Executive Board Members 2023-2024

  • President
    American University

    Heather Elms, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Management at the Kogod School of Business, American University, Washington, DC, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in business ethics, critical thinking in business, and international business. Her research focuses primarily on the relationship between corporate and stakeholder responsibility in the global context, including the role of professionals in those responsibilities, and she has investigated that relationship and role in different industries (e.g., health care, security) and in different regions of the world (e.g., Central and Eastern Europe). Her work has been published in outlets including Academy of Management Review, Business Ethics Quarterly, Organizational Research Methods, Strategic Management Journal, and Strategic Organization. Heather has been an active IABS member since 1997 (when she was still a doctoral student at UCLA), and has served in a variety of IABS roles since, including as Representative at Large, 2011-2014, as a member of the Nominating Committee, 2009-2010, and as a member of Business & Society’s Editorial Board since 2008. Heather also recently completed a 5-year term as a member of the Society for Business Ethics' Board of Directors (including as Program Chair, 2015-2016, and President, 2016-17), and served as an Associate Editor of Business Ethics Quarterly from 2010-2016. She has also served on the Editorial Board of International Journal of Emerging Markets since 2005. From 2002-2005, she was the Founding Academic Director of the Center for Business & Society at Central European University Business School, Budapest, Hungary.

  • Immediate Past President
    Vrije Universiteit Brussel

    My name is Nikolay A. Dentchev is an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and CSR at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) . I have initiated the VUB Chair of Social Entrepreneurship, with founding partners Close the Gap, Euroclear and BNP Paribas Fortis. The objective of this chair is twofold, (i) to become a research center of excellence on the topic and (ii) to provide hands-on support to social entrepreneurs around the world. IABS is my favorite academic association because of its attention to openness, inclusiveness, and constructive feedback. In this sense, it has been always a pleasure to serve at IABS at the Best Conference Paper Committee, the Communication Committee, as a Representative at Large and at the Editorial Board of BAS. Together with Andrew Crane, we initiated the IABS BAS European Paper Development Series in 5 countries (Italy, Belgium, UK, France and Spin) as one of the strategic initiatives of IABS. I have realized more than 40 publications, among which papers in indexed journals such as Business & Society, Journal of Business Ethics, Business Ethics: A European Review. I serve occasionally as guest editor to special issues in journals such as Business & Society and Journal of Cleaner Production. My research interests are related to social entrepreneurship, sustainable business models and CSR implementation.

  • President-Elect
    University of Bath

    Johanne is an Associate Professor of Corporate Governance and CSR at the School of Management, University of Bath and the acting director for the research centre Centre for Business, Organisation, and Society (CBOS). She attended my first IABS conference more than ten years ago, and has been involved with IABS since. Her research takes governance and the resolution of conflict as its point of departure, and explores how institutions, be they country level such as e.g. welfare policies and education, or organisational practices shape how firms respond to, and engage with normative challenges of diversity, sustainability and social justice. She has published in Business Ethics Quarterly, Academy of Management Learning & Education, Corporate Governance an international review, and Business & Society to name but a few. Johanne has won several awards for her work, including two best papers at IABS, and the best SIM dissertation at the Academy of Management. She is currently an Associate Editor of Business and Society along with serving on the editorial review board, and review for Business Ethics Quarterly, Journal of Management Studies, and CGIR.

  • Conference Chair 2024
    Oregon State University

    Rajat Panwar (he/his/him) is an Associate Professor of Sustainable Business Management and Responsible Business Practices at Oregon State University, where he is also the Director of the Sustainable Natural Resources program. A native of India, Rajat came to the US as a graduate student and did discover IABS in 2008. He has since been its active member. Rajat co-led the IABS-India initiative that enhanced the association's visibility in that country. Rajat publishes his work in both academic journals and practitioners- oriented outlets. His ongoing research focuses on business and biodiversity, corporate transparency, and deforestation and global value-chains. Rajat is a Deputy Editor of Business & Society.

  • Conference Chair-Elect 2025
    Maastricht University

    Abel Diaz Gonzalez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Organization, Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the School of Business Economics, Maastricht University (UM). He holds a PhD in Business Economics from the Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB). His research focuses on ecosystems for social entrepreneurs, and their supportive function and mechanisms. Part of his research is dedicated to investigating the supportive role and interaction of universities’ main stakeholders, processes, and activities within and across the ecosystems of social entrepreneurs. Abel has conducted field research in Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, and Belgium. His research has been presented at different international conferences such as the Academy of Management (AoM), the International Association for Business and Society (IABS), the New Business Models Conference, and the Social Entrepreneurship Summit.

    Abel is currently Associate Editor in Business and Society Review and has acted as a reviewer at various conferences and for journals. He is involved in special issues in peer review journals and has acted as editor of book series in the field of Social Entrepreneurship. Abel is also part of the leadership of different international associations: New Business Models (Conference Chair 2023); International Association for Business and Society (Representative at Large); Social Entrepreneurship Summit (Co-founder and Co-organizer). In 2023, Abel is the conference chair of the 8th International New Business Models taking place in June at the School of Business and Economics, UM.

    Prior to his appointment at UM, Abel was a visiting professor at the Department of Business and a postdoctoral fellow at the Chair of Social Entrepreneurship at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels (Belgium), where he supervised master theses and co-supervised doctoral students. He also was an adjunct professor of social entrepreneurship at the Brussels School of Governance. He has been actively involved in the coordination of large international projects (Europe, Africa, Latin America) focused on capacity building at universities in the field of social entrepreneurship, funded by the European Commission and VLIR UOS.

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abelaland/

Non-Executive Board Members

  • Treasurer
    Western Washington University

  • Rep.-at-Large #1
    Copenhagen Business School

  • Rep.-at-Large #2
    The University of Rhode Island

  • Rep.-at-Large #3
    York University

  • Rep.-at-Large #4
    University of Melbourne

  • Rep.-at-Large #5
    Odisee University of Applied Sciences

  • Rep.-at-Large #6
    Warwick Business School

  • Fellows Rep
    Virginia Tech

  • Fellows President
    Brigham Young University

  • Hari Bapuji
    University of Melbourne, Australia

    Colin Higgins
    Deakin University, Australia

  • Proceedings Editor
    University of Bradford

  • Executive Director / Operations Manager
    Brigham Young University