Sophie Bacq Keynote Speaker

Sophie Bacq is Professor of Social Entrepreneurship and holds the Coca-Cola Foundation Chair in Sustainable Development at IMD. A globally recognized thought leader in social entrepreneurship, Sophie was named to the 2024 Thinkers50 Radar list of management thinkers to watch in the coming year, and recognized among the top 2% of scientists worldwide by Stanford University.

Social enterprises have long demonstrated that it is possible to balance financial viability with positive societal impact. They teach us the challenges to watch for, and the organizational mechanisms to put in place as contemporary businesses contemplate their own impact on society.

Sophie has taught and conducted empirical research on social entrepreneurship since 2006 in different parts of Europe, the United States, and South Africa, and has appeared as a keynote speaker at major conferences around the world, including the Purpose Day, E4S Showcase and Making More Health Toegther.

Sophie’s research on social entrepreneurship, societal impact, organizational social performance, and civic wealth has been published in top-tier management and entrepreneurship journals, including The Academy of Management Annals, Academy of Management Discoveries, Academy of Management Perspectives, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Learning & Education, California Management Review, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Management, and Journal of Management Studies. Her most recent work includes a forthcoming book (MIT Press) which explains how diverse coalitions of citizens join forces to create civic wealth and enable communities to thrive and grow.

Her scholarship has been recognized with numerous awards, including multiple best paper awards from Academy of Management Perspectives, Journal of Business Venturing and Journal of Management Studies, and the 2019 Academy of Management Emerging Scholar Award. Sophie is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Business Venturing and a member of several Editorial Review Boards. She is also Co-Director of The Annual Social Entrepreneurship Conference, and Lead Faculty of the award-winning Social Entrepreneurship Doctoral Seminar.

Before joining IMD in 2023, Sophie was the Larry and Barbara Sharpf Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at Indiana University Kelley School of Business, Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Northeastern University D’Amore-McKim School of Business in Boston, and a Visiting Scholar at New York University Stern School of Business. A native of Belgium, she received her doctorate from the Université catholique de Louvain.