Guy Pfeffermann

Biography

In 2003 Guy Pfeffermann founded the Global Business School Network on the principle that skilled management is critical to successful international development.

After 40 years as an economist at the World Bank, including 15 years as Chief Economist of the International Finance Corporation, he saw too often how lack of management talent was impeding economic and social development in communities throughout the developing world. As CEO of GBSN, which started at the IFC and is today an independent nonprofit, Guy oversaw programs and events that harness the expertise and passion of a worldwide network of leading business schools to strengthen the institutions and educators who deliver management education for the developing world. GBSN’s unique approach pairs a robust network of experts with efficient administration to build institutional capacity, foster collaboration and disseminate knowledge, all aimed at promoting management education that delivers international best practice with local relevance. Guy retired from being CEO in 2017 and is on GBSN's Board of Directors. 

Building on his GBSN experience and relationships, and speaking to his passion for wildlife conservation, Guy founded Management Sciences for Wildlife Conservancies in 2018. MSWC facilitates contacts between wildlife conservation professionals and providers of management education with the aim of enhancing the conservancies' leadership and management skills. MSWC assembles data and encourages research about management education for wildlife conservacy personnel. Last but not least, MSWC is an advocate for mobilizing support for scholarships and other means of broadening the access of developing world conservancies to relevant management knowledge. 

Born in Montauban, France, Mr. Pfeffermann received his Licence en Droit et Sciences Economiques in Paris in 1962 and was awarded first prize, Concours General, a French national inter-university essay competition. He was a Besse scholar at St. Antony’s College, Oxford 1962-65 and received a B.Litt. (Oxon.) in 1967 for his thesis: “Industrial Labour in Senegal,” which was also published as a book.

From 2000-2003 he was an Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies. From 2003-2007, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the GlobalGiving Foundation. He published “Paths out of Poverty – The Role of Private Enterprise in Developing Countries (IFC, 2000) and various articles about management education in development. He is currently a member of the Board of Stewards of the African Women Entrepreneurship Cooperative, an initiative of the Center for Global Enterprise.l