Hager Jemel-Fornetty, new Director of the EDHEC International BBA

This article was first published on the edhec.edu website - 05/03/2025 

On Tuesday 4 March 2025, EDHEC Business School announced the appointment of Professor Hager Jemel-Fornetty as Director of the EDHEC International BBA programme. Her new functions took effect on 1 February 2025.

As Associate Dean for the EDHEC International BBA programme, Hager Jemel-Fornetty will be responsible for managing and developing the different tracks of the School’s undergraduate programme. A mission in line with the ambitions set out in the School’s “Generations 2050” strategic plan: “Working closely with the teams, one of my prime missions will be to train engaged and responsible citizens and professionals who are capable of contributing positively to society and supporting transformation”, underlines Hager Jemel-Fornetty. “While continuing to further our strategy based on academic discipline and excellence, we want to develop innovative pedagogical formats that notably place the emphasis on experiential learning. This approach will allow students to reinforce key skills, such as critical thinking, collaboration and emotional intelligence. The objective is also to help them understand themselves better and to equip them to respond appropriately to the complexity of the surrounding world and thus to develop a more acute awareness of the major challenges facing humanity and organisations.”

Triple expertise: programme management, teaching and research

Holding a doctorate in management sciences from Institut d'Administration des Entreprises, part of University Lille 1, Hager Jemel-Fornetty, 45, has amassed over 20 years of experience in lecturing and research on management and leadership, gaining particular expertise in the areas of CSR and diversity. She joined EDHEC in 2016 after leading ESC Amiens’ Master programme and managing France Business School’s pedagogical innovation unit between 2012 and 2015. 

For the last nine years, Hager Jemel-Fornetty has also been Associate Professor of Management and Director of EDHEC’s Diversity and Inclusion Chair. Through her role within the Chair, she has applied a research approach geared towards the corporate world and been involved on a regular basis in conferences and training and support initiatives for both professional and non-professional audiences. Her recent research focuses on gender stereotypes in video games and the question of quotas in companies.

She was also Director of the Pre-Master year of EDHEC’s Master in Management programme between 2017 and 2023. With the support of professors and teams involved in the Master, she led major transformations, ranging from the overhaul of the programme to the introduction of the four-day week. These initiatives are designed to improve students’ time-management and personal organisation.

Accelerating progress in terms of diversity and inclusion

Hager Jemel-Fornetty has also developed numerous classes, workshops and educational tools to promote diversity and inclusion. These notably include the “Gender-Based Violence: Act and Stop It!” and the “Springboard for Diversity & Inclusion” initiatives, both of which are designed to raise participants’ awareness of inclusive management through a problem-solving approach based on collective intelligence. Thanks to these initiatives, over 3,000 students a year are trained in these issues at EDHEC.