Ludo Van der Heyden

Ludo Van der Heyden has been Professor of Technology and Operations Management at INSEAD since 1988 and has been the INSEAD Chaired Professor in Corporate Governance since October 2010. He is the founding Academic Director of INSEAD's Corporate Governance Initiative (ICGI) and, with colleagues, still co-directs the International Directors Programme and the Modern Governance in Banking (or IDP for Bankers, with Peter Nathanial). He created the Value Creation for Owners and Directors programmes (with Massimo Massa). He directed the Advanced Management Program (INSEAD’s most senior general management programme, from 2000 to 2008), the INSEAD Zentrum Leipzig (1994-1999), was co-Dean of INSEAD (1990-1995), and also PhD Director & Associate Dean for Research (1989-1990).

Ludo Van der Heyden was the first holder of the Wendel Chair in the Large Family Firm, which initiated INSEAD's activities in family business and led to the creation of the Wendel international Centre for Family Enterprise at INSEAD. He also was the first holder of the Solvay Chair in Technological Innovation and of the Mubadala Chair in Corporate Governance and Strategy. He received several Outstanding MBA Core Teacher Awards, as well as an Outstanding Service Award in Executive Education and an Outstanding Contribution Award to Executive Education for ICGI’s role in starting governance education at INSEAD. The INSEAD International Alumni Association named him Honorary Alumnus.

Ludo Van der Heyden earned the Mercurius Award from the Federation of Belgian Distributors for his work (with Professor Arnd Huchzermeier of WHU, Koblenz) on the introduction of the Euro. He is the recipient, with Christine Blondel and Randel Carlock, of the Family Business Network 2006 Research Award for the article Striving for Justice in Family Firms. His paper Why Fairness Matters, co-authored with PhD student Thomas Limberg, was selected as one of the ten most influential papers of the International Commerce Review (2000-10), while the paper Business Model Innovation (co-authored with Jose Santos and Bert Spector) received the Outstanding Paper of the 2010 Academy of Management Conference (Section: Human Resource Management). He received (with M. Pich and N. Harlé) the ECCH European Case Award 2003 for the Marks & Spencer and Zara case and co-authored, with INSEAD faculty, Industrial Excellence, a book that identifies better manufacturing practices in France and Germany. In 2014, he earned The International Alliance for Women World of Difference 100 Award!.

Before joining INSEAD, Ludo Van der Heyden was on the faculty of the School of Organization and Management at Yale University (1980-1988) and of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (1978-80). He holds an Engineering Degree in Applied Mathematics from the Université Catholique de Louvain (1974) and a Ph.D. Degree in Administrative Sciences from Yale University (1979).

He has published in a number of journals such as Harvard Business Review, Strategy & Business, International Commerce Review, The European Finance Review, Family Business Review, the Journal of Economic Theory, Mathematics of Operations Research, Mathematical Programming, and the International Journal of Game Theory. His most recent publications are two reports on digitilisation entitled The Real Impact of Digital (2016) and Directing Digitalisation: Guidelines for Boards and Executives (2017).

Ludo Van der Heyden is a member of the Advisory Board of Bencis Capital Partners as well as a number of start-ups. He is the Chairman of Seisquare, a firm designing software for oil & gas exploration and production. He is the first Honorary Professor of the recreated Handelshochschüle Leipzig (HHL), from which he also received the Distinguished Service Medal in 2003. He is Honorary Vice-President of the Association Pôle Sud Paris which fosters economic development in the South Paris area. In 1996 the King of Belgium appointed him Officer of the Order of Leopold.


Ludo Van der Heyden is co-directing the Advanced Strategy for Directors programme.