporate finance lawyer at Linklaters, before spending many years in leading media companies including The Walt Disney Company and the Financial Times. She was a member of the FT’s Global Management Board and Managing Director for Asia, before going on to be Co-Head of Christie’s Asia.

Her career in the non-profit sector began in 2007 when she became CEO at The Women’s Foundation Hong Kong. Under her leadership, The Women’s Foundation emerged as a leading NGO, known for its innovative and impactful community and mentoring programs and effective partnerships with multiple stakeholders. Thompson also founded the 30% Club’s Hong Kong chapter to advocate for more women on boards and TWF’s Male Allies HeForShe network. At TWF, Thompson started to make her mark as a leading advocate for gender equality on the international stage. She co-produced the award-winning documentary “She Objects” and was invited to discuss female media representation at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016. Meanwhile, her TED talk ”Dying To Be Thin has attracted over 150,000 views.

Having previously served on Hong Kong’s Equal Opportunities Commission, in 2020, Thompson was appointed to the Board of the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission, the UK’s national human rights institution. She is also a Trustee at the Orwell Foundation, a Member of the English National Opera’s Insights Council, an Editorial Board Member for IMD’s I publication, and a Council Member of Cheltenham Ladies College, her alma mater.

A law graduate of Cambridge and Oxford, she was the first woman to make the Dean’s List for IMD’s MBA program and was recently named by IMD as one of its 50 MBA Laureates. She was also recognized by Charity Times on International Women’s Day 2022 as one of 15 women leaders making a difference and inspiring other leaders in the charity sector.

Marie-France Tschudin is a board member at Axa. Previously, she was President of Innovative Medicines International and Chief Commercial Officer at Novartis, which launches and commercializes innovative treatments to address patients’ needs across a range of therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular diseases, ophthalmology, immunology, and dermatology.

Tschudin took on her current role in 2019, having joined Novartis Pharmaceuticals two years earlier as Europe Region Head. She speaks six languages and draws on more than 25 years of multinational experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. She is also a member of the Board of Directors at the multinational insurance company AXA.

Throughout her career, she has established a strong record of driving commercial excellence, maintaining integrity, and championing a commitment to patients. Her goal as a leader is to create a diverse and inclusive environment where people are empowered to be their best selves and collaborate to have a real impact for patients, and she believes that having a strong work-life balance is one of the keys to succeeding both personally and professionally.

Robert Uggla is CEO at A.P. Møller Holding A/S and Chair of the Board of Directors at Maersk Tankers and Maersk Product Tankers. He is also Vice Chair of the Board of Directors at Maersk Drilling and a member of the Board of Directors at A.P. Møller-Maersk and ZeroNorth.

Uggla has long had a keen interest in shipping and seamanship. During his military service, he eventually became a Sergeant of the Swedish Amphibious Battalion, working as an instructor in maneuvering and navigating the Navy’s high-speed combat vessels, which were based in the Swedish archipelagos.

After a brief stint in the finance industry, he joined the A.P. Møller-Maersk Group in 2004. He was highly involved in the Group’s M&A activities from 2004-2006, acquiring as well as selling companies. He then took on the role of Managing Director of Maersk Line’s activities in the Arabian Gulf, where he was responsible for approximately 200 employees and US$1bn in revenue.

In 2009, with the tanker markets in shambles, he became the Managing Director of Brostrom. The company operated approximately 75 intermediate and small product tankers in Europe as well as Asia. During this period, he and his colleagues at Maersk Tankers worked diligently to create a truly integrated company with significant synergies, improved customer offerings, and a better safety record. Brostrom is today an integral part of Maersk Tankers, with the same safety system, technical management, flag strategy, and commercial objectives.

Previously, Uggla was CEO at Svitzer from 2012-2014, with approximately 400 vessels in 100 locations and 4,000 employees. He holds a Master of Science degree in business administration from Stockholm School of Economics, with exchange studies at Università commerciale Luigi Bocconi, and has pursued executive education at IMD, Harvard Business School, and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Dolf van den Brink was appointed Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of HEINEKEN NV in 2020. Joining in 1998 as a commercial management trainee, between 1999-2005 he worked in various marketing and commerce roles at Vrumona and in Global Commerce.

In 2005, he was appointed Commercial Director at Bralima in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He then moved to New York in 2009 to become Managing Director of Heineken USA for six years. In 2015, he was appointed Managing Director of Heineken Mexico (Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma). In 2018 he then moved to Singapore to become President, APAC and joined the Executive Team.

A native of The Netherlands, van Den Brink attended the Advanced Management Program at Wharton, University of Pennsylvania, and has a MA in philosophy and an MSc in business administration from the University of Groningen in The Netherlands. He is a 2014 Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

In 2016 van Den Brink received the Vital Voices Solidarity Award for his and Heineken Mexico’s work against domestic violence in Mexico. In 2012, Fortune Magazine listed him as one of their “40 Under 40”. He is married with two daughters.

Penelope Warne is the Founder of LawEverything, UK. Previously she was Senior Partner, Head of Energy, and UK Chair at global law firm CMS. She joined CMS in 1993 and established the Aberdeen office. Qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales and in Scotland, she built a global oil and gas practice and established offices in Edinburgh, Rio, Dubai, and Mexico.

Warne is an Honorary Fellow of the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy (CEPMLP) at Dundee University and a member of the Vice Chancellor’s Circle at Oxford University. She graduated in law from Bristol University, UK.

Peter Wuffli is Honorary Chair of IMD’s Foundation Board and Member of the Advisory Board at the elea Center. He is also the Founder and Chair of the elea Foundation for Ethics in Globalization.

elea was established in 2006 with the purpose of fighting absolute poverty (i.e., less than US$3 daily income) through entrepreneurial means, and is a philanthropic impact investor in the fields of agricultural value chains, informal retail and last mile distribution, employable skill building, and climate & livelihoods.

Wuffli also serves on the board at Sygnum, a digital asset bank in Zurich and Singapore, and is Vice Chair at the Zürich Opera House.

Previously, he was Partner at McKinsey & Company, CEO at UBS Group, and Chair at Partners Group (a global leader for private market investments listed at Swiss Stock Exchange) and IMD respectively.

Wuffli earned a PhD in economics from the University of St. Gallen. He regularly publishes articles and books on themes of globalization, ethics, impact investing, and leadership, including Inclusive Leadership – A Framework for the Global Era and The elea Way (jointly with IMD Professor Vanina Farber).

Sebastian is the Chairman of PwC Switzerland and a global relationship partner for some of the firm’s most prominent international clients. He has over 30 years of experience with PwC as part of the UK, Belgian, and Swiss firms and has been based in Geneva for 17 years.

Previously, di Paola served as a PwC Switzerland’s Oversight Board member for 10 years and led its consulting practice in western Switzerland. For over 20 years, he was the partner in charge of PwC’s award-winning Global Treasury and Commodity Risk Advisory practice, leading a multi-disciplinary team of consultants and advising multinational corporates and commodity traders on all aspects of their finance, treasury, and risk management activities. He chaired PwC’s Global IFRS Corporate Treasury Technical Committee for 17 years and was part of the global Finance Consulting Leadership Team.

His clients have included many of the world’s leading multinational corporations, and he has helped companies across Europe implement technology and compliance-driven change in their finance functions. A regular conference speaker and moderator, di Paola has authored articles in specialist publications on various finance, technology, and risk-related topics. He is a UK chartered accountant, a Fellow of the UK ACT, and has an MA in law from Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

He is the father of two grown-up children and is passionate about travel, sports, wildlife, woodcarving, music, cinema, and gastronomy.