Lisa Hehenberger, Lecturer in the Department of Strategy and General Management at ESADE, has been named Director of the ESADE Entrepreneurship Institute (EEI). Hehenberger will be taking over from Professor Luisa Alemany, who during her eight years in the post has positioned the EEI as a leader in the entrepreneurship field at both the national and international levels.

The ESADE Entrepreneurship Institute is an interdisciplinary knowledge-creation group working in the field of entrepreneurship. The members of the group include faculty and researchers in the sub-categories of business creation, entrepreneurial finance, innovation, design thinking, family businesses, growth and internationalisation, social entrepreneurship, and social impact investment. The EEI also provides support to ESADE students during the process of developing and launching new business models. Through the EWorks initiative, it offers cutting-edge education and training and has an active presence in the social debate. Most of the EEI’s student-oriented activities are held at the EGarage, a space where students of the academic institution are provided with the resources they need and a suitable environment for developing new business ideas. For the past seven years, the EEI has received support from Santander Universities as well as from Agrolimen.

In the first stage of her new role, Hehenberger will face the challenge of implementing a new strategic plan to strengthen the key areas of the Institute, including a newly created think tank on Impact Investing and Venture Philanthropy, increase research activity and further develop relationships with students, companies, foundations, investors and other organisations to generate added value for ESADE and for society at large. “The ESADE Entrepreneurship Institute has a group of faculty members and collaborators with extensive experience and knowledge in the field of entrepreneurship and related topics,” commented Lisa Hehenberger. “I am very honoured to have the chance build on the major achievements of Luisa Alemany and her team in the coming years.” Hehenberger added: “My goal is to further boost our research efforts and to obtain more resources so that ESADE can earn international recognition as a leading player in this field. My ultimate objective is to have a positive impact on society by deepening our knowledge of how to set up, manage, finance and grow business ventures of all kinds.”

Lisa Hehenberger: profile and career

With a PhD in Management from IESE Business School and a Master in Economics and Business from the Stockholm School of Economics and HEC (CEMS), Lisa Hehenberger specialises in social entrepreneurship, the financing of social enterprises, as well as venture philanthropy and social impact investment. She is also a member of the European Commission’s Expert Group on Social Business (GECES) and the OECD’s Social Impact Investment Expert Group.

Before joining ESADE, she was the Research and Policy Director of the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA), where she created and managed the organisation’s research centre. She has also served as an advisor to the EU-funded research projects SEFORIS (“Social Entrepreneurship for Innovative and Inclusive Societies”) and ITSSOIN (“Impact of the Third Sector as Social Innovation”). She is also a former member of the French National Advisory Board and the Impact Measurement Working Group of the Social Impact Investment Task Force established by the G8. She has advised organisations such as WWF and Meridia Capital Partners on the impact of invested funds, and she sits on the advisory board of the Spanish impact investment fund Creas. Previously, she worked in investment banking at UBS and GB Investment Banking in London, Madrid and Barcelona.