Karolin Frankenberger appointed Head of the Executive School of Management, Technology & Law

Karolin Frankenberger has been Professor of Strategic Management and Innovation at the University of St.Gallen (HSG), Director of the Institute of Management & Strategy (IfB) and the Executive School of Management, Technology & Law (ES) as well as Academic Director of the Executive MBA programmes (EMBA) since 2018. Under her leadership, embaX was launched, a joint EMBA programme of ETH Zurich and HSG. In addition, the EMBA HSG has improved from 55th to 25th place in the world-renowned FT Global EMBA Ranking since 2018, HSG's best result to date.

Frankenberger says about her election: "I am very pleased. Developing executives into responsible leaders who are ready to tackle the major challenges our society faces today has been my passion for many years. I find it highly important, to not only teach executives how to achieve business success, but also enable them to ensure a positive impact on the people and organisations they lead and broader speaking on our society and environment. I am therefore very pleased to be able to further drive this development in this new role, to continue the Executive School’s success story and sharpen its position as a leading provider of continuing education in Europe and beyond."

Consultancy worldwide and research in St.Gallen, USA, Lucerne and Singapore

Karolin Frankenberger received her doctorate with highest honours from the Institute of Management & Strategy (IfB) at HSG in 2004 and was a visiting doctoral student at Harvard Business School and the University of Connecticut. She then worked for seven years as a global strategy consultant for McKinsey & Company. In 2011, she returned to HSG as a postdoctoral researcher and later as an assistant professor, and received her first appointment to the newly founded Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Lucerne in 2016. She moved to HSG in 2018. In 2022, she was a visiting professor at the St.Gallen Institute of Management in Asia, Singapore. 

Business model innovation, transformation, circular economy and ecosystems

Karolin Frankenberger's research focus is on business model innovation, corporate transformation, circular economy and ecosystems. She focusses on how companies develop and implement innovative business models in order to achieve sustainable success. Her work has won several awards and appears regularly in leading subject journals. Her co-authored book "The Business Model Navigator" has been translated into over 20 languages and is considered a standard work in this field. She is an internationally recognised keynote speaker, President of the School of Medicine (Med-HSG) and a member of the Board of Directors of Bernina International AG. She has lived in St.Gallen with her husband and two children for 15 years.

Winfried Ruigrok has been Dean of the Executive School of Management, Technology & Law at the University of St.Gallen since 2011. Prior to that, he was Dean of the HSG's MBA programmes for five years, which he designed, built up and continuously developed from scratch – the Full-Time MBA in 2005 and the Part-Time MBA in 2008. Since 1996, he has been Professor of International Management and Director of the Research Institute for International Management (Research Institute for International Management). His research focus is on strategy, internationalisation of boards of directors and supervisory boards as well as corporate governance, the role of the CEO, international CEO careers, CEO compensation, diversity and Research Methods.

Promoting internationalisation as a pioneer, promoter and trailblazer

Winfried Ruigrok has played a key role in shaping the HSG's internationalisation. He has been a member of the Executive Board since the founding of the ES in 2006 and has launched numerous initiatives that have established themselves as successful programmes (e.g. St.Gallen Board Programmes and St.Gallen Board Retreat). In addition, he recognised the importance and impact of rankings in the competitive university environment at an early stage and promoted the HSG's participation in internationally recognised rankings. His well-known statement, "We do not allow our strategy to be dictated by rankings", made people sit up and take notice and emphasises how important a critical and reflective approach to rankings is. For him, rankings create transparency and comparability. "They provide valuable information for improving the quality of teaching, research and executive education." Winfried Ruigrok played a key role in shaping the ES as Dean and also initiated and drove forward the establishment of the first English-language Master's degree programme in 1999. This was groundbreaking for the establishment and coordinated implementation of the Bologna reform at the HSG in 2004.

Lifelong learning at the University of St.Gallen

Proximity to practice characterises HSG in general and executive education at HSG in particular. The fact that executive education is now anchored as a third pillar at the University of St.Gallen alongside research and teaching is also thanks to Winfried Ruigrok. It is also because of him that lifelong learning has become a defining element of the HSG's self-image. Winfried Ruigrok will remain with the HSG after his retirement as Professor of International Management.