Lauder Leadership and Governance

Jules H. van Binsbergen

Anthony L. Davis Director of The Lauder Institute
Lauder Chair Professor and Nippon Life Professor of Finance

Jules H. van Binsbergen is the Lauder Chair Professor and Anthony L. Davis Director of the Joseph H. Lauder Institute for Management and International Studies. He is the Nippon Life Professor in Finance at the Wharton School, where he has taught since 2014. Professor van Binsbergen is a global expert in corporate finance whose pathbreaking theoretical and empirical research focuses on issues related to investments, institutional investors, and asset pricing. A research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a research fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research, Professor van Binsbergen co-hosts the award-winning podcast All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions. He previously taught at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He received a PhD in Finance from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and an MA in Financial Econometrics from Tilburg University, following undergraduate studies in jazz piano at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague.

A person smiling, wearing a red coat and a black lace top, with short brown hair against a neutral gray background.

Julia Gray

Lauder Co-Director
Professor of Political Science

As the Lauder Co-Director, Julia Gray serves as the liaison between the Lauder Institute and the School of Arts & Sciences on matters related to SAS coursework and faculty. Julia Gray is an Associate Professor of Political Science, with a secondary appointment in Wharton’s Business Ethics and Legal Studies department. She specializes in international organizations and international political economy. Her research centers on international economic relations and economic organizations in emerging markets. Her book, The Company States Keep: International Economic Organizations and Investor Perceptions in Emerging Markets, received the 2013 Lepgold Book Prize for the best book published in international relations. She received her PhD in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles, an MSc with distinction in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics, and a BA summa cum laude from Amherst College.

The Family

Joseph H. Lauder

Namesake, The Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management & International Studies

From the time he and his wife, Estée, co-founded the Estée Lauder Cosmetics Co. in 1946, Joseph H. Lauder oversaw operations and finances, while Estée was in charge of marketing. The pair frequently traveled abroad for business, building relationships with the world’s retailers and political and cultural leaders. When Joseph passed away in 1983, his sons, Leonard and Ronald, honored his passion for business and world cultures by founding the Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies.

Leonard A. Lauder

Co-founder and Governor, The Lauder Institute Chairman Emeritus, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.

After graduating from the Wharton School of Business, Leonard A. Lauder spent three years as an officer in the United States Navy. In 1958, he joined Estée Lauder Cosmetics, co-founded by his parents, Estée and Joseph. Over the next 45 years, he led the company’s expansion to a worldwide network of affiliates that now sell more than 30 recognized brands – including Clinique, M•A•C, Bobbi Brown, and Origins – in 150 countries and territories. During his tenure as a Penn trustee, he and his brother, Ronald, founded the Lauder Institute in honor of their father. He also created an eponymous fellowship, which awards select applicants the full sum of tuition and fees for the two-year Lauder program.

Ronald S. Lauder

Co-founder and Governor, The Lauder Institute Chairman, Clinique Laboratories

A renaissance leader, and Chairman of the Lauder Institute’s Board of Governors, Ronald S. Lauder was educated at Wharton and the University of Paris before graduating to work at Estée Lauder in Belgium. On his rise to the Chairmanship of Estée Lauder International, he served in the Pentagon as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Defense for European and NATO Affairs and as U.S. Ambassador to Austria. His experiences as a leader in the public and private sectors, at home and abroad, inform his commitment to giving Lauder students the international edge they need to further their careers in global business.

William P. Lauder

Chair, Board of Directors, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.

William P. Lauder is Chair of the Board of Directors, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., a global leader in prestige beauty. Since joining the Company in 1986, he had been instrumental in expanding the Company’s brand portfolio, distribution channels, and international presence. William received his B.S. is economics from the Wharton School of Business in 1983 and maintains a strong connection to Penn, where he serves as an Emeritus Trustee, as well as Governor of the Institute. In 2012 he received a lecturer appointment to the faculty of Wharton, and in 2014 was awarded the Teaching Commitment and Curricular Innovation Award for his course for second-year MBA students, “Decision Making in the Leadership Chair.”

Board of Governors

Tom Bendheim G90, WG90

Founder and CEO, b7 Properties

Janifer M. Burns G86, WG86

Co-Chair, Lauder Advisory Council
Founder and Principal, HWB Daughter, Inc.

Ángel Corcóstegui, Ph.D.

Founder and General Partner, Magnum Industrial Partners

Alberto Duran

Founder and CEO, Mundivox Communications

Steven J. Gilbert, Esq.

Chairman, Gilbert Global Equity Partners, LP

Danton Goei G97, WG97

Portfolio Manager, Davis Funds

Marina Kunis Jacobson G93, WG93

Managing Director, Amicle Management LLC

Nancy Kail G89, WG89

Nonprofit Leadership, Management and Governance

Rene Kern G90, WG90

Vice Chairman, Lauder Board of Governors
Managing Director, General Atlantic

Shiv Vikram Khemka G90, WG90

Vice Chairman, SUN Group