About

Quentin Dufresne serves as the Associate Director of the IMD Global Board Center. His responsibilities include custom board engagements, learning journey design, as well as the center operations. Quentin’s expertise lies in crafting tailored board programs for influential organizations across diverse sectors, ranging from state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and public corporations to international institutions and global banks.

Before assuming his current role, Quentin held various positions within IMD. Quentin joined IMD in 2011.

Sophie Coughlan is an experienced governance researcher, writer and consultant, with a strong interest in stewardship, sustainability and leadership. As the Global Board Center’s Associate Director, she is responsible for the Board Director Diploma and the Board-Readiness diploma, as well as the Board Community at IMD. In addition to conducting board reviews with a number of privately and publicly held companies in Europe, Latin America and Africa, she has also been the lead researcher on governance reviews for the International Olympic Committee and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, among others. She also contributed to a number of publications on governance, including High Performance Boards and Inspiring Stewardship, as well as the 2018 IBE Ethics at Work Switzerland report. As a coach, Sophie has facilitated board strategy retreats and coached board members on self-awareness and board dynamics, using psychometric instruments and 360 feedback.

Sophie began her career in the area of environmental policy analysis at the International Academy of the Environment in Geneva (focused on climate change) as well as at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. As the associate director of the Aditya V. Birla India Centre and the Centre for Marketing at London Business School, Sophie developed and managed donor relations and outreach activities. She subsequently directed a European-wide project on integrating corporate sustainability into the business school curriculum for the Academy of Business in Society (ABIS). Sophie holds a Master’s in Education from the University of Nottingham (UK), an MA in Environmental Studies from Macquarie University (Australia) and a BA in Political Science from Swarthmore College (USA) with a concentration in women’s studies. She is also certified as a group facilitator with the Tavistock Institute and certified by the British Psychological Society to administer the NEO Personality Inventory. Sophie is currently on the Governance & Compliance Commission of the World Squash Federation.

Hongze (Abraham) Lu is a CAIA charter holder and a research fellow at the IMD Global Board Center. His expertise covers Big Data, content analysis, and artificial intelligence. Abraham is a prolific writer, co-authoring and contributing to four IMD books: “Profit or Growth?”, “In the Shadow of the Dragon”, “Inspiring Stewardship”, and “High Performance Boards”. His work extends beyond books to encompass a wealth of articles, case studies, and FT50 academic papers.

Abraham delves into governance, strategy, and finance, utilizing advanced text analysis and natural language processing techniques (NLP). He is pioneering new ways to understand governance traits and stewardship orientation, which are indispensable for effective leadership at the board level. His research has practical implications, particularly for fund managers and asset allocators. By staying attuned to market trends and corporate behaviors,these methodologies help construct portfolios that achieve superior returns.

Abraham holds a Ph. D. in Management and a Master of Science in International Management from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. His educational journey started with a bachelor’s degree in economics from Dongbei University of Finance and Economics in China, establishing a solid foundation for his career.

Senior Research Writer

Yukie Saito is a Senior Research Writer at the Global Board Center at IMD. Her research interests primarily focus on corporate governance, stewardship, and responsible investment, with her publications centred around these topics. Her work also includes examining governance issues, effective board practices, and the impact of governance on social and environmental performance.

Yukie holds a D.Phil. from the University of Oxford, as a Joint Japan World Bank Graduate Scholar and a British Council Japan Association Scholar. She completed her Master of Public Affairs (MPA) at Sciences Po Paris (l’Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris) and her B.A. in Business and Commerce at Keio University. She is an associate researcher at the Fondation France-Japon de l’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS).

 Prior to joining IMD, Yukie worked for several United Nations organisations, including the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). Additionally, she served as a journalist and producer at the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) Geneva office, where she covered activities of international organisations, like the World Economic Forum, and conducted interviews with the heads of organisations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Research Fellow

Simon Tièche is a research fellow at the IMD Global Board Center. His research sheds light on what constitutes good and effective governance, with a focus in the investment industry. While corporate boards often don’t give sufficient thought to geopolitical risks, social change, and the long-term instability of the world, investment boards do. Simon’s research therefore has practical implications, particularly for fund managers and asset allocators, with knock-on effects for corporate boards.

A macroeconomist by training, Simon uses his expertise on the nexus between financial markets and the macroeconomy, combined with his strong background in data science and machine learning, and his creative mind. His research has been well received by the literature, with publications in leading academic journals.

Before joining IMD, Simon worked at the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs as an economist. Prior to that, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and taught at EPFL and at the University of Lausanne. Simon graduated with a Ph.D. from the University of Lausanne, and he was a visiting doctoral student at SciencesPo Paris.