Alumni Engagement - 2019

Harnessing the power of alumni to make our school and community a force for good in the world

Today, we can truly say that graduation from INSEAD is the beginning of an educational journey that lasts a lifetime.

Working in 175 countries and representing 166 nationalities, our alumni are undoubtedly the most diverse and globally connected alumni community of any graduate business school in the world. As leaders of companies and communities, CEOs and entrepreneurs, they are redefining what it means to do business in the digital age. Through their actions, they are contributing to a more peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. In partnership with the INSEAD Alumni Association, INSEAD annually honours alumni who are exceptional leaders and exemplify the values of INSEAD. We are proud to showcase the lifelong learning opportunities opened this year and the honour roll of recipients of the 2018 Alumni Awards. 

 

 

Lifelong learning opportunities

 

Lifelong learning was clearly one of the most successful initiatives of academic year 2018/2019. Under the guidance of Peter Zemsky, Deputy Dean, Anne-Ev Enzmann MBA’01J, Director of Lifelong Learning, and David Mair MBA’96J, Secretary-General of the INSEAD Alumni Association, we refreshed lifelong learning with a rich rolling programme of opportunities available exclusively to our own graduates. Options range from one-hour online webinars to two-day on-campus pop-up programmes. Online events are also available as recordings and several National Alumni Associations now offer INSEAD-run Entrepreneurship Bootcamps. Career development, social impact and new technologies are some of the major themes.

 

Perhaps most exciting of all, our regular Alumni Forums have been refocused around lifelong learning, starting with the sold-out event in Geneva in June 2019. The Alumni Forums have become a central part of the school’s lifelong learning strategy. These increasingly popular events combine the latest, cutting-edge research of INSEAD faculty with the insights of leading business practitioners and thought leaders. This is in addition to the learning opportunities we have always offered through the INSEAD Knowledge platform and the 30% alumni discount for Open Programmes from Executive Education.

Lifelong learning opportunities

2018 Alumni Award Recipients

INSEAD Alumni Force for Good Award

Yu Helen Hai TIEMBA’11J
Goodwill Ambassador for Industrialization in Africa
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

Young INSEAD Alumni Global Entrepreneurship Award

Frédéric Mazzella MBA’07D
Founder and President, BlaBlaCar
Nicolas Brusson MBA’07D
Co-Founder and CEO, BlaBlaCar

INSEAD Alumni Emerging Entrepreneur Award

Nakul Sharma MBA’11J
Founder and CEO, Hostmaker

INSEAD Alumni Achievement Award

António Horta-Osório MBA’91J
Executive Director & Group Chief Executive, Lloyds Banking Group

INSEAD Young Alumni Achievement Award

Daniel Layug MBA'17D
Founder, PeoplePods

INSEAD Alumni Volunteer Leader Award

Dirk Luyten MBA’89J
IDP-C, Managing Director, Levante Capital Management
Bruno Berthon MBA’91D
Senior Managing Director, Europe and Utilities, Accenture Strategy
Bettina Langenberg IEP’97Oct
Retired Managing Director and Head of Global Banking Switzerland, Deutsche Bank AG

Giving to INSEAD - 2019

The support of our donors is shaping the future of the school and the world in powerful ways

The response to The Campaign for INSEAD: A Force for Good has been overwhelming and inspiring – a testament to the strength of our alumni community and their support.

The Campaign launch celebrations in 2018 and early 2019, featured at the beginning of this report, set the tone for an inspirational year. Alumni, friends, corporations and foundations gave a total of €27.8 million in gifts and pledges. Donor numbers rose to 4,676, an increase of 17% compared to the previous year.   

 

The rising tide of support and the funds raised had a huge effect in advancing the school. To begin with, leadership gifts from six alumni donors who supported the school with gifts of €1 million and above, and more than 30 individual donors who gave €100,000 or more, transformed entire areas of the school. These large individual gifts enhanced our capacities in faculty and research, supported the Europe campus renewal and the newly opened San Francisco Hub for Business Innovation and further strengthened our scholarship offerings. Knowledge creation through the Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society remained a focal point of donor support, as did the impact of new technology, particularly blockchain and AI.

 

Increasing in popularity year on year, the Dean’s Fund/Greatest Impact received €2.2 million in gifts and pledges in academic year 2018/2019, the highest yet. A total of 1,615 donors chose to support the school this way, a 16% increase over last year. As donors to the Fund give the Dean the freedom to decide on the use of their gifts, the school could invest quickly in strategic priorities and catalyse innovation. Their gifts played a crucial role in supporting the INSEAD San Francisco Hub as they did in providing seed money for research and innovative projects led by our faculty.

 

Alumni have always played a key role in expanding and strengthening INSEAD’s capacity to offer scholarships. Their support enabled us to award scholarships to 306 MBA students in 2019. Individually, in groups or as a class, alumni boosted existing scholarships and created 22 new ones, greatly helping our flagship MBA programme’s diversity and talent retention. 

 

 

Reunion giving

Over 3,800 alumni and friends returned to campus to celebrate their milestone anniversaries during seven reunion weekends. A hallmark of the reunion experience is the class gift campaign, and reunion alumni gave more than €6.6 million. Several classes set new records for their support, including the young alumni of MBA’14J who set a new bar for the 5-year reunion, the class of MBA’03J for the 15-year reunion, the class of MBA’69 for the 50-year reunion and the pioneering EMBA’04 for the inaugural 15-year EMBA reunion. Of special note, the class of MBA’94D raised nearly €2.7 million to support the Dean’s Fund and several core campaign priorities.

 

Giving Day

The third annual INSEAD Giving Day held on 12 March 2019 also reached new heights, raising over €1.2 million from 2,273 donors in 79 countries. The numbers display increasing support year on year.

 

Giving Day

New initiatives

Annual support is crucial to the school’s agility in moving forward. The recently launched INSEAD Fund harnesses the power of annual support and collective giving. All annual gifts, including Giving Day contributions and Reunion gifts, are counted as part of the INSEAD Fund. Donors have the choice of making unrestricted gifts, or giving to any of the school’s priorities: Dean’s Fund/Greatest Needs, Scholarships, Faculty and Research, the Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society, Digital@INSEAD and Campus Renewal. 

 

The Founders Pledge, established in the year, is a new way for investors and entrepreneurs to give to the school. They can do so by dedicating a percentage of future proceeds to INSEAD. In its inaugural year, the initiative received pledges from several alumni, establishing a solid start.

 

The strong vote of confidence from donors and volunteers across classes and geographies made 2018/2019 another inspiring year. Thank you, as ever, to all who engaged with the school and supported it so generously.

Europe Forum

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Annual Report Description
We are pleased to provide downloadable versions of Our Year in Review 2022–2023 and annual reports from previous years. All downloads are available in the PDF file format.

Download

Annual Report Description
We are pleased to provide downloadable versions of Our Year in Review 2018/2019 and annual reports from previous years. All downloads are available in the PDF file format.