Prof. Dr. Thomas Bieger elected new Chairman of CEMS Global Alliance

Keio University also ratified as full member school, along with record influx of Corporate Partners and arrival of NGOs as first ever Social Partners

PARIS, FRANCE, 9th December – Rotterdam-hosted CEMS Annual Events sees Prof. Dr. Thomas Bieger (President, University of St. Gallen) replace Prof. Bernard Ramanantsoa (Dean, HEC Paris) as Chairman of the ever-expanding CEMS Alliance.

New CEMS Chairman elected for two-year mandate

Thomas Bieger was unanimously elected by the Deans and Rectors of CEMS member schools and senior representatives of CEMS Corporate Partners on Saturday 4th December in Rotterdam. He arrives in the position following on from his recent appointment as President of the University of St. Gallen. He replaces Prof. Bernard Ramanantsoa (Dean, HEC Paris), who completed his second two-year mandate as Chairman at the Rotterdam event. Prof. Bieger had the following to say: “having worked within the CEMS alliance for a number of years, it is a source of great pride to now represent the entire organisation as Chairman. I would like to pay tribute to the outgoing Chairman, who has overseen the globalisation of the CEMS alliance, international recognition of the CEMS MIM as the top pre-experience Master’s in Management in the world and the continued growth and expansion of the alliance on all fronts .”

Keio University, Japan ratified as a full member school

Also confirmed during the Rotterdam event was the ratification of Keio University, Japan as a full member school. Keio University will become the 26th school to deliver the CEMS Master’s in International Management in 2011-12. This increases the non-European contingent within the alliance and opens up extra opportunities to students and graduates to experience first-hand another academic and corporate culture. This point is underlined by CEMS Executive Director François Collin: “the ratification of Keio adds to our portfolio of Asian member schools and, with the recruitment by Keio alone of four new corporate partners, offers an even greater chance for CEMS graduates to seek employment in that part of the world. This instant success by Keio is a strong sign of their commitment to the CEMS MIM as the ultimate academic-corporate bridge programme”.

11 multinational companies and 2 NGOs come on board

The four Japanese companies in question are: the soya giants Kikkoman Corporation, the optical and pharmaceutical manufacturers Kowa Company Ltd., the convenience store franchise Lawson, Inc. and the financial services and investment bank Nomura Securities Co. Ltd. Also ratified as corporate partners are Arla Foods, Barilla, EF Education First, Google, HSBC, Pilsner Urquell/SABMiller Group and Schneider Electric. This brings the total number of CEMS Corporate Partners to a record 68.

In addition, the CEMS Global Alliance also welcomes its first ever “Social Partners”, the NGOs CARE International and Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International. Their role will be identical in scope to that of Corporate Partners, ranging from selection of students onto the programme and a role in governance through to curriculum delivery, internships and recruitment opportunities.

Press contact: Kevin Titman, CEMS Communications Manager, Tel: +33 1 39 67 71 56 kevin.titman@cems.org

About CEMS Global AllianceFounded in 1988, CEMS is a strategic alliance of 26 member schools from 4 continents, 60 corporate partners and 2 social partners (NGOs). The CEMS Master's in International Management (CEMS MIM) provides a unique blend of top-level education and professional experience for multilingual, multicultural postgraduate students. The Financial Times ranking rates the CEMS MIM amongst the very best Master’s in Management programmes in the world as well as n°1 for combined international results, enhancing the status of the programme as the first supra-national M.Sc.

www.cems.org.

CEMS ACADEMIC MEMBERS

Australia Faculty of Economics and Business, University of SydneyAustria WU, Vienna University of Economics and Business Belgium Louvain School of ManagementBrazil Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo-FGVCanada Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario China (Beijing) School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University Czech Republic University of Economics, PragueDenmark Copenhagen Business SchoolFinland Aalto University School of EconomicsFrance HEC ParisGermany University of CologneHungary Corvinus University of BudapestIreland Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, UCD Italy Università Bocconi Japan Keio University, Tokyo Norway NHH, Norwegian School of Economics and Business AdministrationPoland Warsaw School of EconomicsPortugal Faculdade de Economia da Universidade Nova, LisbonRussia Graduate School of Management, St. Petersburg State UniversitySingapore National University of Singapore Business SchoolSpain ESADE Business SchoolSweden Stockholm School of Economics Switzerland University of St. GallenThe Netherlands Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus UniversityTurkey Koç University Graduate School of BusinessUnited Kingdom LSE, London School of Economics & Political Science

CEMS SOCIAL PARTNERS

CARE International Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International

CEMS CORPORATE PARTNERS

A.T. Kearney ABB ArçelikArla FoodsAstraZeneca PLC BarillaBNP Paribas FortisBP Canal + CEZCIB BankCrédit Agricole S.A. Credit Suisse Daymon WorldwideDeloitte ToucheTohmatsu Deutsche Bank EADS EDPEF Education First ENI International Fidelity Investment ManagersGDF SUEZGoogle

Henkel AG & Co. KGaAHPHSBCIndesit Company s.p.a.ING Group Itaú UnibancoKikkoman CorporationKONE Kowa Company Ltd.Lawson, Inc.L’Oréal LVMH McKinsey & CompanyMillennium bcp MOL Group Nestlé Nokia CorporationNomura Securities Co. Ltd.Novo Nordisk Oesterreiche Nationalbank OMV Aktiengesellschaft Pilsner UrquellPricewaterhouseCoopers

Procter & Gamble Reckitt Benckiser Santander SberbankSchindler Corporation Schneider ElectricShellSiemens Mgmt ConsultingSistema Société-Générale Statkraft ASStatoilSwiss Re Thomson Reuters UBS Unibail-Rodamco UniCredit Group Vestas Wind Systems A/S VodafoneWhirlpool Wolseley GroupZurich Financial Services