Professor Alexander Van de Putte

Professor Alexander Van de Putte, Professor of Strategy and Strategic Foresight, IE Business School, Founding Partner of the Sustainable Foresight Institute and Chairman of the Academic Council of the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC). Member of the Board of the National Investment Corporation of the National Bank of Kazakhstan

Previously, Alexander was a Member of the Board of the National Investment Corporation of the National Bank of Kazakhstan and Managing Director with the Kazakhstan Development Bank. Before he was Senior Director and Head of Global Practices with the World Economic Forum where he led the research practices (Scenario Planning, Global Risks and Competitiveness) with a global network of leading academic institutions and experts. As the first incumbent head of scenario planning at the Forum, he developed the scenario planning processes and tools, and directed a series of scenario projects as part of the Forum's objective to help shape the industry, regional and global agendas. At Shell, Alexander was the Senior Strategy and Portfolio Advisor to the Committee of Managing Directors. Part of his work for Shell was to evaluate and restructure the Group's global investment portfolio. He also explored ways to improve the Group's strategic position as influenced by scenarios and managed a two-year Group sponsored initiative on real options. Prior to Shell, Alexander was Director and co-leader of the shareholder value practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers. At McKinsey, Alexander was a core team member of the European Corporate Finance and Strategy Practice. During his career as a consultant, Alexander has worked in more than 30 countries, mainly for automotive, aerospace, energy and metals & mining companies.

Alexander is an economist and engineer by training. He holds advanced degrees in Management and Decision Sciences from Boston University, was a BAEF Fellow at Harvard University, holds a PhD in Applied Economics (Strategy & Finance) from the University of London, a Doctorate in International Relations from the Geneva School of Diplomacy, and a PhD in Engineering-Economic Systems from Cambridge University. In 2004, he was elected an Honorary Teaching Fellow at Birkbeck College (University of London), and in 2011 he was elected an Associate Fellow at the Torino World Affairs Institute. In 2006, he joined the Brains Trust of the Evian Group at IMD, and in 2007, he was appointed as a U.S. National Intelligence Council (NIC) Associate. Alexander is also a Life Member of the Institute of Directors (IoD), a member of the Singapore Institute of Directors (SID), and a member of the Stanford Directors Consortium.

Alexander is a Fellow and Visiting Professor of Scenario Planning and Energy Economics at Energy Delta Institute (The Netherlands). From 2006 to 2007, he was a Visiting Professor of scenario planning at INSEAD and from 2001 to 2004, he was (part-time, full) Professor of Strategy & Finance and Dean of the Grande Ecole Programme at the Rouen School of Management (France) and a Teaching Fellow at the University of London.

His research has been published in the Business Environment Review, the California Management Review, the European Risk Management Review, the Journal of World Energy Law & Business, and the Journal of International Financial Analysts.