Academic Advisory Board

DR. MATHIAS FALKENSTEIN
CEO, HIGHER EDUCATION MANAGEMENT GROUP, BERLIN

Mathias is Managing Partner at XOLAS, a Higher Education Consulting Firm based in Berlin, Germany. XOLAS is assisting global universities and business schools in designing and implementing institutional change, with particular attention to issues of sustainability and responsibility; quality management and internationalisation. Mathias is also the Executive Policy Advisor at LUISS Business School, LUISS University, Rome (Italy).

Mathias was previously employed as Director of Business School Services at the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) in Brussels, Director of International Relations at IÉSEG School of Management in Paris & Lille, and Director of the International Summer University at the Free University in Berlin. He has also worked as Program Officer at the North American headquarters of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in New York.

Mathias was previously a research fellow and post-doctoral graduate at the International Centre for Higher Education Management (ICHEM) at the School of Management, University of Bath, UK.  He is now the Managing Partner of XOLAS.

PROFESSOR JOSÉ A.F. MACHADO
VICE-RECTOR, NOVA UNIVERSITY, LISBON
PROFESSOR OF ECONOMOICS AND ECONOMETRICS, NOVA SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS

Professor Machado holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, U.S.A. and an Agregação (Habilitation) in Statistics and Econometrics by Universidade NOVA de Lisboa.
 
He is a member of the Editorial Boards of Empirical Economics and the Portuguese Economic Journal and has published his scientific research in some of the top journals of his field namely, Journal of the American Statistical Society, Journal of Econometrics, Journal of Applied Econometrics, Econometric Theory, European Economic Review, Empirical Economics, Economic Letters and Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics. His most influential research is ”Counterfactual Decomposition of Changes in Wage Distributions using Quantile Regression”, (joint work with José Mata), published in Journal of Applied Econometrics 20, 2005. 

Professor Machado served for 10 years (2005-2015) as Dean of Nova School of Business and Economics. Over the course of his tenure at NOVA SBE he was responsible for the implementation of the Bologna reforms, for securing AMBA, AACSB and EQUIS accreditations, for the participation in the CEMS alliance, for the creation of the Lisbon MBA in collaboration with Católica-Lisbon and the Sloan School of MIT.

He was also Pro Vice Chancellor International and Dean of the Faculty of Business and Management at Regent’s University London. He is also Senior Vice-Rector of NOVA University Lisbon.
 
During his two years at Regent’s, Professor Machado led the restructuring and validation of the School’s undergraduate programme portfolio, the reorganisation of the Faculty (including the implementation of a very significant reduction in cost cutting through redundancies of academic staff), and implemented a new research and enterprise strategy. As Vice Rector at NOVA he is in charge of the University’s Strategic Asset Management including new campus development. 

Professor Machado has cooperated extensively with accreditation agencies such as AACSB or EFMD. He was a member of EQUIS Awarding Body. 

Professor Machado serves or has served in the different boards of institutions and companies namely, the Agência de Gestão da Tesouraria e da Dívida Pública - IGCP (the public entity responsible for the integrated management of cash, funding and the direct debt management) and EDPR-EDP Renewables, (a leading renewable energy company headquartered in Madrid and operating in Europe, North America and South America, that designs, develops, manages and operates power plant that generate electricity using renewable energy sources).

DAN LECLAIR
CEO, GLOBAL BUSINESS SCHOOL NETWORK

As CEO of the Global Business School Network, Dan is leading efforts to improve access to quality, locally relevant management and entrepreneurship education for the developing world. 

Dan also advises several education startups and currently serves on the Taskforce on Business Schools and the Public Good convened by London-based Chartered Association of Business Schools and Board of the Responsible Research in Business & Management initiative. 

Prior to GBSN, Dan helped transform AACSB from a US accrediting body to a global thought leader and internationally-respected quality assurance agency. His 19 years at AACSB includes nearly three years as Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, seven years as Chief Operating Officer, and five years as Chief Knowledge Officer. 

Dan played the lead role in creating a think-tank joint venture with the European Foundation for Management Development and was recognised for pioneering efforts in the formation of the UN’s Principles for Responsible Management Education. 

Dan has authored some 80 research reports and articles, and delivered more than 175 presentations in 35+ countries. Before AACSB, Dan was a tenured associate professor and associate dean at The University of Tampa. He earned a PhD from the University of Florida writing on game theory.

TIMOTHY MESCON
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OFFICER OF THE EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST, AND AFRICA HEADQUARTERS FOR AACSB INTERNATIONAL

Timothy S. Mescon is Executive Vice President and Chief Officer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) for AACSB International. In this capacity, Mescon and his team currently support over 480 members and over 140 accredited schools throughout EMEA. Mescon and his team opened the EMEA Office in January 2015 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Timothy is President Emeritus of Columbus State University in Georgia, where he served for 6 ½ years.  Prior to that he was the Dean and Dinos Eminent Scholar Chair for 18 years at the Michael J. Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. The Coles College of Business, with more than 6,000 students and 160 full-time faculty holds both business and accounting accreditations.

He gained extensive experience as an AACSB peer review team member, chair and committee member for 25 years before joining AACSB. He is the author of more than 200 articles and case studies, and he has co-authored four books, his latest "Entrepreneurship: Venture Initiation, Management and Development" 2nd edition (Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group).

Dr. Mescon received his Ph.D. from the Terry College at the University of Georgia, MBA from the Cox School at Southern Methodist University and B.A. from Tulane University. He has served on the faculties of Arizona State University and the University of Miami. He was founding Dean of the Frank Perdue School of Business at Salisbury University in Maryland.

ANNE KIEM
CHIEF EXECUTIVE, CHARTERED ASSOCIATION OF BUSINESS SCHOOLS

Anne is Chief Executive of the Chartered Association of Business Schools and Executive Director of the Small Business Charter. 

She was formerly Chief Executive of the Institute of Financial Services, having previously had a career in banking. 

Anne also sits on the Higher Education Commission and the British Academy’s Research and Higher Education Policy Committee.

PROFESSOR SHARON MAVIN
PROFESSOR OF LEADERSHIP AND ORGANISATION STUDIES AT NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY UK

Professor Sharon Mavin is Professor of Leadership and Organisation Studies at Newcastle University UK having recently completed tenure as Director of Newcastle University Business School 2017-2020 where she successfully led the Triple Crown Re-accreditation and Athena SWAN accreditation. Sharon previously held the Director role at Roehampton Business School, University of Roehampton, London and was Dean and Associate Dean for Research at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University.

Sharon is an international scholar in gender, women's leadership and media representations, identity, learning, dirty work and organisation studies and supervises and examines doctoral students in these areas. A Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, the Royal Society of Arts,the British Academy of Management and the CIPD. Sharon is Chair of the Chartered Association of Business School's Diversity and Inclusion Committee and Chair of the University Forum for Human Resources and Development (UFHRD). Sharon is a Consulting Editor following tenure as Associate Editor of the International Journal of Management Reviews and was Co-Editor of Gender in Management. She sits on a number of journal editorial advisory boards. Sharon’s recent research on women leaders in top positions in organisations has been published in journals such as human relations, Management Learning, British Journal of Management and Gender, Work and Organisation.

Sharon is an Executive Coach and throughout her academic career she has continued her passion for practice, organisational innovation and impact through leadership research, engagement and consultancy. Sharon is supporting the new eMBA and MSc Strategic Leadership programmes and executive education in Newcastle University Business School and was instrumental in the start-up, development and delivery of the Corporate and Executive Development activities at Northumbria University. Sharon completed a Board Apprenticeship with JP Morgan Claverhouse Investment Trust Plc through the international Board Apprentice scheme which aims to increase diversity on company boards. She was nominated for Northern Power Women Awards (2018, 2019).