News

New Dean and President for TiasNimbas

Jan Hommen, chairman of the Supervisory Board of TiasNimbas is pleased with the new leadership team: “With O’Callaghan and van den Bergh we can strengthen our position among the leading business schools in Europe, continuing the strategy we developed and implemented under the leadership of Philippe Naert.”

O’Callaghan: an Irish-Catalan Business Academic and Dealmaker

Ramon O’Callaghan (1954) is no stranger to TiasNimbas. As Associate Dean International Programmes (1997-2001) he was one of the godfathers of the successful International Executive MBA Programme (IMM), offered in cooperation with Purdue University, Central European University and GISMA.

From 1997-2007, O’Callaghan taught at Tilburg University’s Faculty of Economics and Business Administration. When he accepted Deusto University’s (Bilbao, Spain) invitation to serve as their Vice-Rector for Business Education and Director of the Deusto Business School, he remained loyal to Tilburg: every Monday he taught at Tilburg University, and occasionally at TiasNimbas as well.

O’Callaghan embodies the internationalism of TiasNimbas: a Catalan from Irish descent, educated in Spain, France and the US; fluent in five languages, with a Belgian spouse, and ‘two American kids and two Dutch kids’, as he likes to say (born when he worked in the US and after settling in The Netherlands respectively). While he commuted between Bilbao and Tilburg, his family stayed in Tilburg, their adopted hometown of eleven years.

Prof.  Ramon O’Callaghan is a leading scholar in information management and a seasoned executive with over 25 years of experience in executive education. With an MBA from IESE and a Doctorate from Harvard Business School, he has researched and taught at Harvard, IESE and INSEAD and other leading business schools worldwide. Prior to his academic career he worked at Texas Instruments.

Van den Bergh: International Expert on Corporate Governance

Incoming President Rob van den Bergh (1950) knows the world of executive education from the perspective of corporate management and his lectorship with the Governance University, the Dutch-based prestigious academy and expertise centre on non-executive directorship and governance issues. As President, van den Bergh will focus on TiasNimbas’ external relations.

Van den Bergh is a leading Dutch entrepreneur who transformed Dutch publishing and information company VNU into an international data company by acquiring Nielsen Media Research in 1999 and AC Nielsen in 2001 until VNU was acquired by a group of six private equity firms in 2006 who renamed the company as The Nielsen Company in 2007.

Since then, van den Bergh holds numerous positions in various organisations, including memberships of the supervisory board of TomTom, Deli Universal, ABN Amro Holding, Pon Holdings, Corporate Express and VNU Media. He is also closely connected with private equity funds NPM Capital and CVC. Van den Bergh holds a law degree from Leiden University.

Plans

O’Callaghan and van den Bergh intend to build on the success of TiasNimbas created by Philippe Naert. Through mergers and acquisitions, Naert grew TiasNimbas into an all-round and international business school. Under his leadership, revenues grew from 2.5 million euro in 1996 to almost 25 million euro today.

O’Callaghan and van den Bergh want to further integrate the cultures and systems throughout the TiasNimbas operations in The Netherlands, Germany and Taiwan. They will continue to innovate the curriculum and expand the research and executive education activities of the school’s Competence Centres. Both regard the relationships with other Faculties within Tilburg University as complementary, and will endeavour to create more synergies with them. Specific plans will be announced in due course.