André Hoffmann MBA’90D Commits €40M to INSEAD

Fontainebleau (France), Geneva, Singapore, Abu Dhabi,  20 August 2018 – INSEAD, The Business School for the World, has received a €40 million commitment from André Hoffmann and his wife Rosalie.

André Hoffman and his wife, Rosalie

This landmark gift, the largest by an individual in the school’s history, establishes the  Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society. In acknowledgement of the Hoffmann family’s support, INSEAD decided to refer to them in the name of the Institute.

On the occasion of the formal signing, Mr. Hoffmann says, “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.”

With initiatives on INSEAD campuses in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, the Institute promises to bring fresh perspectives and innovative solutions to the most intractable global issues that threaten our sustainable future.

Executive Director of the Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society, Katell Le Goulven, who recently joined INSEAD from UNICEF, says, “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.”

The Institute will explore issues such as ethics, gender balance, humanitarian operations, social impact, sustainability, tech for good, wealth inequality and other topics related to the role of business in society. The Institute is widely engaging the entire INSEAD community around strategy, governance and execution. It is already reaching out to partners, including ChangeNOW, the largest positive impact summit in the world.

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.

At INSEAD, Mr. Hoffmann has served on the Board of Directors, Alumni Fund Board, National Alumni Associations and as Chair of the Audit Committee. The couple have 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 his efforts 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.

About INSEAD, The Business School for the World

Image via The INSEAD MBA Experience

As one of the world's leading and largest graduate business schools, INSEAD brings together people, cultures and ideas to change lives and to transform organisations. A global perspective and cultural diversity are reflected in all aspects of its research and teaching.

With campuses in Europe (France), Asia (Singapore) and the Middle East (Abu Dhabi), INSEAD's business education and research spans three continents. The school’s 145 renowned Faculty members from 40 countries inspire more than 1,400 degree participants annually in its MBA, Executive MBA, Executive Master in Finance, Executive Master in Consulting and Coaching for Change and PhD programmes. In addition, more than 10,000 executives participate in INSEAD's executive education programmes each year.

In addition to INSEAD's programmes on its three campuses, INSEAD participates in academic partnerships with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia & San Francisco); the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University near Chicago; the Johns Hopkins University/SAIS in Washington DC and the Teachers College at Columbia University in New York; and MIT Sloan School of Management in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In Asia, INSEAD partners with School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai. INSEAD is a founding member in the multidisciplinary Sorbonne University created in 2012, and also partners with Fundação Dom Cabral in Brazil.

INSEAD became a pioneer of international business education with the graduation of the first MBA class on the Fontainebleau campus in Europe in 1960. In 2000, INSEAD opened its Asia campus in Singapore. And in 2007 the school began an association in the Middle East, officially opening the Abu Dhabi campus in 2010.

Around the world and over the decades, INSEAD continues to conduct cutting edge research and to innovate across all its programmes to provide business leaders with the knowledge and sensitivity to operate anywhere. These core values have enabled us to become truly "The Business School for the World”.

More information about INSEAD can be found at www.insead.edu.