Matteo Winkler Appointed Diversity Committee Chair

HEC Paris has created a new position of Chair of Diversity Committee and appointed Professor Matteo Winkler.

HEC Paris Dean has asked Dean of Faculty and Research Jacques Olivier and Matteo Winkler (who recently became tenured professor) to develop the new post of Diversity Committee Chair in diversity and inclusion (D&I). This will be done as part of the ongoing work on student engagement in conjunction with the Dean of Students Marcelle Laliberté and Professor Xavier Boute, who runs the student clubs and associations.

“Although this function is totally new and therefore requires time to be properly developed, I will engage myself to this new responsibility with the most intense commitment. I will have the opportunity to learn from the students, which is great. I am also grateful to all the people who believed in me, and continue to do, as a diversity and inclusiveness ambassador, first among them our former dean Peter Todd,” shares Matteo Winkler.

The new function involves the following tasks, to be carried out alongside those of HEC Paris’ Diversity Committee:

• Developing a vision of the students’ D&I, while seeking the support of HEC’s different stakeholders, such as HEC Alumni, the HEC Foundation, HEC au Féminin and the school’s corporate partners, in order to build a diverse educational environment that is also culturally competent.
• Coordinating and supporting institution-wide efforts to ensure equitable educational practices and opportunities for all students from abroad, as well as marginalized and low-income students across all HEC Paris programs. 
• Monitoring and evaluating program effectiveness and implementing the changes required to develop a school that is strong in promoting D&I on campus.

In practice, Matteo Winkler will:

• Guide student-led projects linked to D&I. 
• Help student associations to ensure the diversity of its participants and develop future inclusive practices. 
• Ensure the proper connections on D&I-related topics between the student community and HEC Paris stakeholders. 
• Develop forums for open debates on issues of D&I within the campus such as the HEC DiversiTALKS. 
• Identify partnerships and organizations that support the mission of the school in building an inclusive campus.

 “It gives me tremendous pride to support and share the work we began (and pursue wholeheartedly) with Matteo on a topic that is so fundamental for our institution and society today. It is this component of empathy that I believe has allowed us to lean into difficult conversations but create an environment where all can find their voice. This will be done as part of our ongoing work on student engagement in conjunction with our Dean of Students Marcelle Laliberté and Professor Xavier Boute, who runs the student clubs and associations,” Marcelle Laliberté, Dean of Students at HEC Paris.

Find the HEC Foundation's call for the Peter & Connie Todd Scholarship for Diversity and Inclusion, part of the school's effort to ensure a more inclusive campus.

Learn more about Matteo Winkler’s research with a summary of his work at Knowledge@HEC.