Allgemein

In her graduation speech for 114 Executive MBAs of the University of St Gallen, Barbara Kux pointed out the importance of sapere aude. She emboldened graduates to be wise and have the courage to use their own understanding when facing today’s key challenges: technological disruptions by AI estimated to affect 60-70 percent of total time spent working with a potential productivity growth until 2040 of some 3 percent; international conflicts in Europe, the Middle East and Asia; and sustainability with the latest earth overshoot day already on 2 August 2023.

St. Gallen, 25 May 2024

Participation as a former director of the board and member of its governance, strategy and nomination committee at the 100th anniversary of TotalEnergies SE at Chateau de Versailles.

Versailles, 26 March 2024

External link to TotalEnergies

The jury of the Swiss Economic Forum presented Barbara Kux with the “Honorary Award 2024” as part of the SEF.WomenAward. On the same evening, International Women’s Day 2024, Alessia Schrepfer, Co-Founder WeNurse, was honored as Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2024 and Sandra Banholzer, CEO Rauch Kreuzlingen, as Entrepreneur/CEO of the Year 2024.

Zurich, 8 March 2024

Laudator Simone Westerfeld, Head Personal Banking UBS, presents Barbara Kux with the Honorary Award 2024 of the SEF.WomenAward

External link to SEF.WomenAward 2024

European Blend Weekend panel discussion on “Clash of civilization” with Jacqueline Fehr, Caroline De Gruyter and Jan-Werner Müller at the Frank Schimmelfennig Center for Security Studies (CSS) of ETH Zurich. Introduction by Karl Schlögel and ad-hoc analyses from CSS. Thinking AI along by Joachim Buhmann, hosted by Simon Kuper, Financial Times.

Zurich, 7 October 2023

Presentation at the 12th symposium for supervisory boards on “Sustainable governance – opportunities and risks in disruptive times” and panel discussion with Werner Brandt, Michael Kemmer, Lutz Krämer, Dr. Peter Leibinger on “Current challenges for supervisory bodies in family businesses” (hosted by Professor Roderich Thümmel).

By video, Berlin, 7 November 2023

“Thriving Amid Change: Boards, Sustainability, and Career Insights” – Barbara Kux talks to Robert Maciejko, co-president alumni Florida, Cintia Tavella, president alumni US, and Vic Woo, director INSEAD San Francisco hub, on the occasion of the Global INSEAD Day commemorating the opening of the first MBA class in 1959.

Via video, 12 September 2023

External link to video

“European blend – who does it best?” Panel with Professor Mark Lilla, Professor Harold James, Professor Staffan Lindberg and Sanija Ameti, Operation Libero. Hosted by Vendeline von Bredow, The Economist.

Zurich, 4 November 2022

Link to announcement

“Energiesicherheit in Europa – wie?” (Energy Security in Europe – How?, in German, some slides in English). The Max Schmidheiny Foundation’s forums promote constructive, issue-related exchange within the younger generation of entrepreneurs, politicians and representatives of civil society, as well as with national and international leaders.

Bad Ragaz, 1 September 2022

Presentation slides. Download PDF (676KB)

At the Business Day 2021 organised by the Swiss Business Federation economiesuisse, Barbara Kux discussed on the panel “Sustainable financing: opportunities and risks for the real economy” (in German) hosted by Urs Gredig, with Professor Dorothée Baumann-Pauly, director of the Centre for Business & Human Rights, UNIGE, Dr Gnanli Landrou, CEO and co-founder of Oxara, and Philipp Rickenbacher, CEO Julius Bär Gruppe AG.

Basel, 10 September 2021

https://www.economiesuisse.ch/de/tag-der-wirtschaft-2021

Video recording of the panel discussion

https://youtu.be/Il6EgVNGquI

“Sustainability and diversity—why now?”, lecture given at the event “The Female Impact – SustainAbility Now” at the UBS Center for Education and Dialogue

Wolfsberg, 31 August 2021

The goal of Adobe’s newly established International Advisory Board is to support customers in all strategic and operational processes of digital transformation. Joining Barbara Kux on the advisory board are five other global business leaders who have led some of the world’s largest organisations through significant periods of change: former BNP Paribas CEO Baudouin Prot, TUI chairman Dieter Zetsche, economist Professor Heizo Takenaka, former HSBC Bank deputy CEO Nigel Hinshelwood, and Bank of Queensland chairman Patrick Allaway. The advisory board is chaired by Paul Robson, president international at Adobe. Beyond the Americas, Adobe operates with nearly 10,000 employees in 160 countries.

Munich, 24 March 2021

“Diversity: why and how?” Key note speech, design and realisation of a workshop for the board of a global financial institution.

7 April 2021

Barbara Kux personally contributed to the Harvard Business School MBA program “On becoming a general manager” led by Professors Amy C. Edmondson and Joseph Fuller, with reference to the Harvard case study by V. Kasturi Rangan, Amy C. Edmondson, Daniela Beyersdorfer, and Emer Moloney, “Sustainability at Siemens” (cf. bkux.com under publications, Harvard Business School Case 514-026, 2013)

Via video conference, 23 March 2021

Barbara Kux joined this debate with André Hoffman, vice chairman of Roche, Jonathan Normand, founder of B Lab, Katrin Muff, Professor at LUISS, which was moderated by Santiago Lefebvre and hosted by the Chapter Zero representatives Sonia Tatar from the INSEAD Corporate Governance Centre and Michael Hilb from the International Board Foundation.

It is up to corporate boards to take an active role in directing resources towards clean technologies and redesigning business processes and business models that mitigate the impacts of climate change. In line with the World Economic Forum 2021 theme on The Great Reset, Chapter Zero Switzerland,  Chapter Zero France, the INSEAD Corporate Governance Centre, and the International Board Foundation joined to host this webinar. 

Live stream, January 26, 2021

External link to video on the debate site

At “The Spark – German Digital Award 2020” under the patronage of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, Barbara Kux as a juror presented the Female Founder special prize, which was awarded to Katharina Kreitz. Kreitz is a graduate engineer with an MBA and is also a managing director and co-founder of Vectoflow. The start-up company develops 3D printer produced probes for the aviation and automotive industries. Its first customer was a Formula 1 racing team in 2015. The probes measure the pressure, speed and angle of air flows with outstanding accuracy. The leading German business daily Handelsblatt and McKinsey have been awarding this special prize since 2019 to attract female talent to start-up companies and to promote successful female founder role models.

Live stream, 12 November 2020

External link to article in Handelsblatt

External link to Youtube (Female Founder starts at 1:30)

Under the patronage of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Deutsche Innovationspreis was presented for the eleventh time on 3 April 2020. Dürr Systems (large company category) was awarded for a spray-free painting technology, Varta (SME or “Mittelstand”) for Li-Ion battery cells with a larger capacity and the start-ups Hasytec for ultrasound technology to prevent biofilm and Vectoflow for a temperature-resistant metal probe. Barbara Kux and eight other experts belong to the jury chaired by Beat Balzli, editor of German business magazine WirtschaftsWoche.

External link

The inaugural IMD-Pictet Sustainability in Family Business Award was presented to Firmenich, the world’s largest privately held perfume and taste company in Lausanne. Firmenich gained this distinction due to its outstanding efforts to embed responsible practices and purpose throughout its operations.

Speaking ahead of the award announcement, Barbara Kux, Vice-Chairman of Firmenich said that companies should look to synchronise the ‘three Ps’: profit, people and the planet. Profit and people have always been important, but the planet is a more recent addition, she said.

Whenever leaders make a strategic decision, hire someone or make an acquisition, they should have these three things in mind. It is important that sustainability is embedded in a company’s values, Kux added, and this is typical of family businesses. But you need to find a “green sweet spot” where your company can focus its efforts.

Lausanne, 5 December 2019

External link
Documentation of the award ceremony, including the interview with Barbara Kux, “The Role of Family Business Boards in Sustainability”, pp. 4-7. Download PDF (446KB)

At the award ceremony of the annual “Spark – The German Digital Award” Barbara Kux presented the “Female Founder Special Award” to Anna Iarotska and gave the laudation. Iarotska is the CEO and a co-founder of Robo Wunderkind. Her start-up helps inspire more children for science and technology and to take up professions in this field. Handelsblatt and McKinsey have awarded this special prize for the first time to encourage female talent to become founders of start-ups and to make successful female role models more prominent.

Berlin, 21 November 2019

Sven Afhüppe, editor in chief Handelsblatt, Anna Iarotska, CEO and co-founder of Robo Wunderkind, Barbara Kux and Cornelius Baur, Managing Director Germany of McKinsey & Company

External link to award website

The Financial Times has ranked St. Gallen University’s master in strategy and international management, co-taught by Barbara Kux, once again as the best of now 100 masters programmes worldwide in its 2019 survey. The newspaper has ranked the St Gallen programme in the top position for nine years in a row. The FT of 13 September 2015 said it’s a “hallmark” of the St. Gallen degree that students have to complete a sustainability project. Barbara Kux and Florian Überbacher developed the sustainability syllabus in 2014 and have been supervising the graduate students in their projects with companies from various industries, e.g. Roche, UBS, Henkel und Zurich.

External link 2019
External link 2018
External link 2017
External link 2016
External link 2015

Barbara Kux has been appointed to the jury of the EY Public Value Award for Start-Ups. The EYPVA distinguishes young and innovative companies, who in their activities add value to the common good. The jury of experts from business, academia and politics evaluates applications along the five dimensions of the Public Value Scorecard. The 2019 awards were presented in Leipzig on 7 November to: iuvando, a search tool for studies in cancer therapy (first), Besser zuhause GmbH, support for people needing care who wish to stay independent at home (second), and Enlightaid, a platform for more transparency in the flow of social donationas (third as well as audience award).

External link

Barbara Kux has been a member of the advisory board of the Department of Economics at the University of Zurich (UZH) since the summer term of 2019.
28 Mai 2019

Renowned experts from academia, the private and the public sectors from Switzerland and abroad constitute the advisory board. Members have a general advisory function and meet twice a year to get an update of recent developments of the department and to assist the department with their expertise. The board supports the department in enabling an active dialogue between academia and society.

External link

Barbara Kux and Florian Überbacher, “Exploring sustainability as strategic opportunity”, University of St. Gallen, Institute of Management
Lectureship, spring 2019

Kux and Überacher have held this class annually since 2014. During this spring semester, SIM studends developed original solutions in projects for five companies: Henkel, Roche, UBS and Zurich. The solutions are available for download on the St. Gallen website.

External link

Panelist on “Chairs leading their boards to long-term sustainability” with Dr. Andreas Jacobs (INSEAD and Jacobs Holding) and André Hoffmann (Massellaz, Roche et al.) moderated by Professor Jose Luis Alvarez (INSEAD). The two-day inaugural conference was held by the INSEAD Corporate Governance Centre (ICGC), the Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society (HGIBS) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
9 April 2019

The panel with Hoffmann, Kux, Jacobs and moderator Alvaraz

Speech: “Nachhaltige Governance – warum und wie?” (Sustainable Governance – why and how?)
21 March 2019

External link to event description

Grosvenor Group has announced the appointment of Barbara Kux as a non-executive director, effective from 12 June 2019.
20 February 2019

External link to Grosvenor press release

At the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the 24th Conference of the Parties (COP24) in Katowice, Poland, the high level panel to prepare the European Decarbonisation Pathways Initiative (EDPI) presented its final report. The independent advisors delivered science-based policy-relevant advice to the EU to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Barbara Kux was one of the nine external advisors of this high level panel first convened in 2016.
4 December 2018

External link to EC publications download site

Panelist: “Board of Tomorrow – Tasks, Challenges, Teams” with Lars Hinrichs (xbAV, Deutsche Telekom, Cinco Capital) Friederike Rotsch (SAP) Thomas Tochtermann (Tom Tailor, Vapiano), hosted by Jörg Thierfelder (Egon Zehnder)
27 November 2018

Barbara Kux and Professor Karolin Frankenberger: “Sustainability as strategic opportunity”, International Executive MBA, University of St. Gallen, first course, November 2018

Panelist: “Protektionismus – Herausforderung für Politik und Wirtschaft” (Protectionism – a challenge for politics and the economy) with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Swiss federal councillor Doris Leuthard and Roche CEO Severin Schwan, hosted by the political philosopher Katja Gentinetta
19 November 2018

Panelist: “Global Investment Game Changers Summit: Pioneering solutions for a better world”
22 October 2018

The Geneva summit marks the 10th anniversary of the leading forum to leverage investment policy for sustainable develop­ment. Barbara Kux, who contributed to the creation of the UN’s 17 Social Develop­ment Goals, spoke as one of the game changers invited for their track record of achieving these goals in industry. The panel was opened by UNCTAD Secretary General Mukhisa Kituyi and joined by entrepreneurs from Asia, Africa and Europe – as well as Sophia, a humanoid robot. Barbara Kux stressed that technology already exists to achieve two thirds of the goal of reducing CO2 emissions to net zero. Green technology offers substantial market opportunities that companies can seize with leadership, vision, strategy and prioritisation. And she said that millennials wish to work for companies devoted to sustainability and that, within the EU alone, four million green jobs have already been created.

External link to UN news release
External link to program
Externakl link to video of the panel (1 hour 42 mins)

Lecture: „Disruptive Welt – Chancen für Schweizer Unternehmen“ (Disruptive world – opportunities for Swiss companies)
5 September 2018

Panelist “Bringing your board along for the transformation journey” with Rick Haythornthwaite, moderated by Vivian Hunt
15 June 2018

Barbara Kux and Florian Überbacher, “Exploring sustainability as strategic opportunity”, University of St. Gallen, Institute of Management
Lectureship, spring 2018

In 2018, Kux and Überacher have held this class for the fifth time. During this spring semester, SIM studends developed original solutions in projects for these companies: BMW, Firmenich, Henkel, Roche and UBS. Some of these solutions are available to download on the St. Gallen website.

External link

Panelist: “How can modern governance boost competitiveness?”
14 June 2018 (invitation only)

Discussion Grid. Download PDF (228KB)

EU Industry Day 2018 Statement Barbara KuxAs a member of the high-level panel of the European Decarbonisation Pathways Initiative, Barbara Kux was a panellist on “Sustainable industry” at this two-day conference hosted by the European Commission.
22 and 23 February 2018

External link to agenda
Statement Barbara Kux. Download PDF (380KB)

Panelist: “Switzerland’s opportunities and responsibilities for a sustainable world.”
5 February 2018

Barbara Kux was a member of the Leadership Council of the SDSN Global Initiative which developed the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

External link to conference website with photo & video gallery and a report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)

Lecture: “Nachhaltigkeit – Erfolgsfaktor in der disruptiven Welt” (Sustainability – success factor in a disruptive world)
19 January 2018

External link

Contribution to lecture series, „Remarkable leadership stories“
22 November 2017

Lecture: “Sustainable corporate governance – the insider’s view“
16 November 2017

Lecture: “Sustainable corporate governance – The insider’s view”
26 September 2017

Barbara Kux and Florian Überbacher, “Exploring sustainability as strategic opportunity”, University of St. Gallen, Institute of Management
Lectureship, spring 2017.

In several project teams, SIM studends developed original solutions on behalf of five companies: BMW, Firmenich, Henkel, Roche and UBS. Some of these solutions are available to download on the St. Gallen website.

External link

Lecture: “Corporate governance – ticking the box vs being sustainable”
30 March 2017

Fontainebleau, appointment in February 2017

Speech at the kick-off of the NextGen CH Network and Learn: “How to thrive in a world of ambiguity?”
Zurich, 14 November 2016

Invitation Flyer, Download PDF (19KB)

The European Commission appointed Barbara Kux to the expert panel which will support EU climate action and help implement the Paris Agreement. The high level Panel on Decarbonisation Pathways had its first meeting hosted by the commissioner for research, science and innovation Carlos Moedas in October 2016. The nine independent advisors led by physicist Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, will deliver science-based policy-relevant advice to the European Decarbonisation Pathways Initiative (EDPI) to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. They will also present a final report in three years’ time.

Brussels, 21 October 2016
External link

Lecture: “Corporate governance – ticking the box vs being sustainable”
27 September 2016

Speech: “Supply Chain: Strategic Opportunities in a volatile Environment”
Lake Lucerne, 7 July 2016

External link

Barbara Kux and Florian Überbacher, “Exploring sustainability as strategic opportunity”, University of St. Gallen, Institute of Management
Lectureship, spring 2016.

In six project teams, SIM studends developed original solutions on behalf of four companies: BMW, Firmenich, Henkel and UBS. Some of these solutions are available to download on the St. Gallen website.

External link

Speech: “Corporate governance 4.0 – ticking the box vs sustainable value driver”
2 March 2016

External link

Speech: “Supply chain: strategic opportunities in a volatile environment”
25 February 2016

Speech: “Sustainability – how to establish a true and lasting competitive advantage”
2 November 2015

Panel presentation: “Global versus local – who knows best?”
8 October 2015

In the Financial Times of 12 October 2015 management editor Andrew Hill quotes Barbara Kux at the FT 125 forum on how she managed to make “global savings while cultivating local sourcing networks” at Siemens.

Speech: “Corporate governance: ticking the box versus being sustainable”
6 October 2015

Speech: “Corporate governance – ticking the box or sustainable value driver”
21 September 2015

Barbara Kux and Florian Überbacher, “Exploring sustainability as strategic opportunity”, University of St. Gallen, Institute of Management
Lectureship, spring 2015.

In five project teams, SIM studends developed original solutions on behalf of three companies: Allianz, BMW and Henkel. These solutions are available to download on the St. Gallen website.

External link

Appointed by General Shareholders’ Meeting
Paris, 28 April 2015

External link

Special session: “A conversation with Barbara Kux”
4-5 March 2015

Video interview: “Greening Siemens’ supply chain”, INSEAD Youtube channel
29 January 2015

External link

Speech: “Sustainability – how to establish a true and lasting competitive advantage”
17 December 2014

Speech: “Sustainability – how to establish a true and lasting competitive advantage”
26 September 2014

External link

Speech: “Opportunities of CSR for boards – managing risks and creating business opportunities”
13 October 2014

Barbara Kux and Florian Überbacher, “Sustainability as strategic opportunity”, University of St. Gallen, Institute of Management
Lectureship, spring 2014.

In five project teams, SIM studends developed original solutions on behalf of two companies. These solutions are available to download on the St. Gallen website.

External link

Global initiative for the United Nations under the leadership of Professor Jeffrey Sachs.

External link
Sachs to Kux 2015 letter. Download PDF (193KB)