The largest individual donation in INSEAD history is set to positively impact business and society.
In August 2018, INSEAD, The Business School for the World, announced a sizable commitment from André Hoffmann MBA’90D and his wife Rosalie. This landmark gift established the Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society, and INSEAD decided to refer to them in the name of the Institute to acknowledge support by the Hoffmann family.
On the occasion of the formal signing, Mr. Hoffmann said that, “Transformational change towards true sustainability will not take place without a new generation of leaders who are willing and able to change the status quo. This Institute is poised to help future leaders understand the importance of societal and environmental returns alongside the traditional financial approach, creating shareholder value while lifting up people and protecting our planet.”
The Institute was founded to bring fresh perspectives and innovative solutions to the most intractable global issues that threaten our sustainable future and will pursue initiatives on INSEAD campuses in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Executive Director of the Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society, Katell Le Goulven, who recently joined INSEAD from UNICEF, laid out her leadership vision by saying, “The Institute is envisioned as a transformative force at INSEAD and beyond. It aims to forge leaders, managers, and entrepreneurs who align the interests of their organisations with pressing social and environmental challenges. By leveraging research, learning and partner engagement – and through walking the talk at INSEAD – the Institute can contribute to delivering business value with positive societal impact.”
At the time of its establishment, the Institute aims to develop into a platform that strategizes, coordinates and facilitates school-wide activity around the Institute’s mission of developing leaders and organizations benefit society and the environment. This approach enables collaboration with all areas and centres of the school. The Institute’s current priorities include:
- Ethics
- Gender balance
- Humanitarian operations
- Social impact
- Sustainability
- Tech for good
- Wealth inequality
Ilian Mihov, Dean of INSEAD, expressed his appreciation for this historic gift: “Establishing the Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society underpins INSEAD’s vision of business as a force for good. Many of our twenty-first century challenges cannot be addressed by governments or NGOs alone. Business leaders must rise to the challenge – integrating sustainability, responsibility and social impact directly into the decisions they make. This is where the Hoffmann Institute holds great potential to accelerate progress towards a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable future.”
“We are deeply grateful to André and Rosalie Hoffmann for their extraordinary support, and for their contribution to the positive, real-world impact of INSEAD on business and society,” he added.
The Institute ushers in a new era for INSEAD, with new research focus and new ways to teach the next generation of leaders – and by extension, new ways to do business around the world. Now, we are set to create new knowledge, curricula and outreach opportunities to equip tomorrow’s leaders with the tools necessary to address our global challenges.
Founder André Hoffmann MBA’90D has a long history of strengthening INSEAD and striving to positively impact society though business action. At INSEAD, Mr. Hoffmann has served on the Board of Directors, Alumni Fund Board, National Alumni Associations and as Chair of the Audit Committee. Along with his wife, he has championed thought leadership at the school in many ways, including the establishment of the André and Rosalie Hoffmann Chair in Family Enterprise. In 2015, André and Rosalie Hoffmann made a commitment to sustainability at INSEAD through a gift towards the Leadership Development Centre on the Asia Campus, which was awarded a Platinum Green Mark by the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore for its incorporation of best practice environmental design and construction.
Mr. Hoffmann is the Vice Chairman of Roche Holdings, Switzerland, a highly innovative pharmaceutical company established by his great grandfather in 1896. He also serves on the board of Genentech Inc. in California, USA. He has contributed to the development and success of Inovalon Inc., a data driven, cloud based, analytics company providing meaningful insights into the US health system.
Mr. Hoffmann also focuses significant effort on nature conservation and sustainability. He served on the boards of Wetlands International, the Global Footprint Network and WWF International as Vice-President for seven years. He is the President of Fondation MAVA, a leading European conservation foundation committed to conserve biodiversity, and President of Fondation Tour du Valat, a world-renowned research institute primarily active in the conservation of Mediterranean wetlands.
Mr. Hoffmann firmly believes in business as a force for good. As a member of the board of SystemIQ, he helps transform economic systems in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum and of the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in San Francisco.
Mr. Hoffmann studied economics at the University of St. Gallen and holds an MBA from INSEAD.
