Thank You and Farewell to Mette Morsing from the PRME Board

Dear PRME community,

The day has come that we must say goodbye to Dr. Mette Morsing as Head of PRME. She will assume the role of Professor of Business Sustainability and Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University, United Kingdom in September 2023. There are few leaders who have impacted an organization more than Mette has impacted PRME.

Here is just an abbreviated list of critical milestones that she enabled.

• New governance structure: New Terms of Reference for the PRME Board; a strategic review of PRME Chapters with new guidelines for governance; and a significant expansion of the now 17 PRME Chapters (6 new and re-established Chapters in 2021).
• Substantial fundraising: USD 7 million raised in grants in two years. The $6 million USD grant from the LEGO Foundation was the largest single grant in the history of the UN Global Compact.
• Financial stability and growth: An 88% increase in PRME’s revenues (excluding the grants).
• PRME Global Students: Designed and established the PRME Global Students in 2021, which now involves nine regional student leaders, and a portfolio of seven projects implemented by 60+ worldwide student volunteers.
• Numerous events for knowledge exchange and advocacy, including highly successful PRME Global Forums in each year from 2020 – 2023, and the first NYC Responsible Management Education Week.
• Representing the UN PRME global movement at more than 250 public talks for PRME as keynote speaker, moderator, panel debater, research presenter, etc.
• Personal visits to PRME communities worldwide, including Africa (Morocco, Egypt), Asia (Thailand, China), Middle East (United Arab Emirates), North America (United States), Europe (United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway), Pacific/Asia (Australia), and Latin America (Mexico).
• Setting a strategy for partnerships with the significant global agents in business school leadership education (accreditation bodies, media rankings, leadership education associations/corporations, etc.).
• Spearheading the process for refreshing PRME’s Principles, which were needed to align the principles with PRME’s new activities, UN Global Compact’s principles, and the world’s new realities.

It is clear from this list that Mette has worked tirelessly and achieved enormous success in the three years she led PRME. She took PRME from a somewhat dormant organization to become a social movement. Her efforts have helped to propel responsible management education and the PRME community as tools to transform the world.

I am so very grateful to have had Mette’s service for the last three years. She has given her heart, soul, and sweat to serve the PRME community and lead the PRME Secretariat. Anyone who has had the opportunity to engage with Mette will have experienced her warmth, competence, and positive energy. I know I can say from everyone on the Board, past and present, and the PRME Secretariat that Mette will be deeply missed.

On behalf of the PRME Board and our global community, I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Mette and wish her all the very best in her new role at the Smith School, Oxford.

I am also delighted to report that John Goodwin has agreed to steer the PRME ship until a permanent Head of PRME is recruited. John has served on the PRME Board for 1.5 years and has been deeply engaged in PRME’s Impactful Five program. He is the Executive Director of the Learning Economy Foundation and was the former CEO of the LEGO Foundation. We are truly fortunate to have John’s skills and energy in maintaining PRME’s momentum over the next few months. Having worked with John closely over the last few months, I can say without a moment’s hesitation that PRME is in good hands.

Sincerely,

Dr. Tima Bansal

PRME Board Chair