Top French Schools Merge
Rouen Business School and Reims Management School have announced the merger of the two schools into a single entity.
The new school will be jointly headed by its Chairman, Yves Bénard (former Chairman of Reims Management School) and its Dean, Frank Bostyn (previously the Project Manager for the merger between the two schools).
Rouen Business School and Reims Management School now form one school, as a result of the long-standing alliance between two partner institutions. In order to serve the interests of all its stakeholders as well as possible, the new entity will leverage the skills and strengths that have made excellence the hallmark of both founding schools.
A natural alliance between two long-standing partners
Various earlier initiatives provided opportunities for both schools to learn to work closely together, including the joint creation of the Ecricome examination databank in 1987 and the launch in 2009 of Paris Executive Campus, their joint venture dedicated to Executive Education.
The two schools’ triple accreditation, similar size, geographical proximity to Paris and very close positions in academic rankings were also major assets and arguments in favor of the merger.
Two complementary profiles to head the new entity
Yves Bénard is a businessman, a trained agronomist and a graduate from the Business Training Institute (IPA) in Montpellier, France. His entire career has been with Moët & Chandon (LVMH group).
He successively held the positions of Secretary General and Chairman of the Board before being appointed CEO of the group’s Champagne business in 1994. Elected Chairman of Reims Management School in 2011, he has actively contributed to the merger between the two schools.
Frank Bostyn holds a PhD in economics from the University of Ghent (Belgium) and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (USA). He directed the Management Department at Antwerp University before becoming Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Applied Economics in 2002.
He co-piloted the merger between the two Faculties of Economics of the University of Antwerp, and in 2004, after being appointed Dean of the School of Management at the University of Antwerp, assisted the school in obtaining its various accreditations.
In 2009, he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff for the Vice-Minister-President and Minister for Innovation of the Government of Flanders.
In parallel, he joined AACSB, the North American certification body, in which he successively held the positions of Chairman of the Initial Accreditation Committee and Mentor, assisting schools engaged in an Accreditation process. He has also headed the audit teams of many international institutions.