Sonia Tatar

Sonia is an Executive Director at INSEAD Centres of Excellence in Corporate Governance and Family Business. She has extensive experience in leadership and governance practices in private and public companies combined with more than 25 years of educational expertise. She has been an active member of several Boards and Governance Groups for the past years.

She has joined the Advisory Board of Nasdaq Center for Board Excellence on March 2022 and is currently engaged with the INSEAD Global Directors Network and Chapter Zero France under the umbrella of the Governance Initiative of the World Economic Forum. Prior to this, Sonia served on the Governance Working Group of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), was a member of IDIAP Search Committee under the Foundation of the Research Institute, a former member of the boards of the Global Lodging Forum with MKG Group and Les Roches Global Hospitality Education serving the Institutions in Europe, Middle East, and Asia. Sonia was also a member of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges in US and the Association of private schools in Switzerland.

Across her career span, Sonia has worked with different stakeholders and predominantly with family owners, investors, and shareholders. She has been an instrumental contributor to business acquisition and transfer as a member of the Executive Committee of Laureate Hospitality Education. She has worked in multinational organizations around the world holding senior leadership positions, notably as a Chief Operating Officer of a global educational institution and Director General of two start-up family-owned businesses in the hospitality sector. She has been a strategic partner to many international companies helping with business transformation and growth. In 2016, she has launched successfully, a Chicago campus for Les Roches Global Institution expanding its educational footprint from Europe, Middle East, and Asia into the US.

As a strong advocate for thought leadership, Sonia is frequently invited as a guest speaker to various conferences and forums such as the Board Summit-Aurora50, the United Nations World Tourism Organization-African Conference, The Boardroom Africa, Asia Women in Leadership, The Professional Women Network, The Family Business Network and the Global Lodging Forum. Sonia writes opinion pieces and business articles and facilitates thought provoking dialogue sessions. She leads and contributes to applied research in trending topics related to corporate governance and family business such as ESG, sustainability, climate change, business as force for good, diversity equity and inclusion and other topics on transformation and resilience of the Hospitality and Tourism sector.

In 2017, Sonia was nominated among the “100 leading personalities” the movers and shakers making the Suisse Romande and recognized as the “Exporter of Knowledge”. In 2013, she was recognized as “Women of Power” in the Swiss Alps region. Sonia has a combined master’s degree in Languages, Management and Administration, has attended postgraduate studies (D.E.A) in Italian Civilization and Literature at la Sorbonne and joined several of INSEAD learning sessions.