International Advisory Board

In furthering the implementation of HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management’s internationalization strategy, an International Advisory Board has been created in 2016 to complement HHL’s current board structure. Central topics to be discussed in the board’s meetings include strategies for the internationalization of HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, as well as long term trends in research and teaching. During the selection of board members, special attention has been paid to internationality and diversity, and partnerships between HHL and each board member’s university or company will be established and maintained to ensure close collaborations in the areas of research, teaching, and governance.

Members of the International Board

Arshad Ahmad is Vice Chancellor of Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan. Before, he served as Associate Vice President, Teaching and Learning and Director of McMaster’s Institute for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching and Learning at McMasters University in Hamilton, Ontario in Canada. His current research interests are in accelerated learning designs, conceptual change, translation research and impact of programs. Arshad is dedicated to engage networks of fellow teachers and SOTL leaders. He recently concluded his four-year term as President of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) and two-year term as Vice-President of the International Consortium of Educational Developers (ICED). Currently, he is Chair of Teaching and Learning Canada, a charitable organization whose goal is to promote and enhance the quality of teaching and learning in Canadian post-secondary education, and a board member of Academics Without Borders. Arshad received his MBA and Ph.D. in Educational Psychology at McGill University. He is the recipient of several Teaching and Professor of the Year awards from local and international universities. In 1992, he was recognized for leadership in teaching with a 3M National Teaching Fellowship—a program he coordinated for 10 years. Arshad is an active consultant, seminar leader, and speaker at conferences and plenary sessions across Canada and the US, as well as in countries including Belgium, China, Germany, Granada, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Serbia, South Africa, Thailand, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Margaret H. Chen is founder and Honorary President of China Club Spain, co-founder of China Spain Innovation & Ventures, and International Advisory Board Member of EADA Business School. She is also a Senior Advisor to world leading companies such as Huawei Technology.  She   was a high level director in the multinational telecom operator Telefonica Group for 18 years.  She was Director for Asia and Director of Chairman’s Office of Telefonica, and participated in the investment of USD 3500 million.  She served as Alternative Board Member of the second largest operator China Netcom, Board Member for the National Broadband Lab (R&D) of China Netcom. She was a faculty member of the School of Management (Antai) in Shanghai Jiaotong University.  She is often invited to give master classes to business schools and universities such as IE, IESE, ESADE, CEIBS, and Beijing Tsing Hua University. Margaret Chen received a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science & Foreign Trade from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. She also holds a Master of Science degree from the USA (Univ. TTU) in Industrial Engineering with a focus in Investment Analysis and Corporate Management. She completed courses for board members at China European International Business School (CEIBS in Shanghai), Tsing Hua University (Beijing), and the Executive Development Program in Wharton School, Pennsylvania, US. She also attended executive programs at RCC-Harvard Business School and IMD of Switzerland. 

Prof. Dr. Elsa Del Castillo, Peru

President of Universidad del Pacífico, Professor in the Academic Department of Management and member of the Universidad del Pacífico Research Center. She has a Doctorate in Economics and Business from Universidad de Deusto (Spain), a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from Instituto de Empresa (Spain) and a B.A. in Management from Universidad del Pacífico. She specializes in areas related to strategic management, corporate social responsibility and human capital management. She is a speaker, researcher, consultant and author of several publications on business organization, human management, corporate social responsibility and inclusive businesses. Member of the international research team at Social Enterprise Knowledge Network (SEKN), where she has been the leader of the Peruvian team for several years and also the general coordinator of SEKN. Member of the Publishing Council of CLADEA-BALAS Case Consortium, and Board Member in different institutions such as the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Peru, the Peruvian Association of Human Resources (APERHU), the Ignatian Educational Consortium (CONSIGNA), Ayuda en Acción, Universia, Consorcio de Universidades, among others. Has occupied several managerial positions at Universidad del Pacífico, such as Dean of the Graduate School, General Manager, Director of the Managerial Development Center, Director of Academic Quality at the Graduate School, and Head of the Academic Department of Management.

Alexandra Esquivel is a devoted higher education professional. She has been the Director of International Programs at INCAE Business School in Alajuela, Costa Rica since 2005, when she joined the institution. Alexandra has taught English to children and adults for more than 25 years. While studying for her master’s degree, she became the first Latin American instructor of English as a Second Language in the Ohio Program of Intensive English. After getting her Ph.D. in the year 2000, she returned to Costa Rica and taught Applied Linguistics in the master’s program at the University of Costa Rica. She also taught business English in companies like Pfizer and other private institutions. Between 2001 and 2005, she was Associate Academic Director and Director of the Costa Rica-USA bi-national center. She developed and supervised the implementation of new programs and evaluated the performance of over 100 instructors, who taught approximately 4000 students at three different sites. She also chaired the Organizing Committee for the National Conference for Teachers of English (local TESOL organization). At INCAE, she teaches, coordinates, and supervises the English for Business courses and the Spanish courses. She also taught the MBA course “Managerial Communication” for ten years. As Director of International Programs, she single handedly manages student exchanges and the agreements and relations with partner schools. She has a Ph.D. in Education (curriculum development and instruction) from the University of Kansas, an MBA in Applied Linguistics from Ohio University, and a B.A. in English from Universidad de Costa Rica.  

Mariëlle G. Heijltjes is Executive Director of Maastricht University School of Business and Economics (MUSBE)-Postgraduate Education, Associate Dean Strategic Development and Internationalization of MUSBE, and full professor of Managerial Behaviour. In her current roles, she combines managerial responsibilities with working as an academic, consultant and facilitator of leader development trajectories in the Netherlands as well as abroad. She has extensive international experience in working with executives and top management teams on questions relating to their effectiveness. Her research on the behavior of (top) managers was published in international academic journals such as the Academy of Management Review, Small Group Research, the Journal of International Business Studies, and Organization Studies. She has taught in the executive MBA programs of Maastricht University, TRIUM (HEC Paris, LSE, Stern NYU), and Reykjavik University. In addition to her roles at MUSBE, she also currently serves on the Board of Governors of Beta Gamma Sigma (a US-based international honor society) and on the International Advisory board of IESEG, a French business school.

Mary Anne Leenheer, an American citizen, has lived in Mexico City for over 30 years and has been the Head of Academic Exchange at ITAM since 1993. ITAM has over 140 exchange agreements around the world and receives approximately 200 exchange students in all of its programs every year. In addition to managing the bilateral agreements, Mary Anne has represented ITAM in international associations, including the consortium of PIM, Partnership in International Managements, where she served as a chairperson from 2003-2006 and remains on their advisory board. 

Mary Pang is concurrently Associate Dean (Internationalization) and Associate Professor (Department of Management) in the College of Business at City University of Hong Kong. Educated in the UK, Dr. Pang studied her B.Sc. Economics (Hons) in Business Administration at Cardiff University, and was awarded a Doctor in Philosophy from the University of Warwick. She joined City University of Hong Kong in 1993, and has been spearheading the internationalization drive for the College of Business since 2002. From 2010 Dr. Pang has been actively contributing to the local and international professional community through her memberships of various committees that validate or accredit (international) degree programmes offered in Hong Kong, such as the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ). For the past 5 consecutive years Dr Pang has also been invited to be a proposal reviewer for the annual NAFSA conferences for international educators; and she participated in delivering the inaugural  Business Education Colloquium at NAFSA in 2012. Dr. Pang is a recipient of the City University of Hong Kong Teaching Excellence Award in 1999. Her research is in the areas of occupational choice and careers, and more recently the intercultural competence development of university students.

Carolina Serrano Archimi (Spain/Switzerland), M.A. in Philosophy, MBA, Ph.D. in Management, is professor of Organizational Behavior at Aix-Marseille Graduate School of Management – IAE. She’s the Academic Council Chair of EuroMBA and Director of the International Teachers   Programme ITP that will be hosted at AMGSM-IAE in 2017 and 2018. She had worked for 12 years in several companies internationally before joining academia over 14 years ago. Her major teaching domains are change management, leadership, process consulting practice, and coaching. Her research domain covers cynicism in organizations, trust repair processes, and social exchange mechanisms between middle management and top management. She is also a certified professional coach and a change consultant in organizations, and is regularly involved in corporate executive training programs.

Radha R. Sharma is Dean, Centres of Excellence & Case Centre; Chair, Centre for Positive Scholarship; Raman Munjal (Hero MotoCorp) Chair Professor and Professor of Organizational Behavior at Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India. She has successfully completed research projects supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNESCO; IDRC, Canada; McClelland Centre for Research and Innovation; Polish Academy of Sciences; Humanistic Management Network, University of Otego, and Government of India, among others, and has received recognition for her research both nationally and internationally. She has successfully supervised several Ph.D. dissertations. She has been ICCR Chair Professor, HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, Germany, visiting professor to ESCP Europe (Torino), European Business School, Germany, and guest professor to Leipzig University, among others. She serves as an independent Director on the Board of a bank; as member of  Human Relations & IR Committee of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, India; and has served as elected member of National Council, Indian Society for Training and Development (ISTD); Executive Board, Delhi Management Association; and on Human Capital Development Committee of Federation of Indian Chapter of Commerce and Industry. She is Editor, Vision: the Journal of Business Perspective, SAGE, and Associate Editor, Frontiers in Psychology.

Vasanthi Srinivasan is a Professor in the Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management Area at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. Currently, she is the Chairperson of Alumni Relations. Her research interests are in the field of multi-generations in the workplace, women in management and boards, ethics teaching in business schools, HRM in rapid growth organizations and ethics, and CSR in micro, small, and mid-sized enterprises. She has designed and delivered sessions on leadership development and career management on executive education programs. She was an Indian Council for Cultural Relations Chair Professor for Corporate Responsibility at HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, Germany, for the period 2012-13 on deputation. She was also a British Council Visiting Scholar at the International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility at the Nottingham University Business School, UK. She has consulted extensively for both Indian and multinational companies in the field of leadership development. She has designed, developed, and delivered programs to build the leadership pipeline for organizations. She has worked with technology and R&D organizations to build their technical leadership talent.

Prof. Elena Zubkova is a member of the Executive Council of the Russian Association of Business education (RABE) responsible for coordinating relations with international business education associations and accreditation agencies.  She is an international accreditation expert for the International Association of the MBA’s – AMBA, the EFMD EPAS and EQUIS. Since 2006 Elena Zubkova has participated in 42 accreditations of business schools and universities in various countries, while being simultaneously an expert and a consultant to the National Accreditation Council for Business Education and Executive development (NASDOBR) in RUSSIA, and annually partaking in international and national accreditations. In 1998-2016 prof. E. Zoubkova worked as Vice-Rector of the Moscow International Higher Business School MIRBIS, responsible for the internationalization of study programs, national and international accreditations and quality assurance, developing MIRBIS relations with business schools and universities abroad, and coordinating joint study programs with international partners. Elena Zubkova took part in several international research projects and international academic consortia. As Vice-rector of MIRBIS she was involved in designing and launching in 2014-2016 the Global Executive EMBA Consortium of 12 universities in the Western Europe, Russia, the USA, the SAR, China, India, and Latin America, that is successfully functioning now. At present Elena Zubkova is a core faculty associate professor of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. She is combining her academic and research work as an international programme designer and a lecturer in International Entrepreneurship in Russia, Cross-cultural communications, Case studies in a multi-cultural marketplace, with intensive international accreditation and academic development activities in Russia and abroad.