About Women in Leadership Initiative

    Women in Leadership is an EHL initiative with a focus on projects regarding women, and on a wider scale the initiative aims to promote leadership, culture, and policies that foster diverse, balanced, and people-focused environments. It strives so that our students, faculty, staff, and alumni can lead fulfilled professional and personal lives.

    Given the substantial untapped female leadership potential across the world, we believe that women aspiring to create a positive impact in organizations and society should be empowered to attain their vision and contribute to leadership diversity.
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    Themes Covered

    • Leadership diversity and inclusion
    • Women in hospitality, women and entrepreneurship
    • Networking, mentoring, coaching, championing women
    • Flexible work arrangements, managing work and family, parenthood
    • Talent management, pay equity, sexual harassment
    • Women’s careers, dual-career couples, expatriation

    The WIL Initiative Promotes:

    INFORMATION: by raising awareness, disseminating state-of-the-art knowledge, debating ‘off-limits’ topics and sharing experiences and best practices

    ACTION: by accompany promising individuals for growth, expanding network and opportunities for development, developing tailored solutions for companies, and creating innovative women-related projects.

    Our Impact in Numbers

    1883
    Total Number of WIL participants in 2023
    200
    Students participating in 2023 WIL events
    140
    Number of WIL buddies

    Students participating in the 2023 WIL Initiative for Sexual Harassment Prevention:

    689
    Studenten im Vorbereitungsjahr
    819
    Bachelor Students (semester 3)
    35
    Master Students

    The WIL Team

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    Dr. Carole Ackerman

    President of the Board of Directors of the EHL Group

    sowon-kim

    Dr. Sowon Kim

    Associate Professor at EHL
    WIL Founder

    vanessa-Balouzet-1

    Vanessa Balouzet

    Chief Growth Office Officer

    professor-natalia-bovsovers

    Natalia Bovsovers-Carette

    Lecturer of hotel management
    WIL Horizon Lead
    WIL Core Team
    Meloney-brazzola-1

    Meloney Brazzola 

    Chief Corporate Communication Officer
    WIL Ad hoc Project Lead

    Noemie-danthine-1

    Noémie Danthine 

    Chief Sustainability Hospitality Services Officer
    WIL ELT Lead 
     WIL Core Team

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    Anca Gosling

    Digital Education Manager

    barbara-martin-1

    Barbara Martin

    Head of Student Affairs

    ana-mcfee

    Ana McFee

    Business Development Sr Manager

     

    aurelie-niquille-wil

    Aurélie Niquille

    Director Strategic Project

    romane-petit

    Romane Petit

    Junior Consultant

    WIL-PROFILES-Anne-Laure-Rey

    Anne-Laure Rey

    Head of Sustainability
    WIL Buddies Co-Lead
    WIL Core Team
    catherine-rey

    Catherine Rey

    Head of Business Development & Sales

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    Fanny Roche

    Customer Experience & Insights Manager

    Julneth_Rogenhofer_Portrait

    Julneth Rogenhofer

    Research Assistant 

    beatrice-schweighauser

    Beatrice Schweighauser

    Director of Academic Programs at Passugg Campus
    WIL Campus Lead
    WIL Core Team

    insa-thalau

    Insa Thalau

    Head of Management Workshops & Seminars

    WIL Friends

    WIL-PROFILES-Fiorella-Erni

    Fiorella Erni

    Founder and CEO of Cheetah Stories SA
    AEHL 2020
    WIL AEHL Circle Lead

    e-Coffee

    WIL Projects

    In 2021, WIL launched WIL Buddies with the aim to create opportunities to be inspired by our female colleagues, develop women professionally and personally, and to simply connect, express, and share with comfort. WIL Buddies e-Coffees is a space for us to discover the amazing women we have at EHL, to listen and to be heard, to learn from each other and grow together. There are 20 e-Coffee sessions throughout the calendar year.
    • In 2021, WIL launched Young Hôtelières Insights (YHI) together with HoteliersGuild, IUBH University of Applied Sciences (Germany) and Institut Paul Bocuse (France). YHI is space dedicated for aspiring female hospitality leaders where they can contribute to our industry with their reflections, ideas, trends and hot topics as viewed by their generation. A compilation of these inputs are featured in the associated communication channels with the aim to develop the professional visibility of our top female students in a network of established hôtelières/hoteliers.

    • In 2020, Prof. Dr. Kim was invited to Co-Chair LeadingHôtelières with, Considerate Group Founding Partner Xenia zu Hohenlohe. Founded by President and CEO of HoteliersGuild Frank M. Pfaller and co-founded by Preferred Hotels & Resorts CEO Lindsey Ueberroth, LeadingHôtelières is a collective of senior industry specialists and academics campaigning for increased female leadership in the hospitality and travel sector. LeadingHôtelières believes that improved gender equality at executive level is the key to our industry's future and are committed to driving positive change through demonstrating academic research, building sponsorship and like-minded networks, transforming design and development strategies, and engaging communication.

    • In fall 2019, WIL designed and launched the Sexual Harassment Prevention (SHP) Initiative in collaboration with Academic Advisory (Student Affairs) to educate, protect, and empower students on this sensitive topic, which is a plague in the hospitality sector. SHP is one of the very few bottom-up, transversal projects at EHL that has been able to raise awareness across different departments and engage with multiple internal stakeholders in a large-scale collaboration. Through SHP, over 3000 students have been trained on this topic via our external partner, the Non-Violence Project Foundation. SHP is a three-tiered intervention method (mandatory for students) that covers the entire bachelor program.

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    WIL Partnerships

    In 2022 EHL became the Founding University Sponsor of TIEWN, the Travel Industry Executive Women's Network. Founded in 2008 for the purpose of bringing executives and professionals who currently or recently have worked in the travel, tourism, and hospitality industries, TIEWN counts with over 12’000 members. As part of this collaboration TIEWN showcases EHL as its founding sponsor across multiple channels, including their website, events, and press releases. TIEWN also addresses program elements such as surveys and webinars/presentations with EHL, highlighting programs for potential recruits including Masters Programs. Contributing to deepening connections with like-minded women that are both professional and on the executive level and looking to expand their knowledge is an important area of interest and ongoing research that both EHL and TIEWN are committed to. Along with, this both organisations are also constantly striving to expand their knowledge in the subject of diversity inclusion and belonging.

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    In 2021 WIL announced a Friendly Partnership with FEM’UP - a network that aims to connect diverse women from different industries and foster a regular and interesting exchange of know-how and individual experiences, to inspire, support, and empower. Benefits for EHL community includes a 15% discount at selected FEM'EVENTS (check their social media for events and ask us the discount code) and free registration to their member-only event FEM'UP Thursdays at Coffee Bar Black in ZU.

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