ESCP ALUMNI magazine - #195 - Automne 2021 - 50

Campus ❙ École
" A outstanding record
of engagement across
our teams and campuses "
École
Simon Mercado, who was previously Dean of ESCP's London Campus has been nominated
Executive Vice President for Business & External Relations and as Dean of Executive Education.
His appointment is effective from June 2021. Professor Mercado will lead the School's relations
with the corporate world.
international business and cross-cultural
management. I have taught on the School's
MBA and at every level of higher education
in many institutions worldwide.
Simon MERCADO
Executive Vice President for Business
& External Relations
Simon, can you present yourself?
Well I'm not an ESCP veteran but I have
been an EXCOM member for six years now
having led the School's London campus
since 2015. Before joining ESCP I was ViceDean
of Nottingham Business School, one
of the largest EQUIS accredited business
schools in the UK. Back in my Nottingham
days I was also Director of International
Affairs and External Relations for a lengthy
period, with many responsibilities equivalent
to those I will hold in my new position
at ESCP. I have always focused my career
choices on the opportunity to build links
between business schools and the outside
world including HE partnerships and engagement
with business firms and organizations.
The focus has generally been on
commercial and international development.
In London, I served as Managing Director
of ESCP Corporate Services alongside my
position as Academic Dean. I'm a Professor
of Management with specialization in
50 ❙
Outside of ESCP, I operate as a consultant
on HE internationalization and accreditation.
Amongst several external roles, I
serve as an Advisory Board member for the
French Chamber of Commerce in Great
Britain and as Chair of the International
Committee of the Chartered Association
of UK Business Schools (CABS). I'm also a
member of Business School advisory boards
in the UK, India, Finland and France.
My life divides between France and the UK,
where I have two children. My daughter
is an Account Executive for a well-known
influencer marketing agency and is at the
start of her career. My young son is at high
school with a penchant for art and graphic
design. I've travelled the world extensively
in a professional capacity but my greatest
knowledge is of three cities at the heart of
Europe: London, Paris and Brussels.
What did you learn from your
experience on London Campus?
As a proud European convinced of the
UK's role in Europe, ESCP was a natural
choice for me. In my period as Dean of the
London Campus, I experienced first-hand
the outstanding quality of ESCP degree programmes
and the extraordinary talent that
comes through our school. I also enjoyed
extensive interactions with our community
ESCP Alumni Magazine numéro 195 ❙ AUTOMNE 2021
there. The period since 2015 was quite a
successful one in terms of revenue growth,
population growth, and the launch of new
programmes. I'm naturally proud of that
and of the teams behind that success. I had
the pleasure during that time to receive,
on the School's behalf, The Times Higher
Education Award for best UK Business
School in 2018. I also have come to appreciate
the power and good service of the
alumni community at ESCP, and of the
School's multi-campus model.
According to you, what will be
evolutions of Executive Education?
What are the main challenges that
will face executive education?
There is an outstanding record of engagement
upon which to build and great
expertise across our teams and campuses.
Nonetheless, these are challenging times.
According to Unicon, the Covid-19 pandemic
has led to dramatic decline in the market
with reports of a 25 % or higher revenue
fall for most providers. We have performed
better than most but have not been
immune to this impact. For sure, ESCP has
to be agile and innovative in its approach
to Executive Education moving forward.
We want to build a multi-channel model
that will reflect the very deep changes that
are taking place in the Executive Education
market, focusing on high quality offer and
hyper-personalisation. This is already the
stamp of our successful EMBA and several
of our major custom programmes. Digital

ESCP ALUMNI magazine - #195 - Automne 2021

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