Arturo Condo, 2007~
A Distinguished Scholar from INCAE with a doctorate from Harvard University, who was later named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He began his period as Rector, prompting INCAE to think globally. He launched the school’s first international executive MBA program with modules in Asia, Europe and North, Central and South America. He launched the Central American Private Sector Initiative (CAPSI) which brings key business leaders together to take concrete actions to support regional integration and security. He started INCAE’s Founders’ Circle to reconnect the institution to its first allies and leads the Illuminate Campaign, INCAE’s first structured fundraising campaign which seeks to increase the school’s endowment fund for the next 50 years and the Presidential Advisory Council with key business leaders from the region, United States and Europe, who serve as a sounding board for many of the school’s new strategies for international projection, but mainly for the Illuminate Campaign.
Roberto Artavia, 1999-2007
Roberto Artavia was the first INCAE graduate to become rector. A Costa Rican with a doctorate from Harvard University, he was named rector after serving in all the academic positions, and in addition, he was the first director of the INCAE’s Latin American Center for Competitiveness and Sustainable Development. He took INCAE to the first place ranking among business schools in Latin America, and modernized and expanded the academic infrastructure with the support of regional business leaders and deepened the school’s connections from Mexico to Argentina. He positioned INCAE as the region’s sustainable development school and consolidated it as an influence center for governments, international organizations and business sectors in Central America.
Brizio Biondi-Morra, 1991-1999
The most international of INCAE’s Rectors was born in Switzerland and educated in Europe. With Italian and U.S. background and professional and personal experience in several countries, Brizio Biondi-Morra received his doctorate degree from Harvard University and had been a professor and director of Public Governance in Nicaragua campus during the Sandinista period.. During his tenure, he made INCAE a leadership school in topics of global importance such as competitiveness and sustainable development. He strengthened the faculty, the Masters’ programs, and the relationship with Harvard University and the main business leaders in the region.
Melvyn Copen, 1987-1991
A North American and Harvard PhD who served on the Harvard faculty, Copen had taught as an Operations and Production professor during INCAE’s early years. In 1987 he returned to INCAE to become the school’s fifth rector. It was during his period that for the first time the Masters’ program was diversified through the Masters in Managerial Economics being offered and Political economics programs became more prominent throughout the Central American region and Ecuador.
Marc Lindenberg, 1982-1987
During his academic directorship, Marc Lindenberg took the position of President temporarily but later the Board of Directors named him officially in recognition for his work and leadership during the opening of the second Campus in Costa Rica. This occurred during one of the most difficult times in INCAE’s history at the time of a global recession. With a doctorate in Political Science from the University of Southern California, he diversified INCAE into topics such as economic politics and social economics, promoted SMEs and social organizations.
Harry W. Strachan, 1981
INCAE’s third rector and the first one to have been a faculty member. North American, with a doctorate in business law from Harvard University, Dr. Strachan took on the challenge of dealing with the Sandinista regime during the early years of the Nicaraguan revolution. He successfully defended the institution’s independence and helped lay the foundation for the expansion to Costa Rica.
Ernesto Cruz, 1968-1980
In addition to being INCAE’s first Central American President, Dr. Cruz has served the longest period as President. A Nicaraguan, with a doctorate from Harvard University in Economics, Politics and Government, he distinguished himself as a lawyer his entire life. He took INCAE as a special project and turned it into a prestigious international institution, providing first-class managerial education at the Master’s level. In addition, it was during his tenure as President that INCAE first added a “think-tank” to its institutional structure, starting in the months following Managua’s 1972 earthquake.
Clark Wilson, 1967-1968
INCAE’s first President was from the United States with a doctorate in applied psychology from the University of Southern California. Wilson stood out in the academic world as being one of the pioneers who introduced tools for psychological evaluation into the managerial field. He played a key role at INCAE not only by being the organizer of the first Master’s program, but also by his personal leadership of the Institution. He personally recruited and interviewed each of the first program’s candidates.
