IMD business school for management and leadership courses

Gilbert Achermann is Chair at Straumann, the global leader in implant dentistry, and a board member of Julius Bär, the private bank, Ypsomed, a selfcare solutions company, and Vifor, a pharma company. In addition, he is a jury member of Venture Kick and member of the Board of the Swiss MedTech association.

Prior to becoming Chair, Achermann served as CFO and CEO at Straumann. His previous positions include Chair and Co-CEO of the Vitra Group, a family-owned furniture and shopfitting company. Prior to that he held positions as Chair at Siegfried, a listed pharma service company, and 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 of 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.

Christoph 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 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 and diversity and inclusion in her leadership.

A seasoned C-suite executive with more than 20 years of 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, the leading Finnish design house renowned for its bold prints and colors. She became President of the company in 2015 and became CEO a year later.

Her career at this fast-internationalizing creative company began in international PR. Prior to her current role, she acted as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) from 2014. From 2011, she also led the company’s marketing, communications and public relations.

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, and she has completed further studies at both Harvard and IMD. She frequents as a guest lecturer and is a member of Aalto University Student Union’s (AYY) Honorary Council and Alumni Advisory Board of Aalto University School of Business.

She was elected as the Young Leader of the Year 2015 by the Junior Chamber International Finland and was the patron of the competition in 2018.

Abdulrahman holds a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from King Saud University, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh in the United States. 

He Joined Elm in 2005, a leading Saudi based company focusing on digitizing governments and enterprises, he is the CEO of the company since 2012. 

Abdulrahman was the chairman of the advisory board for the first health cluster in Riyadh, a board member of Taibah Valley company in emerging technologies, board member of Dammam Valley company in the biotech sector, and a board member of National Real Estate Registration Services company. 

He co-founded the first open-source group in Saudi and is the co-author the Arabic book “Open Source Software”. He is interested in venture capital and digital startups.  

Vinita Bali is Non-Executive Director and Member of the Board at Syngene International Ltd. She is a global business leader with extensive experience in leading large companies in both India and overseas. She has worked with eminent multinationals like the Coca-Cola Company and Cadbury Schweppes PLC in a variety of marketing, general management and chief executive roles in the UK, Nigeria, South Africa, Latin America, and the US, in addition to Britannia Industries Ltd in India.

Effective from April 2014, Bali moved from a full-time operational role as MD and CEO of Britannia to pursue her wide-ranging interests in the corporate and development sectors. She is a Non-Executive Director on the Global Boards of Smith & Nephew plc and Bunge Limited; and Chair of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), a Swiss foundation based in Geneva. She also served on the Global Board of Syngenta International AG from April 2012 to June 2017. In India, Vinita serves as a Non-Executive Director on the Boards of CRISIL Ltd and Syngene International Limited; is a member of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management – Bangalore; and an Advisory Board Member of PwC. She brings a global and pragmatic perspective to strategy, marketing, innovation, and operations, having worked across countries and continents with responsibility for global and regional roles.

Bali was among 27 global leaders appointed by the UN in 2012 to help improve maternal and child health as part of its SUN (Scaling up Nutrition) initiative and completed her term in 2016. She has been recognized in forums nationally and internationally and won several awards for her various contributions to business and society.

She has an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Delhi and a master’s degree in management from the University of Bombay. She also pursued post-graduate studies in international business from Michigan State University.

Joan Beets, a Dutch national currently based in Zurich, is one of the managing partners of KennedyFitch, a boutique executive search and management consulting firm. She has 20 years of 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. Martijn has previously held the positions of CEO of COFRA Holding AG, CEO of C&A Europe and CEO of 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.

Thomas Buberl is CEO at AXA GROUP. He holds a Master of Economics degree from WHU Koblenz (Germany), an MBA from Lancaster University (UK) and a PhD in economics from the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland). In 2008 he was nominated as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

From 2000 to 2005, he worked at the Boston Consulting Group as a consultant for the banking and insurance sector in Germany and abroad. From 2005 to 2008, he had worked for the Winterthur Group as member of the Management Board of Winterthur in Switzerland, first as Chief Operating Officer and then as Chief Marketing and Distribution Officer. Then he joined Zurich Financial Services, where he had been CEO for Switzerland.

From 2012 to April 2016, Buberl was CEO of AXA Konzern AG (Germany). In 2012, he was a member of the AXA Executive Committee. In March 2015, he became CEO of the global business line for the Health business and joined the AXA Management Committee. In January 2016, Thomas was also appointed CEO of the global business line Life & Savings.

From 21 March 2016 to 31 August 2016, he was Deputy CEO (Directeur Général Adjoint) of AXA. Since 1 September 2016, he has been the company’s CEO and Director.

Richard Carey is a Managing Member of 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.

Ronan Cassidy is Chief Human Resources and Corporate Officer at Royal Dutch Shell plc, and has been in post since 2016. He is also a member of the Executive Committee. He also holds regional responsibility for Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding Nigeria) human resources, aircraft, external relations, health, real estate, and security.

After graduating from Worcester College, Oxford University (UK) with a BA in modern history, he joined Shell in Aberdeen in 1988 in HR.

Cassidy has held a variety of HR positions across upstream and downstream businesses in the UK, China and the Netherlands. He was VP HR for the Global Retail business (2004–2008), Executive Vice President Strategy and Regional Coordination (2008), then Executive Vice President HR Downstream (2009–2013) before taking on the role of Executive Vice President Upstream International in 2013.

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. Boris 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.

Boris Collardi 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

Jo Deblaere is former Chief Operating Officer at Accenture. He was responsible for leading the company’s business operations globally, executing business strategy, and ensuring company-wide operational excellence and had overall leadership responsibility for Accenture’s business in Europe, covering the company’s presence in more than 20 countries. In addition, he led enterprise risk management, working across the company to identify, assess, and actively manage enterprise risks. He also chaired Accenture’s Capital Committee and was a member of its Global Management Committee.

Prior to becoming COO in September 2009, Deblaere was Chief Operating Officer of Accenture’s outsourcing business globally, a position he had held since 2006. In this role he was instrumental in driving operational excellence across its $9 billion outsourcing business and in leading the outsourcing industrialization agenda.

From 2005 to 2006, he led Accenture’s global network of business process outsourcing delivery centers. From 2000 to 2005, he had overall responsibility for Accenture’s work with public-sector clients in Western Europe. He joined Accenture in 1985 and became a partner in 1996.

Deblaere represents the company as part of the BUSINESSEUROPE Corporate Advisory and Support Group. He is also Chair of the Board of Directors at Junior Achievement for Young Enterprise Europe and a member of the Board of Governors at Junior Achievement Worldwide.

Earlier in his career, he worked with numerous clients in a variety of industries including automotive, metals, energy, chemicals, media and entertainment, and public service. He holds a degree in business administration and information management from KU Leuven in Belgium.

Alain Dehaze is former CEO of the 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 of Creyf’s Interim in Belgium. His path took him to the CEO position at Solvus, COO of USG People – when the latter took over Solvus – and CEO of 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 member of the ILO Global Commission on the Future of Work, board member of the Global Apprenticeship Network (GAN) and as Steward of the World Economic Forum Center for the New Economy and Society. Before becoming CEO of 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 (born 1967) 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, Jahangir started his Hilti career in 2000, initially leading customer service in the Swiss market organization. In 2002,Jahangir Doongaji moved to corporate headquarters in Schaan 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. Since the end of 2021, Jahangir Doongaji has been leading the review of the Hilti Group strategy.

Henrik Ehrnrooth is President and CEO at KONE Corporation, a position he has held since 2014. From 2009 he served as the company’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Prior to KONE, Ehrnrooth held several positions in the banking industry, last serving as Managing Director of Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs. He began his career in the early 1990s at UBS Ltd in London.

He holds a MSc (Econ) degree with a major in finance from the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki.

Annika Falkengren is Managing Partner at Lombard Odier Group and has been in post since 2017. She was formerly President and CEO of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB), one of the major financial groups in Scandinavia, where she spent her career from 1987 to 2017. She held several positions of responsibility, including Head of Global Trading & Capital Markets, Head of Merchant Banking, and Deputy Group Chief Executive, before being appointed President and CEO in 2005.

Falkengren manages the Group’s finance and corporate tax, risk management, logistics, marketing, and communication units. She is responsible for the One Roof Project, which will see Lombard Odier move to its new headquarters in Geneva in 2023, as well as the Group’s Corporate Social Responsibility Committee.

She was a member of the Board of Directors and then Chair of the Swedish Bankers’ Association from 2010 to 2017. She has also been a board member of several large international companies.

Falkengren is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA). She holds a Bachelor of Science in business administration and economics from the University of Stockholm.

Barbara 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.   

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

Barbara holds a PhD in Electrical Machines from ETH Zurich, and an MBA from IMD Lausanne. 

Harsh Goenka is Chair at RPG Enterprises, which was founded by his father in 1979. He graduated in economics from St. Xavier’s College (India) and began his career as Managing Director of CEAT Ltd before taking up his current position in 1988.

Goenka is a Special Invitee of the Indian Merchants Chamber, a member of the National Executive Committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), and a board member of India’s National Gallery of Modern Art. He serves on the Governing Board of India’s National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) and as a trustee of the Breach Candy Hospital Trust, and promotes the CEAT cricket ratings for international and domestic cricket.

He holds an MBA from IMD.

Ralph Hamers is Group CEO of UBS AG and President of the Executive Board. Before joining UBS in 2020, he served as CEO and Chair of the Executive Board at ING Group (2013-2020). Within his 29-year career at ING, he held a number of leadership positions including CEO of ING Belgium and Luxembourg (2011-2013), Head of Network Management for Retail Banking Direct & International (2010-2011), and Global Head of the Commercial Banking Network (2007-2010).

Prior to that, Hamers was CEO of ING Bank Netherlands (2005-2007), General Manager of ING Bank’s branch network from (2002-2005), and General Manager of ING Romania (1999-2002).

His other activities and functions include: Member of the Board of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce, Member of the Institut International d’Etudes Bancaires, Member of the McKinsey Advisory Council, Member of the World Economic Forum International Business Council, and Governor of the World Economic Forum (Financial Services).

He holds a Master’s degree in business econometrics and operations research from Tilburg University, the Netherlands.

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 of the University of Zürich. From 2016 to 2020, he also served as president of 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 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 of the University of Lausanne.

Karen Huebscher is Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committee at Tecan Group. She is also Non-Executive Director of BBI Solutions (a Novo Holdings company, responsible for managing the operating and financial assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation), and Founder and Managing Director of 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 of Solvias from 2014 to the end of 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.

Dr Ilham Kadri is CEO and President of the Executive Committee of Solvay, 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 Solvay’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 Solvay One Planet sustainability objectives to drive superior long-term value creation, as well as Solvay’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 Solvay, she was CEO and President of 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 of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, steering committee member of 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.

Jouko Karvinen is Chair of the Supervisory Board for Finnair PLC, the national airline of Finland, as well as Chair of Solidium, an investment company owned by the state of Finland. 

Prior to becoming Chair, Karvinen was Vice Chair of Finnair from 2016 to 2017. Previously, he was a member of the Supervisory Board of Valmet from 2016 to 2018, serving on the compensation committee. Prior to that, he was at Nokia where he served as Vice Chair of the Supervisory Board from 2013 to 2016, Chair of the Audit Committee from 2012 to 2016, Chair of the Nomination and Governance Committee from 2013 to 2014, and a board member from 2011 to 2016. 

In addition, he was a member of the Supervisory Board of SKF from 2010 to 2016. He was CEO of Stora Enso Oyj from 2007 to 2014, and CEO of Philips Medical Systems Division from 2002 to 2006. He was a member of the Board of Management of Royal Philips Electronics in 2006 and Group Management Committee from 2002 to 2006.

Earlier in his career, Karvinen held executive and managerial positions at ABB Group Limited, including Executive Vice President, Head of Automation Technology Products Division, and member of the Group Executive Committee. 

He holds a Master’s of Science from Tampere University of Technology. 

Liselott Kilaas is Chair at Coala Life. She has over 20 years of international top management experience, resulting in a proven track record in strategic and operational performance development across a broad spectrum of businesses. During the last 10 years she worked in the healthcare sector and was the CEO of Aleris 2013–2017.

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 of 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 Executive Chairman of LEGO Brand Group and a member of the board at LEGO A/S. He also holds positions as member of the board at Starbucks and Merlin Entertainments Limited, and as Chairman of BrainPOP.

Knudstorp joined the LEGO Group in 2001 and was appointed President and CEO in 2004.

He began his career at McKinsey & Company in 1998 and holds an MSc and PhD in economics management from Aarhus University in Denmark.

Jill Lee is a non-executive director on the Board of Schneider Electric SE. She chairs the Audit Committee and is a member of the Investment Committee. In addition, Lee also serves as a non-executive director on the Board of PSA International, a leading port group headquartered in Singapore.

Until April 2022, Lee was the Group CFO and a member of the Executive Committee of Sulzer Ltd. Prior to her taking the Group CFO role in April 2018, she served as a member of the non-executive Board of Directors of Sulzer for seven years and had been the Chair of the Audit Committee. From 2017 to 2020, she was a member of the Supervisory Board of Signify (formerly known as Philips Lighting) and Chair of the Audit Committee.

Beginning her executive career in Singapore in 1986, she went on to build an international career whereby she spent several years heading CFO functions in China followed by global strategic positions in Germany and Switzerland.

From 2015 to 2018, Lee was the Group Senior VP and Head of Next Level Program Management of ABB where she led global transformation initiatives. During 2012 to 2014, she was Senior VP and CFO for ABB China and North Asia Region.

Prior to this, she served as Senior VP, Finance Strategy and Investments for Neptune Orient Lines in Singapore (2010-2011). She has also held a number of positions with Siemens, including Group Chief Diversity Officer (2008-2010), CFO and Senior Executive VP of Siemens in China (2004-2008), CFO and Senior VP of Siemens in Singapore (2000-2004) and General Manager for Siemens Electromechanical Components in Singapore (1997-2000). In the early years of her career she held finance roles in AT&T and Tyco Electronics in Singapore.

Lee holds a Bachelor of business administration from the National University of Singapore and an MBA from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. She is a member of the advisory board of Nanyang Business School in Singapore.

Axel P. Lehmann is the Chairman of Credit Suisse Group AG since January 2022. Additionally, he chairs the Governance and Nominations Committee and the Credit Suisse Foundation. He joined Credit Suisse’s Board of Directors in October 2021 as Chair of the Risk Committee.

Axel P. Lehmann has more than three decades of professional experience, spanning the financial services industry and an academic career. During the last 25 years, he has worked in both the international insurance and global banking sectors. Prior to joining Credit Suisse, Axel P.

Lehmann was a member of the Group Executive Board of UBS Group, initially as Group Chief Operating Officer and then as President Personal & Corporate Banking and President UBS Switzerland. Between 2009 and 2015, he served as a non-executive director and a member of the Risk Committee of UBS Group and was a member of the Governance and Nominating Committee from 2011 to 2013.Earlier in his career, he spent almost 20 years at Zurich Insurance Group, of which 14 years were as a member of the Group Executive Committee.

His various roles at Zurich Insurance Group included responsibility for the insurer’s European and North America business, group IT and as Chief Risk Officer.Axel P. Lehmann currently holds mandates at several academic and non-profit institutions, including serving as an adjunct professor at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

He holds a PhD in Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA.

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 of 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 of Zurich Insurance Company Ltd.

Liès is Chair of Avenir Suisse, a member of the board 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 Chair of the Supervisory Board at Louis Dreyfus Holdings B.V., a position she has held since March 2011. She has served on this board since September 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 at this company 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.

Jean-François Manzoni is President and Nestlé Chaired Professor of Leadership and Organizational Development at IMD. His research, teaching, and consulting activities are focused on leadership, the development of high-performance organizations, and corporate governance. In recent years he has been concentrating increasingly on ways to ensure leadership programs have lasting impact, particularly through the use of technology-mediated approaches.

At an organizational level, Manzoni studies the content of change (including the use of levers such as strategy, structure, and systems), the management of the change process, and the role of leaders therein. His work in this area has appeared in several books, articles, and over 30 cases – four of which received Case of the Year awards from The Case Centre (formerly the European Foundation for Management Development or the European Case Clearing House). He also acted as content expert in the development of The Change Pro Simulation®, a groundbreaking computer-based change management simulation.

At an individual level, he studies how leaders can create a caring, high-performance work environment. This stream of research has led to several articles and a book entitled The Set-Up to Fail Syndrome: How Good Managers Cause Great People to Fail (with Jean-Louis Barsoux). The book, which builds on Manzoni’s and Barsoux’s initial Harvard Business Review article introducing the term “set-up-to-fail syndrome”, received two Book of the Year awards, and is discussed in undergraduate, MBA, and executive development programs all over the world.

On the corporate governance side, Manzoni focuses on interpersonal dynamics within the boardroom and between management and the board. His research examining the impact of interpersonal dynamics on increasingly diverse boards of directors received the Research Award on Leadership and Corporate Governance from the Association of Executive Search Consultants.

A Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Directors, he currently serves on the board of Keppel Corporation, an international diversified group listed on the Singapore stock exchange (where he also chairs the nominations committee and is a member of the remuneration committee). He previously served on the Boards of AACSB International (the world’s largest business education alliance) and Singapore’s Civil Service College, among others.

Alongside these lifelong interests, Manzoni has also been increasingly interested in closing the growing managerial “knowing-doing gap”, i.e., the gap between what managers kind of know they should be doing and the extent to which they actually behave that way in practice. One aspect of this quest, accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis, has been exploring the role that technology can play in helping to design and deliver interventions that a) produce significant and lasting individual impact, and b) can be scaled effectively and efficiently to large numbers of individuals in order to build a real capability within the organization.

The recipient of several awards for excellence in teaching, Manzoni is Co-director of IMD’s signature program Orchestrating Winning Performance (OWP) and teaches on the High Performance Leadership (HPL) open program and Executive MBA (EMBA) course.

He re-joined IMD in 2016, having already served on the IMD faculty between 2004 and 2010 when he was Professor of Leadership and Organizational Development and Director of the their Breakthrough Program for Senior Executives (BPSE).

He previously served on the faculty of INSEAD in Singapore and Fontainebleau where he founded, and for four years directed, the PwC Research Initiative on High Performance Organizations. He later directed their Global Leadership Centre, supporting their leadership-related coaching, teaching, and research activities throughout the world.

A citizen of Canada and France, Manzoni received his doctorate from Harvard Business School. He had earlier graduated from L’École des hautes études commerciales de Montréal and worked with Ernst and Young in Montreal before receiving an MBA from McGill University.

Manzoni is a frequent keynote speaker and discussion partner for business leaders, including through the IMD CEO Dialogue Series in which he holds frank and insightful discussions with CEOs of various organizations. He has also performed consulting, top management team support, and leadership development work for several international organizations, which has led him to work in more than 30 countries over the years.

He currently serves on a number of International Advisory Panels of industry bodies (e.g., digitalswitzerland), academic institutions (e.g., EHL Hospitality Business School) and corporations (e.g., Novartis Culture Leadership Advisory Board).

Geraldine Matchett is Co-CEO at Royal DSM N.V., where she is also Co-CEO, CFO, and member of the managing board. She joined DSM’s Managing Board and became Chief Financial Officer in 2014. She was appointed as Co-CEO in 2020.

Before joining DSM, she worked with the SGS Group from 2004 where she held various positions including Corporate Finance Manager and Senior Vice President Group Financial Controller, before being appointed Global Chief Financial Officer in 2010. In this role, she was voted CFO of the year in Switzerland for Large Companies.

Prior to SGS, Matchett worked for Deloitte in Switzerland and for KPMG in the UK, obtaining her Chartered Accountant qualification while working in London. Geraldine holds a Bachelor’s degree in physical and human geography from Reading University (UK) and a Master’s degree in sustainable development from Cambridge University.

Her positions include non-executive Director and member of the Finance, Audit, and Compliance Committee at ABB, Co-Chair of HRH the Prince of Wales’ A4S (Accounting for Sustainability) CFO Leadership Network Europe, executive committee member of WBCSD, and board memberships at FCLTGlobal and Catalyst Europe.

Martin M. Naville is CEO of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce, a leading business association with 1800 business members (Swiss and American companies) facilitating business between Switzerland and the USA. The Chamber is also the spokesperson for multinationals companies based in Switzerland – large and small, Swiss and foreign.

Before taking over Swiss Amcham in October 2004, Martin 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. Martin Naville started his professional career in 1984 as a corporate banker with JP Morgan in Zurich and New York.

Martin Naville holds a Master of Law from the University of Zurich. He is Chairman of the Board of the Zurich Zoo since 2004. He is also Senior Advisor of Morgan Stanley (Switzerland), President of Komitee Weltoffenes Zürich and a member of the Global Advisory Board at ETH Zurich, a global top 10 university.

Mr. Naville is married with two adult sons. They live in Küsnacht near Zurich.

Bernhard Nuesser is President 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. He is based in Singapore.

Nuesser 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 of 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, Bernhard became CEO and Investor at Mondottica Ltd, a global, fast-growing Hong Kong-based eyewear company.

Bernhard serves on the boards of 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 of EUROM1, the European Federation of the Optical Industry.

Damien O’Brien is Non-Executive Director at Ardagh Group and St Vincent’s Health Australia. He has enjoyed a global career with roles in China, Sydney, Paris, London, and Zurich. He retired from global management consulting and executive search firm Egon Zehnder in 2018 after 30 years, including six years as CEO and the last eight years as Chair.

Prior to this, he held various management positions in Red Rock Leisure, a family-owned group of companies in Australia, and worked as an associate with McKinsey. His current boards include Ardagh Metal Packaging SA in the US, Ardagh Group SA, and the Advisory Board of Conduit Funds Management in Sydney.

O’Brien holds an MBA from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales. He also has a diploma in theology and philosophy from Saint Columban’s College in Sydney, which included two years’ study and community work in Mindanao, the Philippines.

He has been a member of the supervisory board at IMD since 2008.

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 North, Central & South America. 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. Adolfo 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 DCE. He was the 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 became CEO of 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 of a ‘Big 4’ firm where he advised industrial and service groups and investment funds on their M&A issues.

Philipp Rickenbacher is CEO of Julius Bär, a group that he joined in 2004 from McKinsey & Company. Julius Bär is a leading Swiss wealth management group with a presence in over 60 locations worldwide.

Before his appointment as CEO, he was Head of Intermediaries & Global Custody of Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd. Prior to that, he was Head of Advisory Solutions for two years, responsible for the development of the bank’s innovative advisory approach and of holistic wealth management solutions.

Rickenbacher holds a Master’s in biotechnology from ETH Zürich. The long-term trends in technology and society – such as digital disruption, artificial intelligence, humanity’s need for healthcare, the rise of emerging markets and the quest for a more sustainable economy – remain his greatest interests.

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 of Schweizerische Cement-Industrie-Aktiengesellschaft, both in Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland. He also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Cambridge, Massachusetts, US.

Mark Schneider is CEO of Nestlé. Before joining the company in 2016, he was CEO of the Fresenius Group, a position he held from 2003 to 2016. He joined Fresenius in 2001 as CFO of Fresenius Medical Care. Between 1989 and 2001, he held several senior executive positions with the Haniel Group, a privately held, diversified German multinational company.

He has a graduate degree in Finance and Accounting and a doctoral degree in business administration from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. He also holds an MBA from Harvard University.

Schneider co-chairs the Board of Directors of Cereal Partners Worldwide. He is a member of the Board of the Consumer Goods Forum and is on the Advisory Board of the Swiss Innovation Park. He was born and raised in Germany and became a US citizen in 2003.

Dr Severin Schwan is CEO of the Roche Group, a position he has held since 2008. Prior to this, he was CEO of Roche Diagnostics (2006–2008).

He has held various management positions including Head of Finance & Administration at Roche Brussels (1995–1998), Head of Finance & Informatics at Roche Grenzach and member of the Executive Board of Roche Deutschland Holding GmbH (1998–2000), Head of Global Finance & Services at Roche Diagnostics, Basel (2000–2004), and Head of Region Asia Pacific at Roche Diagnostics Singapore (2004–2006).

Schwan joined Roche Basel in 1993 as a finance officer after obtaining a degree in economics from the University of Innsbruck (Austria), University of York (UK) and University of Oxford (UK), a degree in law from the University of Innsbruck, and a PhD in law from the University of Innsbruck.

Dr Ulrike Schwarz-Runer is Managing Director and Senior Partner of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and holds the role of Global General Counsel. As a member of the BCG Executive Committee, as well as of 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 Director of 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.

Feike Sijbesma is Supervisory Board Member 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 of the World Economic Forum, and an advocate for business tackling climate change in several roles. 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 the 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 own 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.

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

Su-Mei 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 of The Women’s Foundation Hong Kong. Under Su-Mei’s leadership, The Women’s Foundation emerged as a leading NGO, known for its innovative and impactful community and mentoring programmes and effective partnerships with multiple stakeholders. Su-Mei 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, Su-Mei 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, Su-Mei 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 of 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 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 of 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 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 and Chair of the Board of Directors at Maersk Tankers and Maersk Product Tankers. He is also Vice Chairman 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 a 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 offering, 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 of 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.

Martin Vetterli is President at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). He works in the areas of electrical engineering, computer sciences, and applied mathematics. This has led to about 170 journal papers and around 30 patents that led to technology transfer to hi-tech companies and the creation of several startups.

He is the co-author of three books: Wavelets and Subband Coding (with J. Kovacevic, 1995), Signal Processing for Communications (P. Prandoni, 2008) and Foundations of Signal Processing (with J. Kovacevic and V. Goyal, 2014). The books are available in open access, and his research group follows the reproducible research philosophy.

His prizes include best paper awards from EURASIP in 1984 and of the IEEE Signal Processing Society in 1991, 1996, and 2006, the Swiss National Latsis Prize in 1996, the SPIE Presidential award in 1999, the IEEE SP Technical Achievement Award in 2001, and the IEEE SP Society Award in 2010. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and of ACM, ISI highly cited researcher, and a foreign member of the NAE.

Vetterli started his academic career as an Assistant/Associate Professor in electrical engineering at Columbia University, then an Associate/Full Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the UC Berkeley. In 1995, he joined the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) as a Full Professor. He held several positions at EPFL, including Chair at Communication Systems and Founding Director of NCCR-MICS. From 2004 to 2011 he was VP of EPFL for international affairs, and from 2011 to 2012, he was the Dean of IC. He has been President of the NRC of the Swiss National Science Foundation since 2013 and became President of EPFL in 2017.

He received his electrical engineering degree from ETHZ, an MSc from Stanford University, and Doctorate from EPFL.

Penelope Warne is 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 Scotland,  she built a global oil & 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 member of the Vice Chancellors Circle of Oxford University. She graduated in law from Bristol University, UK.

John Weeks is Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior. He works at the intersection of leadership, organizational culture, and change. He helps leaders understand how they can manage themselves to lead others more effectively and to have a positive and intentional impact on the culture of their organizations.

He believes leadership is about helping people to change their mindsets, and that the most important legacy of a leader is the culture they help create around them. Defining organizational culture as what people say and do when they think their bosses are not looking, he argues that leaders influence culture even when they don’t mean to. Leaders are role models – even, or maybe especially, when they don’t intend to be. And the more senior we become, the more we are in the spotlight all the time. Weeks’ work helps leaders to be their best selves as often as possible in order to have a consistent, insistent, and persistent influence on the culture they want to create.

“The basis of leadership is the capacity of the leader to help people change their mindset. The most enduring legacy of a leader is the culture they leave behind.”

Weeks’ work has focused on the future of the office in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, including a 2021 Harvard Business Review article on the topic entitled Designing the Hybrid Office. He concludes that although we have seen that, for many jobs, individual work and task-related meetings can be carried out well through remote working and without the need for a daily commute, the office retains an important role for functions that technology cannot easily replicate such as driving culture, strengthening relationships, and fostering learning. And this means that office design, technology, and management practices need to evolve so that offices can become equally effective as social, learning and innovation spaces.

He has worked with a long list of clients in Europe, the Americas, and Asia, including ABB, Actelion, Aggreko, Alcatel-Lucent, AXA, BAT, BMW, Bolton Group, Bühler, Grosvenor, Group SEB, Firmenich, Georg Fischer, Hempel, Holcim, Iberdrola, Imerys, KPMG, Kone, LafargeHolcim, LDC, LEGO Group, Maersk, Mars, Mazda, Neste, Nestlé, Nokia, Novartis, Orion, Pon, PwC, SABIC, Société Générale, STADA, Tenaris, Tetra Pak, Van Oord, VAT, X5, and WWF.

Weeks is also Associate Director of IMD’s High Performance Leadership (HPL) open program, an intensive six-day program for experienced senior leaders, and until recently served as a board member at LEO Pharma.

His book, Unpopular Culture, on the corporate culture of a British bank, won widespread praise from the Financial Times, The Economist, BBC Radio 4, The Guardian, The Spectator, Times Higher Education, The Boston Globe, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, CIO Magazine, and Business Digest (France), as well as the American Journal of Sociology, Administrative Science Quarterly, Contemporary Sociology, and Work and Occupations. The Financial Times said that the book’s thinking applies to all companies in all countries.

Weeks’ work has also been published in Harvard Business Review, the Financial Times, the Academy of Management Review, and Organization Studies. He previously served as a senior editor at Organization Studies and a member of the editorial board at the Journal of International Business Studies.

Before joining IMD in 2007, he was Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at INSEAD for 11 years. He has a background in technology and training as an organizational ethnographer, holding a PhD in management from the MIT Sloan School of Management, an MPhil in management from the University of Oxford, and a BA in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. He is the Faculty Representative on the IMD Foundation Board.

Poul Weihrauch is CEO and Office of the President at Mars. Previously Global President PetCare (2015-2022), he began his career with Stimorol, the chewing gum company, in Denmark, before joining Nestlé where he held positions in Denmark, Belgium, and Switzerland.

Weihrauch joined Mars in 2000 in the UK and was General Manager of European sugar (2002–2005, based in the Czech Republic), European President Food (2005–2008, based in the Netherlands), European President of Wrigley chewing gum post-acquisition between 2008–2011, Global President Food, Drinks & Multi-Sales 2011–2014. He has been a member of the Mars leadership team since 2011.

He is also Vice Chair at AIM (Association International des Marques) as well as a supervisory board member of Beiersdorf.