Zeger Degraeve

Dr. Zeger Degraeve is the Dean of Prince Mohammed Bin Salman College of Business and Entrepreneurship. With over 20 years of experience, Dr. Degraeve is an expert in decision-making, risk, operations research and managing project portfolios. An award-winning teacher, he has contributed to executive development programs in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Russia and North America for leading businesses.

Dr. Degraeve started his academic journey as a Professor of Management Science at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, his home country, before joining London Business School in 1999. From March 2002 until August 2005 he was the Associate Dean of the Executive MBA and Executive MBA-Global Programs, and from August 2005 until August 2007 he served as London Business School’s Deputy Dean Programs and a member of the School’s Management Committee and Board of Governors.

He became Dean of Melbourne Business School in November 2011, as well as Co-Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics of The University of Melbourne after successfully establishing an alliance between Melbourne Business School and The University of Melbourne in May 2013. After 7 years in these roles, he joined, Prince Mohammed Bin Salman College in October 2019.

Alongside his academic career, Dr. Degraeve has provided consultancy support across a range of issues including: operations management, logistics and supply chain management, environmental planning and purchasing strategy. Consultancy clients include the European Commission, Andersen Business Consulting, National Economic Research Associates (NERA) and McKinsey and Co.

With his extensive executive education expertise, Dr. Degraeve has been sought after to contribute to executive development programs in numerous leading international businesses, including: HSBC, Cadbury Schweppes, Novartis, Rio Tinto, E.on, Carlsberg, Merck Serono, SABIC, BP, Shell, Hess Oil, Premier Oil, Zain/Celtel, Orascom, Dubai Holdings, Majid Al Futtaim, and IBM.

Dr. Degraeve’s research has won several awards, including: Association of the European Operational Research Societies’ (EURO) Prize for Best Applied Paper and the Chairman’s Award for the Best Applied Contributed Paper by INFORMS (The Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences). He has published over 50 articles on decision making, optimization, scenario analysis and risk assessment for leading journals, including: Management Science, Operations Research, INFORMS Journal on Computing, European Journal of Operational Research, Interfaces and Harvard Business Review. He is also a regular speaker at international conferences.

After studying at the Universities of Ghent and Leuven in Belgium, Dr. Degraeve gained his PhD from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago, now Booth School of Business, in 1992.

Education

• PhD in Business Administration The University of Chicago - Booth School of Business (1987 — 1992)
• MBA Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (1984 — 1987)
• Master in Engineering Ghent University (1979 — 1984)

Companies

• Dean Prince Mohammad Bin Salman College of Business & Entrepreneurship - MBSC (2019)
• Co-Dean - Faculty of Business & Economics The University of Melbourne (2013 — 2018)
• Dean Melbourne Business School (2011 — 2018)
• Professor of Decision Sciences London Business School (1999 — 2011)
• Founder & Faculty Director - Dubai Centre London Business School (2007 — 2009)
• Deputy Dean - Programs London Business School (2005 — 2007)
• Visiting Professor, Decision Sciences Columbia Business School (2001 — 2007)
• Associate Dean of the Executive MBA and Executive MBA-Global Programs London Business School (2002 — 2005)
• Professor of Management Science Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven (1992 — 2002)