2025 Best 40-Under-40 MBA Professors: Enric Junqué de Fortuny, IESE Business School

Enric Junqué de Fortuny
IESE Business School

“Enric is a passionate and engaging instructor who brings Business Analytics to life for first-year students. He makes complex topics more accessible, especially for those from non-traditional backgrounds.

Enric is also mindful of cultural differences in classroom participation. He recognizes that some students may not be accustomed to speaking in public, so he actively encourages them to contribute, ensuring they have the opportunity to earn participation points. His inclusive and interactive teaching style creates a supportive learning environment for all students.” – Chukwunedum Orabueze

Enric Junqué de Fortuny, 38, is an Assistant Professor of Managerial Decision Sciences at IESE Business School. Before joining IESE, Enric served as an Assistant Professor in Information Systems and Business Analytics at NYU Shanghai, an Assistant Professor in Marketing at the Rotterdam School of Management, and as a Senior Research Fellow at INSEAD’s eLab for Big Data.​

Enric is recognized for bridging academic insights with societal applications, contributing to both scholarly discourse and practical advancements in the field. In 2017, he received the European Research Paper of the Year award from CIO-NET and the Association for Information Systems. In 2023, he was honored with the Meritorious Service Award by the academic community for his contributions to reproducibility at the INFORMS Journal of Data Science. 

His work on data-driven decision making and artificial intelligence has been published in leading journals and conferences, including Management Information Systems Quarterly (MISQ), Journal of Consumer Research (JCR), Machine Learning, IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, and Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD). 

BACKGROUND

At current institution since what year?  2022

Education: Ph.D. in Applied Economics from the University of Antwerp; M.Sc. in Computer Science Engineering; B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Ghent.​

List of MBA courses you currently teach:  Artificial Intelligence, Business Analytics, Data Science for Business.

TELL US ABOUT LIFE AS A BUSINESS SCHOOL PROFESSOR

I knew I wanted to be a business school professor when… I was not exposed to the concept of a business school until very late – towards the end of my Ph.D., when I joined INSEAD’s eLab as a senior research fellow. While working on a microfinance project in Indonesia, I found myself in the hotel lobby with only the Financial Times and the Economist available. Reading them felt both intriguing and foreign. Until then, my exposure had been limited to academic literature. However, engaging with others reading in the lobby, I realized they led impactful and fascinating lives. This experience led me to seek out such individuals, and I quickly recognized that business schools cultivate and nurture this kind of talent. They are the inflection point of minds, capital, and cultures. From that moment, I knew I wanted to be part of and contribute to that environment.

What are you currently researching and what is the most significant discovery you’ve made from it? I’m currently exploring the inner workings of large language models. Unlike previous predictive algorithms with relatively transparent statistical mechanics, today’s generative AI exhibits emergent intelligence that fascinates me deeply. We’re developing a ‘sociology of AI’ approach to study these systems – examining how these models interact, communicate, and make decisions as if they were social entities.

One of the most striking recent discoveries is that these models develop their own intermediary ‘language’ that we’re now beginning to chart and understand. This insight opens new possibilities for business applications across industries. In our latest publication, we demonstrated that when properly tuned, these models can serve as effective negotiators, potentially transforming how organizations approach complex business transactions. Once we fully understand these mechanisms, the next phase is steering models toward more ethical and effective decision-making.

If I weren’t a business school professor… I would be a professional musician. Though I stepped away from that path, it still calls to me occasionally.

What do you think makes you stand out as a professor? I am genuinely passionate about what I do and try to bring that passion into the classroom. I try to cut through the noise and buzzwords that often make technical subjects like AI and data science confusing, and try to get to their most practical essence. In my experience this demystification allows students from all backgrounds to engage deeply with the content. There’s a positive feedback loop that is incredibly exhilarating when students catch on and reward you with their own deep engagement.

One word that describes my first time teaching: impostor-syndrome

Here’s what I wish someone would’ve told me about being a business school professor: I wish I’d been exposed to business education earlier. It’s an incredible privilege to be surrounded by ambitious people from around the world who share a spirit of knowledge exchange, service, and desire to improve the world. On being a professor: you’ll balance many roles in your life – researcher, teacher, leader, mentor, mentee, parent. Though overwhelming at times, the journey is incredibly rewarding. Celebrate the small victories!

Professor I most admire and why: David Martens and Foster Provost, my advisor and co-advisor during my Ph.D. They showed me that coming from a “blue-collar” university doesn’t preclude one from interacting with the highest – seemingly  unattainable –  academic levels. If you are humble, kind, and hard-working there is a path. Throughout my years at RSM, NYU many of my colleagues have reinforced this belief through their own example. At IESE, my colleagues’ teaching methods have been profoundly inspiring, setting a benchmark that I continually strive to reach.

TEACHING MBA STUDENTS

What do you enjoy most about teaching business students? They are so smart, caring, and kind. I often learn as much from them as they do from me.

What is most challenging? Managing the diversity of MBA student backgrounds requires constant calibration to ensure content challenges but doesn’t overwhelm anyone.

In one word, describe your favorite type of student: curious.

In one word, describe your least favorite type of student: entitled.

When it comes to grading, I think students would describe me as… fair

LIFE OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM

What are your hobbies? I love tinkering with electronics and understanding how things work.

How will you spend your summer? Visiting my wife’s family in China, reconnecting with colleagues from our time there, and maintaining a two-decade tradition of surfing with my high school friends in the Basque country – an annual ritual that grounds me after a year of “flying high” at the business school.

Favorite place(s) to vacation:  exploring the world, one discovery at a time – with a slight bias towards islands.

Favorite book(s): Brave New World

What is currently your favorite movie and/or show and what is it about the film or program that you enjoy so much? I rarely watch tv! No time 🙂

What is your favorite type of music or artist(s) and why?  My musical preferences shift with my mood, environment, and all sorts of latent factors that I am yet to discover. John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme remains a constant – it’s truly transcendental.

THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS

If I had my way, the business school of the future would have much more of this…  An emphasis on impact beyond research metrics: How are we a force for good in students’ lives? How do we drive meaningful change locally and globally? How do we measure our contribution to society beyond academic publications? ​

In my opinion, companies and organizations today need to do a better job at…  Hiring and compensating candidates. Applicants invest significant time and effort into the process, yet many receive inadequate feedback or are ghosted. Being an ethical company starts at the hiring funnel.

I’m grateful for… the many people who have been kind, caring, and took me under their wing throughout my journey. Those who gave me a chance when credentials alone didn’t tell my full story, and those who have been patient with me as I’ve grown professionally. These mentors and colleagues have shaped not only my career but also how I approach mentoring my own students today.  As I continue this path, I hope to pay forward the same guidance and opportunities that have been so transformative in my own career. Thank you!

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