- The number of women in senior roles at business school is rising, how can we secure complete gender parity?
- Here we look at 12 of the most influential women in the business education sector
- These influential women talk about their careers, how they made it to the top, and their hopes for the future of women in business education
There is still a glaring gap in the representation of women at the leadership level in business education. That is a conclusion of a survey by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), which showed that whilst women make up 40.3% of tenure-track faculty, this is where their progression stalls. Barely more than a quarter (25.7%) of full professors and fewer than one-third (31%) of business school deans are women.
The authors of the report point out that this underrepresentation at the highest levels affects all aspects of the business school milieu; the diversity of students, the dynamics of MBA classrooms, the quality of advice offered to organisations, and the signals sent to donors and other stakeholders.
“The situation in business schools mirrors the reality of the corporate world,” they state, “where women also report feeling undervalued and overlooked. For years, leadership development programs in both academia and industry have taken a “fix the women” approach of changing women so they fit into the business world. These programs encourage women to network, find mentors, lean in, and overcome challenges.
We need to reckon with an obvious truth—it’s not women who need fixing. Instead, our systems require a transformation.”
In the MBA classroom, a growing number of schools are finally achieving gender parity. According to the FT Global MBA Ranking 2024, George Washington University and CUHK Business School in Hong Kong lead the way with close to two-thirds women students.
In Europe, Ireland’s Trinity Business School and France’s ESSEC Business School and ESCP Business School have more than 50% women in their MBA programmes, and Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford welcomed 51%. They join the Wharton School, among the M7 U.S. business schools, in breaking the 50/50 female-to-male ratio.
Maintaining positive progress
Research from the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) found that in 2023, 40% of business school students were women. To ensure this does not stagnate, continued efforts need to be made.
Thankfully, there are plenty of initiatives focused on exactly this issue; including a number of scholarships launched by business schools to increase female representation in their classrooms, amongst other projects designed to boost access and inclusion for women at business school, and partnerships with employers to improve career opportunities for women once they graduate.
As we look across the board, and even into academic research, the industry agrees that we need gender parity at all levels if we are to create a truly inclusive environment and reap the rewards from this too.
As Elissa Sangster, CEO of Forté explains, “We’re so close to reaching parity in business education, but building and maintaining a strong pipeline remains critical. We can’t ease up just yet. And while women are almost at parity in enrollments, we’ve yet to see them hit parity in business leadership, the c-suite, and on corporate boards. As the pipeline stabilizes, we still need to push for gains at the top levels of business leadership.”
12 Influential Women In Business Education for 2024
Every year, BlueSky Thinking takes a moment to shine a spotlight on the most influential women making an impact for other women in business education, recognising their efforts and sharing their inspirations with our readers. Despite the challenges these women have faced in their own careers, they are using their talent, knowledge, experience and determination to ensure that business education is driving positive change, and smoothing the path for those that follow them.
Isabelle Huault – Executive President and Dean of emlyon business school
Isabelle Huault made history in 2021, when she became the first woman Dean of leading French business school, emlyon. Born and raised in Lyon, Isabelle knew the business school well prior to stepping into the role of Executive President and Dean. She graduated from the business school with a PhD in management sciences.
Isabelle had previously held various leadership roles at Université Paris Dauphine – PSL, first as Director of the Doctoral School of Management, then of the mixed research unit, before becoming Vice-President, then President in 2016.
Since joining emlyon business school, Isabelle has made a profound impact on the school, launching a great number of initiatives, spearheading the school’s move to a new campus set for summer 2024, and navigating the school through its shift to new educational and shareholder model. Pursuing its strategy to become one of the 10 best Global Business Universities in Europe, emlyon business school last year announced becoming a shareholder of the UK’s London Interdisciplinary School (LIS).
Isabelle has made a strong commitment to improving gender parity for both faculty and senior leadership at the business school, as well as on the student front. Isabelle ensured the school’s Executive Board was a 60% female split, and launched the aim of securing a 45% female faculty by 2025.
Isabelle has also championed a number of scholarships, and initiatives for women studying at the business school, as well as launching a new gender equality and inclusion policy, and a platform for anonymous sexual harassment reporting too. Isabelle is a prominent speaker on improving gender parity at business school, regularly speaking at conferences, industry events and in the media.
Amy Edmondson – Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School
Amy Edmondson was not expecting to win the Financial Times’ Business Book of the Year in 2023. “Even as the winner was being announced.?.?.?I was just telling myself, ‘It’s so exciting to be here”, she told the Financial Times, at the award ceremony. Amy’s book, Right Kind of Wrong, focuses in part on her research on how to foster workplaces where team members own up to mistakes and improve, known as psychological safety.
The FT award is one among a long list recognising the impact of Amy’s work. Edmondson’s research, which mainly focuses on the intersection of leadership, organisational learning and failure, has helped her to write seven award-winning books on the topic, helping propel her career even further.
She was ranked by the Thinkers50 global list as the number one management thinker in 2023, and she has consistently ranked in the top 50 since 2011. She was also selected as HR Magazine’s most influential thinker in Human Resources, in 2019.
Not only is Amy Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, a role she’s held for over 25 years, she is also head of the School’s Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab.
Edmondson’s work showcases just how successful female academics can be. She acts as a role model for many other young female academics looking to make their way in the business education world. She is also a regularly contributor to women in business events, such as the FT’s Women in Business Forum, and boasts over 250,000 followers on her LinkedIn page.
Lily Bi – President and CEO of the AACSB
Lily Bi only stepped into the business education arena in 2023, and is already having a tremendous impact as CEO of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Lily started her career as an IT engineer, and after working in IT for 13 years in China, Japan, and Singapore, she decided to reshape herself from a specialised professional to a business executive.
It was when she began looking at applying to business schools herself that she first came across the AACSB. She utilised their list of business schools to search for those she wanted to study at, eventually settling on McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas, to study her MBA.
After graduating, Lily worked in a number of roles in the auditing sector, at the Institute of Internal Auditors. Lily completed a DBA from the University of South Florida, then going on to become the executive vice president of global standards and certifications at the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), also the executive director of the Internal Audit Foundation.
It was from this role that Lily shifted into the business education space, securing the role of CEO at the AACSB – it was the perfect position for her to get more involved in academia, something she had been planning to do for a while.
Since Lily’s appointment, she has created a new mission, vision and values for AACSB and is leading the development of a new strategic plan focused on increasing member value and elevating the quality of business education around the world.
Virginie Fougea – Global Director of Admissions & Financial Aid at INSEAD
Virginie, who describes her role as “bringing together top talent from around the world for a transformational learning experience”, is doing just that in her role as Global Director of Admissions & Financial Aid at INSEAD. Virginie has headed admissions for ‘the business school for the world’ since 2019, and for over 25 years has contributed to the expansion of the school in Asia, the Middle East and the US West Coast.
Virginie, who clearly sees the transformational impact that an INSEAD education can have on someone’s career, whether through the full-time MBA, the Executive MBA or the early career Master’s in Management, has herself studied an Advanced Management Programme at the business school in organisational leadership.
Throughout her distinguished career, Virginie has become a widely respected voice in the industry and in the media, informing applicants with characteristic generosity on what makes a great MBA application, and offering her insight and guidance on how to secure a place at a leading business school. She regularly features in the likes of the Financial Times, Poets&Quants and industry events to help improve business school admissions, and is deeply committed to diversity and inclusion.
She sees talent and potential that others might overlook, and provides encouragement to young professionals around the world to believe in themselves and what they might achieve.
INSEAD has been proactive to increase financial aid, including numerous scholarship for women who are looking to study at business school. Under Virginie’s supervision, the school offers eight separate scholarships focused on supporting women to secure a graduate management education.
Leila Guerra – Vice Dean at Imperial College Business School
To say Leila Guerra has had an international career would be an understatement. The Vice Dean of Imperial College Business School has lived in eight different countries and speaks four languages (English, German, Portuguese and Spanish). She is passionate about the power of achieving positive impact through business education and global awareness.
Today London is her home. Leila joined Imperial College Business School in 2018, following previous roles as Assistant Dean of Postgraduate Programmes at Singapore Management University, Executive Director of Early Career Programmes at London Business School, and as Director of Innovation and Development at IE Business School in Madrid.
First entering Imperial as as Associate Dean of programmes, Leila quickly rose to her current position. Committed to the opportunities that technology-driven innovation can bring to the learning experience, she also holds the position as Associate Provost for Digital Lifelong Learning at the wider Imperial College London.
Leila has championed the importance of online learning, through initiatives such as the FOME Alliance. With an Executive MBA from IE Business School, Leila has continued to make a push for STEM teaching at the business school, with an emphasis on securing more female applicants to the school.
In fact, Leila Guerra has been a driver of many female-focused initiatives at the business school, including a number of female-focused scholarships, events and projects. These include the Women@Imperial Week and a number of Women in Business events.
Hannah Holmes – Dean of Manchester Metropolitan University Business School
Winning an award for ‘Best Innovation Strategy’ at a business school is certainly a good indication that you are doing something right. And that is exactly what Hannah Holmes and her team did at the 2023 Association of MBAs awards ceremony. Hannah, who is the Dean of Manchester Metropolitan University Business School, has been in the role for just over three years, and is having a profound impact on the business education industry.
Holmes is truly Manchester through and through, having studied both at the Manchester Metropolitan University, as well as the University of Manchester. After graduating, Holmes begun working as a lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2012, and has had a pretty rapid rise to her role now as Dean.
This included a number of Deputy Head or Head of Department roles within her domain of accounting, finance and banking, until moving into the role of Dean of Manchester Metropolitan Business School in 2021.
The business school being awarded for an innovative strategy is just one of Holmes many achievements with the school, and illustrates the success of the school’s commitment to student employability, with students developing expertise in resilience, confidence and self-awareness. The business school is also set to launch The Manchester Met MBA, designed for responsible leaders, managers and employers, which will start in September 2024.
Holmes is a key role model for many women in the business school space, as a young female Dean leading an innovative business school. Interestingly, Holmes was also promoted to the role of Dean whilst on maternity leave, an extraordinary feat and something other business schools can learn from.
READ HANNAH’S INTERVIEW HERE
Lisa Leander – Founder of the Women in Business Education (WiBE) network
If there is anyone who understands the value and importance of women networking with each other it is Lisa Leander. Founder of the Women in Business Education (WiBE) network, Lisa’s whole mission is solely focused around the statement ‘it is much easier to become, what you can see’. When Lisa had the idea for the WiBE network in 2019, she was busy running entrepreneurship programmes for women business owners, working with Fortune 500 companies in the Middle East and consulting for the Global Business School Network. Travelling the world, whilst also raising a family at the same time – no mean feat.
She attended a business education conference as part of her role at the time as a Senior Adviser for the Global Business School Network. She noticed there were very few female speakers, and thus clearly very few women in leadership across the business education landscape. Deciding that something needs to be done to improve this gender parity, and connect more women together within the industry, Lisa launched the Women in Business Education network, in order to connect women in the industry better.
Utilising her skillset from over 15 years working within the international development and management space, Lisa network hosts an annual conference, regular events and networking opportunities for female leaders in the business education industry.
The network now represents hundreds of members comprising deans, rectors, associate deans, assistant deans and directors across 18 countries. Lisa’s work is now ensuring that we are seeing positive social change within the sector, ensuring women feel more represented, are able to network and share ideas with each other and provide a safe space to improve gender parity across the sector.
READ LISA’S INTERVIEW HERE
Camelia Ilie Cardoza – Dean of Strategy at INCAE Business School
You’d struggle to find someone better equipped to train the future female presidents, CEO’s and directors of companies than Camelia Ilie Cardoza. As an entrepreneurial leader, with over 25 years’ experience in the space, Camelia leads programmes that enhance their governance, competitiveness, strategy, and strategic leadership, amongst other things.
Camelia is the Dean of Strategy at INCAE Business School, based in Costa Rica, as well as Chairing the school’s Center for Leadership, a role she has been in since 2023. Previously Camelia has worked in a number of other roles at the business school since 2013, including Director of Executive Education. She was also a visiting fellow at the Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard in 2019, as well as a columnist.
If you were to read the educational aspect of Camelia’s CV, it would look eerily similar to a list of the leading business schools around the globe. Camelia has studied programmes at Harvard Business School, Wharton Business School, Dartmouth College, ESADE Business School and even the Financial Times Executive Education arm.
Clearly, this has helped Camelia to develop the skillset needed to become as accomplished as she is today, now working in various external roles, including previously being a member of the Advisory Council for Latin America of the AACSB.
Camelia is a regular commentator in the sector on higher education, MBA programmes, women’s entrepreneurship and leadership development. Camelia has been recognised for her incredible work, winning such awards as Women of the Decade Award in Education and Leadership from the Women Economic Forum Latin America and a place on Forbes Magazine’s list of the Top 100 most powerful women in Central America and the Caribbean.
READ CAMELIA’S INTERVIEW HERE
Cathy Cassell – Executive Dean of Durham University Business School
As a researcher in the areas of diversity and inclusion herself, Cathy Cassell is bridging research and practice within her role at Durham University Business School. Cathy, who was appointed as Executive Dean to the business school in 2022, had spent a number of years as a Professor in Organisational Psychology, research into organisations with a specific focused on gender, diversity and inclusion.
Before joining Durham University Business School, Cathy had worked at a host of UK business schools, including the University of Sheffield Management School and Alliance Manchester Business School, in a faculty capacity. Cathy then went on to become Deputy Dean at Leeds University Business School, and then Dean at Birmingham Business School, for six years, before moving to Durham.
Cathy believes that we need to challenge the current levels of diversity in business education if we are to progress, and her research shows just what makes people feel like they’re in an inclusive environment. Cathy believes “It’s more important that businesses create a culture of inclusion than it is to, for example, appoint women to senior jobs. It’s inclusion that needs to be the focus.”
The London School of Economics graduate has been championing diversity and inclusion in her role at Durham University Business School, whether that be through the Executive Deans women’s scholarship, or continuing her research into gender and the workplace.
Cathy is a prominent voice in the business education sector, and is a key voice at industry events, as well as being a member of the Council of Trustees for the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS) and has served on a number of accreditation panels for the various accrediting bodies, such as AMBA, AACSB and EQUIS.
READ CATHY’S INTERVIEW HERE
Elissa Sangster – CEO of Forté
The Forté Foundation is one of the most impactful projects pushing gender parity in business education. Launched in 2002, Forté opens doors for women to reimagine what they can achieve in business–from launching first jobs to advancing to the C-suite.
Elissa Sangster has been its CEO since 2004, and in that time has led the expansion of the community to over 100,000 women, with 56 leading MBA programmes across the globe and more than 70 influential companies dedicated to expanding the leadership pipeline for women.
Elissa had previously been Assistant Dean and Director of the MBA programme at the McCombs School of Business at UT Austin. She holds an MBA from the Mays School of Business at Texas A&M University.
She is as committed today to the mission of Forté to launch women into fulfilling, significant careers through access to business education, professional development, and a community of successful women as she was when she joined the Foundation in 2004.
“In twenty years I haven’t had a day where I thought we were done,” she shares. “The opportunities to make a difference and have an impact show up every single day which makes for a very exciting and dynamic organisation and workplace. I love inspiring and motivating women to pursue business careers. Our partnerships make this work possible and without them we would struggle to achieve our impact and reach.”
Thanks to Forté Fellowships, more than 16,000 women have earned or are pursuing MBAs to grow their credibility, capability, and confidence — along with their salaries. The organisation has awarded over $400 million to female student, and hosts networking and learning opportunities too.
Elissa is a leading voice in the business education industry, providing regular insights to media, industry and conference events on how to widen business education access to women, and the importance of improving gender parity in the sector and at the top levels of business leadership.
READ ELISSA’S INTERVIEW HERE
Tima Bansal – Chair of the Board at PRME
Tima’s research, focused on sustainable business in a turbulent world could not be any more relevant in today’s business environment. For almost 20 years, Tima has been a Professor of Sustainability and Strategy at the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario, has a wealth of experience working in the field of sustainability.
Whether it is her position as Director of Ivey’s Centre on Building Sustainable Value, Founder of the Network for Business Sustainability or as the Chair Impact Committee of Shift 4 Good – there simply isn’t a more authoritative voice on sustainable business.
Tima also leads Innovation North, which is reimagining business innovation to create better businesses and a more resilient, prosperous and sustainable society.
In 2020, Tima was offered the position as Chairperson of the Board for the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME). PRME is a UN-supported initiative that aims to raise the profile of sustainability in business and management education through Seven Principles focused on serving society and safeguarding our planet. The initiative has over 800 signatories worldwide, including many business and management schools.
Tima, who is a graduate from the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, is pushing for change in the sustainability space, and has been nominated for a number of awards for the inspiring work she has done in this space – including the YMCA Women of Distinction Award.
Tima is a regular contributor on the intersection of business and sustainability, acting as a true role model for other women working in the academic space. She writes for Forbes on the topic, and her research has been cited in both Canada and internationally.
Sujata Madan – Academic Director of the International Masters Programme for Managers (IMPM)
Sujata Madan is another woman in business education who has truly had an international career. Sujata’s work, teaching the future leaders of tomorrow has taken her across a whole host of countries, whether it is in Spain, France, Germany, Singapore, India or Canada – Sujata has insights into management across the globe.
Sujata, who is now the Academic Director of the International Masters Programme for Managers (IMPM) – an Executive Diploma in Global Management from five top universities – and has been in this role for a couple of years, alongside her role as a Professor in Practice at McGill University, Desautels Faculty of Management.
Sujata has worked at Desautels in a variety of capacities since 2005, where she has been the school’s Academic Director of the MBA programme, Director of MBA initiatives, and now her current role of Professor in Practice.
Boasting experience from large corporations such as Citibank and the Boston Consulting Group – Sujata has clear experience bridging academia and industry together, something that she teaches future leaders on the IMPM programme.
Sujata has won a number of awards for her work in the sector, including the Academy of Finance Excellence in Teaching Award and the prestigious 3M National Teaching Fellowship. She is a regular contributor to the industry through events and conferences, and truly acts as a role model for other women working in the business education sector.
Interested in this topic? Why not revisit our Inspirational Women of 2023? You can read more about them here…