Introduce yourself in three words or phrases.
I am, at my core, “an academic entrepreneur”. My goal is to shape professional destinies for today and tomorrow’s challenges and create the appropriate educational environments for that purpose.
In my vision, these challenges span across business, human, and societal dimensions, where talents must find their path both personally and within the broader economic and social landscape. This calls for dynamic collaboration and engagement with various stakeholders.
With my diverse background as a professor, researcher, director at multiple levels, and as Dean for years, I have a strong commitment to quality improvement and processes enrichment, both nationally and globally. I am driven by my personal convictions on education challenges and I dedicate my energy to innovating and serving in meaningful ways.
What do you like most about your job?
No year looks like the former one. People believe that the academic cycles are identical but not at all, of course! In 30 years of career and across different institutions and positions, it has never been the case for me.
Moreover, my job is at the junction of education, economy and society, with a holistic vision worldwide. I think what we do is one of the richest possible activities and probably one of the most impactful!
Best work trip/Worst work trip?
Honestly, I believe that the best trips are always those yet to come. As an academic entrepreneur, all what I have witnessed was at the same time unique and valuable. There is always something to learn, to understand, and integrate into your reflections and projects, and there is always something different to experience.
If you could learn a language instantly, which would you pick and why?
If I could lead several lives, I would learn more than one language, at least one per continent. Having only three in my portfolio (French, English, and Arabic), I know that languages are entire worlds and mastering many languages gives you the ability to create bridges and therefore the ability to act and transform.
If I had to choose only one language then, I would say a programming language. Today, machines are speakers with which you have to talk because they are at the heart of immaterial and social spaces and environments. I would love to have the ability to interact with machines in a deeper way, as this is the language of today too!
What makes you get up in the morning?
Giving love, sense and energy to my family and enriching my professional community in a way or another, especially the students who remain our purpose!
Best international ed conference and why
As Dean of a triple accredited school, I participate in many international conferences on business education that generally allow us to share common challenges and identify emerging topics and practices.
The last Annual Conference of the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) in June 2024, which took place in Bologna, Italy, was really outstanding from my point of view. It was hosted in the heart of the historic city, at the venerable University of Bologna, the oldest higher education institution in Europe, established in 1088. The topic was “Navigating geopolitical tensions, AI, and fostering a human-centered future,” and it was imbibed with originality, vision and in a spirit of refoundation. It was truly refreshing and inspiring to share that moment with more than 600 attendees coming from all over the world.
Worst conference food/beverage experience
Thank God none! My preference is for home-cooked family meals so my expectations are relatively limited in that regard. But I appreciate the intellectual food during the conferences, and this is linked to the people attending and the angle with which topics are tackled. What makes food good is very often the company!
Book or podcast recommendation for others in the sector?
I highly recommend reading the works of Edgar Morin, an outstanding French sociologist and philosopher who turned 103 years old this year. His holistic reflection, amazing intellectual capacities and vast human experience across the centuries and across the theories are truly inspiring. Notably, he worked on the complex thought and the idea of “reliances”, which is the ability to establish bridges beyond existing categories and compartments. This dialectics of aligning differences and creating congruence beyond isolated rationales is one of the key challenges for any social and societal transformation.
Describe a project or initiative you’re currently working on that excites you.
For three years, Excelia Business School has been working on the Blue Education Experience, a vast and global academic and institutional initiative focussing on the strategic resource of water. Water represents one of the key challenges that companies, the society at large and the planet are facing. Our ambition is to increase students’ awareness, generate and disseminate knowledge. We are deploying extensive pedagogical projects aimed at developing cutting-edge knowledge and enhanced competencies in what I call “creative, sustainable, and entrepreneurial solutions for the future”.
