IESE Business School

The institution is governed by the Executive Committee and the Supervisory Board, established in 2023 to oversee the Executive Committee and the dean in strategic planning, execution and key decision-making.^[20] The Executive Committee is responsible for the strategic development, faculty recruitment, program portfolio and operations of the school.^[21]

The International Advisory Board (IAB) and the Executive Committee of the IESE Alumni Association provide strategic guidance to the school's management on its initiatives, governance, education programs, institutional development and corporate sponsorship.^[22] The International Advisory Board (IAB) analyses the global socio-economic context from the perspective of business, emerging trends, entrepreneurial and executive education needs and innovation in the field of management and leadership. IAB members are managers and academics from Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia.

Since 1963, the IESE-Harvard Business School Committee has met annually in the United States or Europe, mainly to advise on the development of international programs.^[23]

Given the importance of entrepreneurship, with 30% of students starting a business within five years of graduation, the entrepreneurial mindset is embedded across all programs through mentoring, networking, funding and research.^[47] The insitution also promotes entrepreneurship through: Business Angels Network for investors and entrepreneurs and IESE 40under40 Awards.^[48]

Since the late 1950s, the institution has sent faculty members to doctoral programs in the United States and Europe.^[49] It has established long-term academic partnerships with Stanford, MIT and CEIBS.^[50]

IESE also contributed to the founding of 15 business schools, mainly in low- and middle-income countries.^[51] IPADE (Mexico, 1967); IAE (Argentina, 1978); PAD (Peru, 1979); AESE (Portugal, 1980); INALDE (Colombia, 1985); IEEM (Uruguay, 1986); Lagos Business School (Nigeria, 1991); IDE (Ecuador, 1992); CEIBS (China, 1994); UA&P School of Business Administration (Philippines, 1995); ISE (Brazil, 1996); ESE (Chile, 1999);^[52] MDE Business School (Ivory Coast, 2003); and Strathmore Business School (Kenya, 2005),^[53] and the Timoney Leadership Institute (2019) in Ireland.^[54] The partner schools are independent and developed with local faculty and staff.

The research in particular business areas is conducted through chairs with leading companies and foundations, including Abertis,^[55] Alcatel-Lucent,^[56] Banco Sabadell,^[57] CaixaBank,^[58] Banco Santander,^[59] Indra,^[60] Nissan,^[61] SEAT,^[62] Puig,^[63] Schneider Electric,^[64] and Intent HQ.^[65]

Research is also carried out in different centres, led by professors and with a team of researchers. Companies and specialised organisations collaborate with them: Center for Business in Society,^[66] Center for Corporate Governance, Center for Globalization and Strategy, Center for Innovation Marketing and Strategy (CIMS), Center for International Finance (CIF),^[67] Center for Public Leadership and Government,^[68] Center for Research in Healthcare Innovation Management,^[69] Entrepreneurship Innovation Center,^[70] Institute for Media and Entertainment,^[71] International Center for Logistics Research,^[72] International Center for Work and Family,^[73] and Public-Private Sector Research Center. Since 2025, IESE also began collaborating with the Eurofirms Foundation Research Fund in Leadership for Embracing Inclusion, specialized in recognition and connectedness in organizations.^[74]

In 2021, the institution launched the Institute for Sustainability Leadership (ISL) to promote the exchange of knowledge and experience between the academic and business worlds. The ISL, led by Professor Fabrizio Ferraro, is generating knowledge on the monitoring and measurement of green targets, governance systems for sustainable cities and financial instruments for impact investment.^[75]

In 2023, the Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Management Initiative was launched. It analyzes how artificial intelligence affects management and the ethical use of AI in companies. In 2025, IESE created the Business Leadership and the Future of Work Chair position sponsored by the Joaquim Molins Figueras Foundation.^[76]

The same year, IESE became a founding member of Business Schools for Climate Leadership (BS4CL),^[77] together with other leading business schools in Europe. The alliance produces research and insights that prepare business leaders to face the climate transition and integrate environmentally-friendly practices into business.

In March 2025, the institution inaugurated the IESE Sports Management Centre, which aims to promote global leadership and professionalisation in the sports industry. RCD Espanyol de Barcelona is a strategic partner in the project.^[78]

At 2026 IESE’s full-time faculty is made up of 125 professors from 24 nationalities, who specialize in diverse topics including artificial intelligence, business ethics, corporate governance, economics, entrepreneurship and sustainability. The research of IESE faculty appears in journals, books, book chapters and case studies.  

• Núria Mas, Professor of Economics and Jaime Grego Chair of Global Healthcare Management
• Xavier Vives, Professor Emeritus of Economics and Financial Management, former Abertis Chair of Regulation, Competition and Public Policy and former academic director of the Public-Private Research Center
• Jordi Canals, Professor of Strategic Management and Fundación IESE Chair in Corporate Governance
• Pankaj Ghemawat, Professor Emeritus of Strategic Management
• Anselmo Rubiralta, Chair of Strategy and Globalization
• Pablo Hernández de Cos, former Professor of Economics
• Alfredo Pastor, Professor Emeritus of Economics

IESE is certified by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), Florida, the EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS), Brussels,^[79] and the Spanish ANECA.

It consistently ranks in the top five of international rankings for executive education, MBA, and Executive MBA programs. Its Global MBA was ranked third in the world by the Financial Times in 2025 and first among European business schools.^[80] The Executive MBA was ranked fourth globally in the FT Executive MBA Ranking 2024^[81] and second worldwide in the QS Executive MBA Rankings 2025.^[82]

The first alumni chapter was that of Catalonia, created in 1961. Regional groups for Valencia (Levante), Mallorca (Balearic Islands) and Madrid were established soon after, followed by Aragon (1973), Andalucia (1975), and Galicia, La Rioja, the Basque Country and Navarre (1986). The Argentine-Uruguayan chapter became the first foreign chapter in 1986; the U.S. alumni chapter was set up in 1987.^[99] In Warsaw (Poland) the alumni chapter is very significant, with 643 members in 2024.^[100]

In 2021, an alumni meeting held at the expanded Madrid campus was attended by more than 5000 executives and business people.^[101] In 2025, the Global Alumni Meeting, which was held at the Madrid campus, was focused on artificial intelligence and business and was attended by more than 1,800 executives.

Antonio Valero Vicente, commissioned by Jose María Escriva de Balaguer, was IESE´s main promoter and first dean. The founder of Opus Dei had listened to businessmen from Madrid, the Basque Country and Catalonia who, led by the Madrid naval engineer Alejandro Crespo Calabria, had expressed their concern and desire for the education and training of business leaders with a Christian vision.^[126] Valero visited the École des Administrations des Affaires de Lille, run by an MBA from Harvard Business School (HBS), to get advice on the pedagogical model, the case method.^[127]

IESE launched its first training project for entrepreneurs during the 1958-59 academic year.^[128] The first program, called Programa de Alta Dirección de Empresas (PADE), was aimed at business leaders with a decade of experience in senior management. The following academic programs were Programa de Dirección de Empresas (PDE) 1959–1960, and Programa de Desarrollo para Alta Dirección de Empresas (PDADE, later known as PDG) in 1961. In 1963, after consulting professors Ralph M. Hower and Steve Fuller, the Harvard-IESE Committee was set up,^[129] and IESE launched the Master in Business Administration and Economics (MED) in 1964.^[130] It was the first time the term "master's" was used in Europe; it later took on the standardized name of MBA.^[49]

After almost two decades of collaboration with Harvard, the bilingual Spanish-English MBA was introduced in 1980, and collaboration was extended to other North American universities such as the University of Michigan Ross Business School, the MIT Sloan School of Management and NYU Stern School of Business.^[131]

IESE began offering programs in Madrid in 1974, opening a campus there in 1991. The school completed an expansion project in 2021, which doubled the size of the Madrid campus.^[132] In 2007, after expansion and renovation, the new Barcelona campus was inaugurated.^[133] In the following years, the campuses in New York City (2010),^[134] Munich (2015),^[135] and São Paulo (in collaboration with ISE Business School), were consolidated and opened.^[136]

Since its founding, IESE has created an ecosystem to support entrepreneurs, such as providing seed capital to graduates with promising start-up ideas.^[137] It was one of the first schools outside the United States to offer a course on search funds.^[138]

In 2009, the Africa Initiative was created to provide research and teaching support to associated schools on the Continent. This has included faculty training, joint program development, exchange opportunities, conferences and the Africa-focused research and teaching materials.^[139]

In 2021, the Institute for Sustainability Leadership (ISL) was established to foster cooperation between academia and business. ISL researches and measures environmental targets, governance systems for sustainable cities and financial instruments for their development.^[140]

In 2023, IESE launched the Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Management Initiative to explore how AI is impacting management. It also prepares executives to put Al to use in their companies in an ethical and socially responsible way.^[141]