"115 years of HHL - 11+5 HHL faces" portraits Heribert Meffert

[HHL gGmbH - 16.04.2013] HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, the first business school established in Germany, celebrates its 115th anniversary this year.

The institution was founded in the Auditorium Maximum of Leipzig University on April 25, 1898, to train young merchants seeking to lead large companies in an appropriate manner. After World War II, it was absorbed into Leipzig University: in 1969, the GDR opened a business school with a focus on domestic trade.

In 1992, today's HHL was re-established as a private university by the Leipzig Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the Association of Friends of HHL.

Teaching all its programs in English, HHL has been one of the trailblazers in Germany since the mid-1990s. Long before the financial crisis, HHL was one of the first business schools to focus on the conditions for responsible and sustainable leadership.
HHL now responds to the new challenges of leadership in the 21st century through its innovate125 Future Concept, keeping in tune with a holistic approach and expanding the dimensions of effectiveness and responsibility, aided by the perspective of innovation.

On the occasion of the 115th anniversary of HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, the school publishes the "11+5 HHL faces” series introducing personalities connected with HHL.

*** Heribert Meffert (*1937)

Germany's "Marketing Pope" Heribert Meffert joined the marketing commission for the re-establishment of HHL in 1992. In 1995, he was appointed the first Dean of the new business school and served as the Chairholder of the Chair of Marketing Management at the same time. Among his greatest lasting accomplishments are the qualification of the university concept and the recruitment of qualified professors. The concept of the school focused on the goal of providing attractive alternatives for the academic training of future managers at the economics faculties at state universities which were bursting with applicants at the time and therefore creating a completely different profile than those self same faculties. The concept of the new HHL was based on that of the old one; i.e. a holistic approach to economics research and teaching ("integrated management"), a close connection between theory and practice, an international focus for the program and systematic promotion of leadership behavior and social competence.

Additionally, Prof. Meffert made a significant contribution to the development of HHL's Diploma program with regards to content and concept. In 1998, he was awarded honorary membership in the HHL Alumni Association, in 1999, he received an honorary doctorate from HHL.

Meffert was one of the first professors in Germany to deal with the field of marketing. He founded Germany's first Institute of Marketing at the University of Münster where he served as the Director for many years. The researcher was a founding member of the Münster Academic Society for Marketing and Business Leadership, which is led by HHL Professor Manfred Kirchgeorg today.

In July 2012, HHL appointed Prof. Heribert Meffert, along with Prof. Horst Albach, Honorary Professor of Business Administration at HHL. Through this, the first business school established in Germany acknowledges the scientists' commitment and accomplishments surrounding the establishment of the HHL Center for Advanced Studies in Management (CASiM), among other things.

Prof. Meffert, who is a member of the Executive Board of CASiM, says: "CASiM has set itself the ambitious goal of contributing to the further development of the subject of business administration in profit and non-profit companies under the umbrella aspect of leadership. Questions of trust, innovation and change management will be the focal points. They refer to the significance and the realignment of market-oriented research as well. With its approach to research, CASiM also plays a part in securing and expanding competitive advantages in the Leipzig locale."

*** HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management

HHL is a university-level institution and ranks amongst the leading international Business Schools. The goal of the longest standing business school in German-speaking Europe is to educate effective, responsible and entrepreneurially minded leaders. In addition to HHL's international focus the combination of theory and practice plays a key role. HHL stands out for its excellent teaching, its clear research focus, its effective knowledge transfer into practice as well as its outstanding student services. The school offers an 24-month full-time als well as part-time Master program in Management leading to the degree Master of Science (M.Sc.) and also an 18 month Global Executive MBA.HHL's program is complemented by the two-year Euro*MBA-Program, a program based on e-learning (electronically supported learning). A three-year doctoral program, which can be studied part-time as well, completes HHL's courses of study. The department of Executive Education offers company specific and open training programs for advanced education for specialist and leading positions. HHL received the accreditation of AACSB International in April 2004 and was the first German private school to be re-accredited in April 2009. www.hhl.de

www.hhl.de/115years/heribert-meffert/
www.hhl.de/115years
www.hhl.de
more information:

http://www.hhl.de/115years/heribert-meffert/
http://www.hhl.de/115years
http://www.hhl.de
http://www.hhl.de/casim