Stephan Jansen

Stephan A. Jansen (12 June 1971) is founding coordinator of the »Digital Urban Center for Aging & Health (DUCAH)«, an associated researcher at the »Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet & Society (HIIG)« and Professor of Management, Innovation & Finance as well as Director of the »Center for Philanthropy & Civil Society | PhiCS« at Karlshochschule in Karlsruhe, as well as “Professor for Urban Innovation – Health, Mobility, Digitization” at the College of Fine Arts Berlin since July.

Stephan is a regular columnist in German magazines, e.g. bi-monthly in »brand eins« & »enorm«.

Stephan was and is a member of numerous advisory boards and works as a scientific consultant for numerous companies, foundations, educational institutions and several federal ministries. For example, he was a member of the »»Innovationsdialog« of the Federal Chancellor and the Federal Chancellery for one legislative period, a member of the »Forschungsunion« of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research for two legislative periods and a member of personal advisory boards of ministers such as Peer Steinbrück, the former Vice Chancellor.

He was a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Business School from 2000 to 2001 and worked regularly as a Visiting Researcher at Stanford University in 1999, 2010 and 2015 (among others with Prof. Mark Granovetter PhD and Prof. Sepp Gumbrecht in the field of sociology, literature and law).

In May 2003, Stephan was appointed founding president and managing director of Zeppelin University (ZU), a state-recognized private foundation university in Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance. In the same year he was appointed professor at the »Chair for Strategic Organization and Financing | SOFI« by the Minister of Science in the course of a habilitation adequacy assessment. At the time of this appointment he was 31 years old and thus the youngest German university president.

Stephan completed his studies at the University of Witten/Herdecke in 1997 and received his doctorate in 2003 under Prof. Dr. Dirk Baecker, Prof. Dr. Birger Priddat and Prof. Dr. Rudolf Wimmer. There he founded the »Institute for Mergers & Acquisitions (IMA)« in 1998, for which he was awarded the title of University Innovation of the Year by the Federal Minister Edelgard Buhlmann. For two decades he has been a scholarship holder of the Herbert Quandt-Foundation, Fullbright, the German Study Foundation, the Eberle-Butschkau-Foundation and the German Academic Exchange Service, among others.

In addition to his academic career, he is Managing Partner of the “Gesellschaft für urbane Mobilität” BICICLI Holding GmbH, which offers Corporate Bike Mobility as a Service with full-service leasing and infrastructure. Winner of the »German Bicycle Award 2020«.

He is also co-founder of the Societas for Digital & Social Transformation »Das 18te Kamel & Komplizen GmbH« (The 18th Camel & Accomplices) in Berlin, Hamburg and Vienna with clients such as AUDI, BASF, Bayer, Caritas, GIZ, Lufthansa, Otto.

From the perspective of sociological systems theory and behavioral organization theory, he is the author of more than 200 publications (including 25 books and anthologies), particularly in the areas of organization and networks, digitalization, innovation, leadership and management theories, mergers & acquisitions, social enterprises, philanthropy, new urban mobility & smart cities, and analyses of educational systems.

Since 2016, he has been listed in the global ranking »Thinkers 50«.

Educational Background

• 10/1993 – 12/1997 Studies of Economics and Management (“Wirtschaftswissenschaft”) at Private University Witten/Herdecke, Germany Degree: Master of Business Administration (“Diplom Ökonom”)
• 02/1995 – 04/1995 Tokyo Keizai University, Japan Research Project with e.g. Nissan, Honda, Toyota, Nippondenso, Porsche, VW, Miti.
• 02/1996 – 04/1996 New York University, New York City.
• 01/1998 – 07/2003 Ph.D. – Research Fellowship at the Private University Witten/Herdecke

Academic Appointments

University Management

• 09/2003 – 09/2014 Founding President and Managing Director of Zeppelin Universität gemeinnützige GmbH, Friedrichshafen, Germany

Professorships | Visiting Scholarships

• Since 03/2016 Chair for Philanthropy & Civil Society | PhiCS | Karlshochschule, Karlsruhe | 3 PreDocs
• 12/2003 – 02/2016 Chair for “Strategic Organization & Finance | SOFI” Zeppelin University, Lake Constance | 1 PostDocs, 1 PreDocs
• 06/2010 – 02/2016 Founder and Director of “Civil Society Center | CiSoC” Zeppelin University, Lake Constance | 2 PostDocs, 4 PreDocs
• 11/2014 – 12/2015 Visiting Scholar, Stanford University “History of Ideas of Organized Education” Invitation by Prof. Sepp Gumbrecht, Department of Comparative Literature
• 06/2010 – 08/2010 Visiting Scholar, Stanford University Nomination Research Group “Universities of the 21st Century” Invitation by Prof. Russell Berman and Prof. Sepp Gumbrecht Department of Comparative Literature
• 04/2000 – 12/2001 Visting Researcher, Harvard Business School Invitation: Prof. Richard Meyer, Prof. Michael E. Porter and Prof. Michael Rukstad
  M&A Case Study: DaimlerChrysler Post Merger Management
• 03/1999 – 12/1999 Visiting Researcher, Stanford University
  Sociology Department and the Graduate School of Business
  Invitation: Prof. Mark Granovetter
  Study: Frequent Acquirers in the High Tech-Industry, Silicon Valley

Institute Management

• 01/1998 – 03/2003 Founder/General Manager of “Institute for Mergers & Acquisitions | IMA” at the Witten/Herdecke University DaimlerChrysler AG, Deutsche Beteiligungs AG, Ernst & Young, McKinsey & Company, MobilCom AG and Bloomberg, 12 employees