Professor Pisitta Vongswasdi Joins WHU’s Core Leadership Team

After a unanimous vote in the school Senate, it has been decided that organizational behavior expert Dr. Pisitta Vongswasdi will enter into a new position at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management. She is to become a member of the school’s Core Leadership Team (CLT) under Dean Christian Andres, serving as the Associate Dean Diversity, Inclusion and Talent Development aswell as WHU’s Equal Opportunities Officer. Her new role coincides with the start of her full professorship at WHU, as Professor Vongswasdi will also head the new Chair of Leadership & Society as part of the school’s Management Group. 

Professor Vongswasdi’s new role within the CLT comes with Professor Nadine Kammerlander, the school’s former Associate Dean DEI & Sustainability, focusing her efforts on the school’s new Center of Excellence for Entrepreneurial Families. “We are very grateful to Professor Kammerlander for her continued dedication to WHU and are excited to see her pursuing new endeavors right here on campus,” noted Dean Andres. “WHU is reaffirming its commitment to diversity and inclusion, and we are delighted to have Professor Vongswasdi working on this topic with us. Her professional experience, combined with her unique points of view and research interests, make her the ideal candidate to assume this new role.” 

“Diversity drives innovation. Inclusion fosters a collaborative culture. For our students to become changemakers in a complex world, they must learn to navigate and integrate different perspectives,” said Professor Vongswasdi. “That’s why, for me, building a truly inclusive community is fundamental to our mission: It’s how we develop our talent. I am honored to take on this new role and look forward to the opportunities and challenges it will bring.”

After earning her PhD from the Rotterdam School of Management in 2020, Professor Vongswasdi joined the faculty at WHU, where she has centered much of her research efforts around a wide range of leadership-related topics—from mindfulness to diversity to gender inequality and more. Before her time at WHU, she had already gained practical work experience as a corporate strategist in Bangkok, Thailand, and later worked as a guest researcher at the Darden School of Business in Virginia (USA), INSEAD Business School on its French and Singaporean campuses, and Singapore Management University.