Professor Christian Andres has been elected by the school’s Senate and will be the new Dean of WHU as of May 1, 2023
Professor Christian Andres (45) will assume the role of Dean of WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, based in Vallendar (near Koblenz) and Düsseldorf, on May 1, 2023 after having been elected by the school’s senate. He will be following Professor Markus Rudolf (56), who had accepted the position in 2015 and will return to dedicating his time to research and teaching at the school’s Allianz Endowed Chair of Finance.
Andres is Chairholder of Empirical Corporate Finance at WHU and was most recently active as the Associate Dean of Research. Dr. Toni Calabretti, Chairman of the WHU Foundation, expressed his congratulations to Professor Andres and his gratitude to Professor Rudolf for his commitment and all that he and the school were able to achieve during his three terms in office. “Under the direction of Professor Rudolf, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management moved from #37 to #13 in Europe in the renowned European Business School Ranking published by the Financial Times. In Germany, we’ve maintained our position at #2. We want to expand on these successes.” Calabretti also announced intentions for WHU to continue developing in order to meet increasing international demands, growing competition, and the higher expectations of the students. “WHU will become even stronger in research,” he said.
“It is my hope that WHU will be seen as a thought leader in Germany and in Europe as a whole. WHU is an excellent business school, evinced by the recognition it has received in recent years. And the best is yet to come,” said Andres. For him, it is important to broadcast more strongly the school’s high-caliber expertise, particularly in the area of sustainability and ESG. He also mentioned that there is much discussion concerning certain topics, such as diversity, equality, and inclusion—but that today’s companies must put actions behind their words and embed these principles into their own organization. WHU, he believes, has much more potential, as a business school strong in research, to support this endeavor.