School of Management and Law

The Global Alumni Pulse

Deans from leading business schools, together with CEOs, will meet during this year's World Economic Forum in Davos to discuss "What Business School Graduates Tell Us About the Future of Leadership, Impact and Trust".

Blue header graphic with the ZHAW logo in the top left and “School of Management and Law” in the top right. Centered text reads “Davos 2026” with the subtitle “The Global Alumni Pulse”. Below is a white, stylized icon of a building with a laurel branch.

Together with the business newspaper Financial Times (FT) and the honor society Beta Gamma Sigma (BGS), the ZHAW School of Management and Law has conducted the world’s first survey of business school alumni. The survey’s findings form the Global Alumni Pulse. On 20 January 2026 at AI House Davos, deans from leading business schools and CEOs will discuss what the findings reveal, where gaps are emerging, and how business education must evolve to remain a cornerstone of trust, resilience, and sustainable growth in a rapidly changing world.

This meeting marks the start of a new global reference for business education and executive education. The Global Alumni Pulse is a recurring, data-driven tool designed to track how leadership expectations, leadership competencies, and the social and personal hopes and fears of alumni worldwide are evolving. Similar to established global benchmarks such as competitive indices, the Alumni Pulse is intended to provide a longitudinal perspective of those who move directly between education, organizations, and business. Alumni insights offer a unique perspective on the relevance of business education, the preparation of leaders for systemic upheaval, and the alignment between business performance and social impact.

Panel Discussion Participants

David Bach, President, IMD (CH)

Lily Bi, President and CEO, AACSB International (USA)

Stefano Caselli, Dean, SDA Bocconi School of Management (IT)

Andrew Jack, Global Education Editor, Financial Times (UK/USA)

Maurice Radebe, Chairman of the Association of African Business Schools (ZA)

Bert De Reyck, Dean, Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University (SG)

Jacques Sanche, CEO of Bucher Industries and Chairman of Burckhardt Compression (CH)

Reto Steiner, Dean, ZHAW School of Management and Law (CH), and Academic Head of the Global Alumni Survey, together with FT and BGS

Francisco Veloso, Dean, INSEAD Business School (FR)

Moderation: Mark Alder, Professor of Didactics and Rhetoric, ZHAW School of Management and Law (CH)

A highlights video of the panel discussion will be available on this page soon.