Last Friday, December 13, in an extraordinary session of the Board of Directors of INCAE Business School, and after a highly professional search and analysis process, executed by the talent search and management firm Egon Zehnder, based in Switzerland, it was decided to appoint Dr. Camelia Ilie Cardoza, of Spanish nationality and Romanian origin, as the new President of INCAE, who during the last decade has served as Dean, leading the institute to new levels of performance and innovation.
Although there were excellent Central and South American candidates, after a thorough analysis process, the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors, which became the Nominating Committee, decided to recommend to the Board of Directors that, given the enormous challenges of the context and the competition facing the Institute, it was best to choose to give continuity to the technological, geographic and generational transitions already underway and to have the person who best met the criteria of leadership profile, knowledge of the industry, teaching experience, and capacity for innovation, in addition to fulfilling all the other established criteria. The Board of Directors approved the recommendation unanimously (one director was absent due to work).
We thank the other applicants for their excellent profiles, which made this process more demanding for all of us and allowed us to select from a strong group of alternatives.
Enrique Bolaños Abaunza, who for a decade has performed with excellence in the position and ensured financial sustainability despite deep crises, such as those caused by the pandemic and the closure of the Francisco De Sola campus in Nicaragua. He has also succeeded in positioning the institute for the future with the new Executive Headquarters in Panama, with the beginning of a generational transition in the faculty that ensures academic excellence in the future, the modernization of the academic infrastructure, the beginning of a major technological transformation, the establishment of important academic alliances, and the strengthening of the administrative team, in addition to positioning INCAE before its main stakeholders as the best business school and center of impact in the region.
During Mr. Bolaños' tenure, INCAE has remained the best business school in Latin America and among the top 100 in the world according to the Financial Times ranking, as well as one of the few business schools in the region accredited by the three organizations representing the United States (AACSB), Europe (EFMD) and the United Kingdom (AMBA) at a global level.
INCAE Business School celebrates, 60 years after its founding, this tenth transition in its President, in this case falling on the first woman to occupy the top executive position of the institution and is proud once again of its history of impact, relevance and commitment to excellence, driven by the enormous work done by its graduates throughout the region and, in this case, reflected in both the outgoing rector and the incoming President , to whom we now wish great success in the strategic management of the institution.
The operational transition will take place on January 15, 2025 and the handover ceremony will be held at the next Board of Directors meeting on March 19.
Signed by the Board of Directors of INCAE Business School
Dr. Roberto Artavia Loría
President
