HHL Awards Honorary Doctorate to Hans-Werner Sinn

[HHL gGmbH - 04.07.2013] On Wednesday, July 3, 2013, HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management awarded an honorary doctorate to Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Hans-Werner Sinn. With this degree, HHL honored an internationally renowned personage who rendered outstanding services to the Leipzig business school in the presence of 200 guests. The lecture given by Prof. Sinn, full professor at the Chair of Economics and Public Finance as well as President of the ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, was entitled "Europa in der Krise" ("Europe in Crisis").

HHL Dean Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart said: "In the year of its 115th anniversary, HHL not only honors a man who is without a doubt Germany's best known economist, it also honors a personage who played a great role in the determination of what course one of the most venerable private universities in Germany would take. You, distinguished Mr. Sinn, were a member of HHL's first appointments commission, the so-called founding appointments commission, between 1993 and 1995. With this kind of commitment, you made more than just your contribution to the internationalization of HHL which is of special importance to us until today." Prof. Pinkwart added: "And when we reach the next stage with our future concept innovate125 concept, transforming HHL into one of the world's leading graduate business schools in accordance with the principles of sustainability, responsibility and innovative power, this was made possible by individuals like yourself, distinguished Mr. Sinn, who, in the years following the reunification of Germany, were convinced of the history, tradition and future prospects of this unique school."

Prof. Dr. Pinkwart said to Prof. Dr. Georg Milbradt, former Prime Minister of the Free State of Saxony, who presented the award: "I would like to thank you most sincerely for your great support of HHL since its re-establishment in 1992. Whether it was - chronologically speaking - as the Minister of Finance of the Free State of Saxony, as Prime Minister of the Free State of Saxony, as President of the Kramer Foundation, as a member of the Supervisory Board or last, but certainly not least, as an adviser and friend - you have always been at our side as a reliable partner. For this, distinguished Mr. Milbradt, I would like to thank you cordially on behalf of the entire HHL."

In his laudation for Prof. Dr. Hans-Werner Sinn, Prof. Dr. Georg Milbradt said: "The 115th anniversary of HHL and Sinn's 65th birthday this year are an excellent occasion to award him an honorary doctorate, honoring him as one of the most highly recognized researchers in the world, a successful manager of one of the most important economic research institutes of the world, as an influential and courageous voice in German and European business politics, as a successful author and as a supporter of HHL throughout the first difficult years following the reunification of Germany. Hans-Werner Sinn rendered outstanding service regarding the re-establishment of HHL. He was a member of the appointments commission from 1993 to 1995, therefore actively participating in the recruiting process during the re-establishment of HHL."

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Hans-Werner Sinn said: "I am thrilled about this honor since HHL has played a very important role as a graduate school for business administration which has already made a name for itself internationally. Leipzig once was the trade capital of Germany and HHL now connects in with this long tradition today."

The ceremony for the honorary doctorate and the lecture by Prof. Dr. Hans-Werner Sinn kicked off a scientific interdisciplinary conference on the topic of "Change Management".
The event provides for a dialogue between research and practice and deals with managing constant change in companies and markets, a challenge which CASiM will face over the next few years as well. The key question is: What can we learn from the shock adjustments?
The topics of "Organizational Change and Leadership" and "Change Management in Firms and Markets" will be discussed by the following three panels: "Adaptive Leadership and Motivation", "Organizational Change and Corporate Governance" as well as "Co-Evolution: Change Management and Interactive Communication".
Renowned representatives from science and research (e.g. Prof. Dr. Alfred Kieser, Zeppelin University Friedrichshafen; Prof. Thomas Gehrig, Ph.D., University of Vienna) as well as experienced professional from the practice (e.g. Dr. Jürgen Behrend, Chairman of the Shareholders' Committee, HELLA KGaA HUECK & CO.; Dr. Margarete Haase, President, Deutz AG; Prof. Dr. Burkhard Schwenker, CEO Roland Berger Strategy Consultants; Christian Strenger, member of 'Corporate Governance Government Commission' and numerous supervisory boards) will converse with the participants of the conference. http://www.hhl.de/casim-conference-2013

The honorary doctorate awards ceremony is kindly supported by the Association of Friends of HHL.

Short bio of Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Hans-Werner Sinn

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Hans-Werner Sinn, 65, is a full professor at the Chair of Economics and Public Finance at the University of Munich (LMU). Since 1991, he has served as the Director of the Center for Economic Studies (CES) at LMU. In 1999, he became the CEO of CESifo GmbH and President of the ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich. Prof. Dr. Hans-Werner Sinn is one the best known German economists on a national and international level. He is considered to be one the most influential political economists of our time. He established an excellent reputation for himself in the academic world and the general public through his numerous, often groundbreaking publications but also received criticism. One of Prof. Dr. Hans-Werner Sinn's greatest accomplishments is the uncovering of the mechanisms of the Euro crisis. Just recently, he was commissioned by the Federal Administrative Court as an expert on the lawsuits against the purchase of government bonds by the European Central Bank. Sinn considers excessive current account deficits as the cause of the European debt crisis. He calls for the ECB to cease purchasing government bonds. He accuses the German federal government and parliament of having failed to negotiate unambiguous credit terms for the crisis procedure. According to Prof. Dr. Sinn, the European Stability Mechanism leads to the decline of the Euro and endangers the European integration.

HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management

HHL is a university-level institution and ranks amongst the leading international business schools. The goal of the oldest 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. http://www.hhl.de