Prof. Jörg Rocholl joined the ESMT faculty in 2007 and was appointed president in 2011. Under his leadership, ESMT has transformed into the top business school in Germany and is consistently ranked in the top 10 in Europe by the Financial Times. During this tenure, ESMT faculty has grown to 44 members from 19 countries. Since announcing the ASPIRE strategy a year ago to guide a new phase of growth at ESMT, many milestones have been reached. ESMT founded the FUTURE Institute for Sustainable Transformation at COP26, just launched the Institute for Deep Tech Innovation (DEEP), and will lead the first Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) in the country.  

As of July 1, Jörg Rocholl will also chair the steering committee of GNAM, succeeding former Yale SOM Dean Edward A. Snyder 10 years after Snyder founded the network in 2012. ESMT will therefore play a greater role within the network, whose mission is to drive innovation and create value by connecting leading global business schools, their resources, and their stakeholders. Member schools connect their students, faculty, staff, and alumni through programs such as Global Network Weeks, which give students and faculty the opportunity to pursue intensive study at a network school, and small network online courses, which enroll a select group of top-tier management students.  

The president’s appointment follows a rigorous process defined in the charter of the school. This process concluded in the nomination committee’s recommendation to the supervisory board, which was also approved unanimously by the academic committee of ESMT. The nomination committee was comprised of Dr. Werner Zedelius, chair of the supervisory board, ESMT, and senior advisor, Allianz SE; Prof. Tim Baldenius, chair of the ESMT academic board and Paul M. Montrone Professor of Private Enterprise in the Faculty of Business, Columbia Business School; and Prof. Tamer Boyaci, dean of faculty and research at ESMT, who was elected from professorial members of the academic committee to serve on the nomination committee.  

“Looking forward, we could not imagine a better president to lead ESMT,” said Dr. Werner Zedelius, chair of the supervisory board, ESMT, and senior advisor, Allianz SE. “The continued growth and success of ESMT demonstrate his assiduous and ardent leadership, especially during challenging times, such as the coronavirus pandemic.” 

 “It is a privilege and honor to lead this great institution. I would like to thank our supervisory board members for their trust in me and our faculty, staff, students, and alumni for their continued support,” said Jörg Rocholl. “I look forward to making ESMT and also GNAM even stronger than they already are.” 

In addition to his positions at ESMT and with GNAM, Jörg Rocholl is the vice-chair of the advisory board to the German Federal Ministry of Finance. He is also research fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), research member of the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI), and chair of the scientific advisory board of the Research Database and Service Center (FDSZ) of Deutsche Bundesbank. He graduated from the Universität Witten/Herdecke, where he earned a degree in economics with distinction. After completing his PhD at Columbia University in New York, he was named an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.