Frank Bournois graduated from the Business SchoolEMLYON Business School in 1984 ; and received an MBA in Organisational Psychology of Aston University. He received a doctorate from Jean Moulin University Lyon 3 in 1990, with a dissertation on The Management of Top Managers and the Development of High Potential Executives in large European Companies. After a professional start as an HR Officer at Rhône-Poulenc, a lecturer at EM Lyon then at IAE de Lyon, a Senior Lecturer then Professor of international management. Visiting Professor in several universities. Between 2013 and 2014, he was a Visiting Scholar at Princeton University in collaboration with Prof. :fr:Ezra Suleiman, IBM Professor in International Studies. He was appointed Professor of Management in 1995 at the University of Lyon III then at the Panthéon-Assas University in 1997. In 1996 he succeeded as Director of at University of Lyon III.
Official positions
Defence : Artillery Officer. Former Auditor of the French National Institute for Defence Studies - IHEDN in 1996-1997. Head of the Department of Defence Studies at the French National Institute for Defence Studies. He initiated a large scale survey on business intelligence practices in all French companies with more than 250 employees. This survey was the first to be launched in France based on a large statistical sample of some 1,200 respondents. Results were published in 2000. Higher education : Chairman of the National Committee for the Evaluation and Accreditation of Business Schools reporting to the Ministers of Higher Education and Industry. Advisor to the Director of Higher Education. Member of the Board of the Deutsch-Französische Hochschule – the Franco-German University. Chairman of the Committee in charge of Educational Programmes at the "Conférence des Grandes Ecoles" Labour and Employment: Gérard Larcher, Minister for Labour and Employment appointed Frank Bournois as Chairman of the Audit and Evaluation Committee of AFPA – the French National Agency for Adult Vocational Training. Chairman of the Advisory and Ethics Board of the National Federation of Top Managers. Society: Member of the Advisory Board of Institut Montaigne, France’s leading freemarket thinktank.
Executive governance and top management teams
Frank Bournois developed an early interest for the nature of managerial and top leadership work. He led several research programmes including comparative HR management across Europe, business intelligence and corporate governance. Cegetel, a leading telecoms company, supported the ESCP Business School Chair of Corporate Governance. Academics and business leaders convened to analyze the subtleties of the dynamics of executive committees. The concept of executive governance was elaborated during that period. He is a regular speaker on the topic of benchmarking large European companies, prospective screening of management changes, the prevention of career derailment for leaders and generally what makes organisations and management committees effective or dysfunctional. In 2012, Ezra Suleiman , Yasmina Jaidi and Frank Bournois conducted a large survey on « French Management as Experienced by Non-French Managers ». The survey results highlight that French management is very specific. The key features of French management are investigated and analyzed using the 3,000+ responses that were gleaned from non French managers working in French CAC40 companies. Results show what makes French management attractive and also expectations about what may be improved. This research led to the publication of a book by the three authors, La Prouesse française.
