Meet IMD Business School’s MBA Class Of 2025

A CLASS PROFILE

Zeidler himself collected a gold medal in rowing at the 2024 Olympics after a successful swimming career. Equally impressive, just imagine what the following says about Zareen Cheema.

“I was shortlisted by MarsOne for a one-way mission to colonize Mars. I chose Earth. (Though I did visit Antarctica before turning 20… so maybe I just took the scenic route.).”

By the numbers, 42% of the Class of 2025 are women, with 98% hailing from outside Switzerland. The class averaged a 680 GMAT and 324 GRE. By the same token, class members average 30 years of age and bring 6 years of work experience to the class. The largest percentage of the class – 27% — last worked in Consulting, edging out Financial Services (23%), and Manufacturing (14%). The class also included students from industries like consumer-packaged goods, technology, real estate, healthcare, energy, retail, media and entertainment, and the non-profit and government sectors.

Rankings-wise, IMD finished 2nd in Bloomberg Businessweek’s European Ranking and 22nd in the Financial Times Global MBA Ranking (Gaining 14 spots with the latter). True to form, IMD continued to rank as the top executive education program according to The Financial Times. The latter made an impression on Vin Ne Foo. For her, it reflected that IMD was active in the real world not just devoted to academic frameworks. And she found the school’s connections to be equally impressive.

“In our strategy module, for example, we work on real cases based on current issues in actual companies. What makes it even more relevant is that leaders from those companies join us in class. They challenge our thinking and share how these decisions are playing out in their organizations. It brings the learning to life.”

LEADERSHIP STARTS WITH LEARNING WHO YOU ARE

John Nicholas admits that he didn’t come to IMD just to gain the MBA credential. Instead, he wanted a “transformational” experience. For students and alumni alike the Leadership Development Stream delivers just that. Think of it as a series of sessions that force students to confront the messy questions that even seasoned professionals avoid. As part of the pathway, students reflect on their life path, aspirations, and values, receiving coaching and peer feedback in the process. At the same time, they recognize how others perceive them, enabling them to better communicate both verbally and through their physical presence.

Notably, the Leadership Development Stream also includes a Personal Development Elective, which includes one-on-one sessions with a psychoanalyst. Here, students examine their pivotal choices, life patterns, assumptions, and habits to better understand why they approach various situations in certain ways – and how their reactions impact others. As a result of such experiences, IMD MBAs come away with a better understanding of who they really are – and how they can leverage their strengths to better influence and inspire the people around them. That was exactly the takeaway that Zareen Cheema gained from the experience.

“While selecting the business school I wanted to go to, I wasn’t just looking for frameworks and case studies, I was looking for clarity. IMD promised to hold up a mirror, and it did,” she admits. “Through a blend of 1:1 leadership coaching, feedback sessions, and Leadership Labs, the program asked me to confront not just who I am as a leader, but who I am when no one is watching. The world doesn’t need more polished PowerPoint presentations. It needs leaders who are self-aware, grounded, and capable of holding ambiguity. I chose IMD because it doesn’t let you hide behind your resume. It challenges you to bring your full, flawed, evolving self into the room and to lead from there.”

WANTED: ‘TRANSVERSAL’ SKILLS

Of course, leadership training is only part of the bargain. Unlike most one-year programs, IMD now offers an 8-week summer internship, not to mention a 5-week international consulting project. More than that, tuition covers costs like travel and accommodations for Future Lab and MBAT. However, the school’s biggest innovations have come in the areas of transversal skills and AI. The former is an outgrowth of the advent of AI, as IMD faculty identified 10 fundamental skills designed to help students maximize their value in an AI world, including the ability to break down complex systems, recognize patterns and trends, express ideas clearly, and tell stories.

“We all need to reconsider what we teach, how we teach, and how we evaluate people,” explains Dean Toulan. “Graduates may not have to do certain analyses themselves anymore, but they will have to ask the right questions from AI. AI can be extremely time-saving, allowing you to focus on more critical issues.”

Taking this a step further, Toulan brands IMD’s philosophy as a triple helix: functional, leadership, and transversal skills, where “humanistic” skills will turn out to be the difference-makers in an AI-fueled world. “Some content skills will be automated,” Toulan continues, “but what makes us unique is our ability to communicate, to reason logically, and to apply contextual judgment.”

That pitch was music to the ears of Kabelo Themane, an impact investor from South Africa. “I was drawn to IMD’s agility and responsiveness. These qualities ensure the curriculum remains relevant in an increasingly dynamic world. The recent redesign of the MBA program further reinforced my decision. The program’s focus on equipping us with both transversal and functional skills means we won’t just be prepared for today’s challenges, but for tomorrow’s as well.”

AN INTERVIEW WITH DEAN OMAR TOULAN

What’s next on the horizon at IMD Business School? In April, the school announced that it would be rolling out stackable executive master’s degrees in AI and Sustainability. Three months later, the school hired Alyson Meister, who’ll be overseeing the MBA, EMBA, and Executive Master’s programs as the school’s Dean of Degree Programs. That’s not all, as P&Q learned in a summer interview with Omar Toulan, Professor of Strategy and International Management, MBA Dean and Hilti Chair. Here are his thoughts on the state of the IMD MBA program.

P&Q: What have been the two most important developments in your MBA program over the past year? What type of impact will they have on current and future MBAs?

Toulan: “The IMD MBA received the Poets & Quants Program of the Year award at the end of 2024 in recognition for new design launched in 2025. At the core of this redesign is the goal of preparing our students to excel in an AI-enhanced world. Our view is that AI makes certain humanistic skills that much more important. As such we introduced a new module at the beginning of the program on what we call Transversal Skills, covering topics from systems thinking, pattern recognition, and problem solving to storytelling and executive presence. We track the performance of each student using proprietary AI tools combined with human follow-up. In addition, we introduced what we call the Future Lab, which is a month-long residency in Singapore, focused on AI, digital transformation, and eco-systems, combined with on the ground field visits to both public and private sector entities. Singapore is one of the most innovative places in the world and an amazing place to explore the power of technology. All of these changes are meant to best prepare our students for the future.”

P&Q: What do you see as the main differentiator that distinguishes your MBA program from other schools? How does it enhance the student experience and make them more attractive to employers?

Toulan: “The IMD MBA is often times called the longest leadership program in the world. Our goal is to help develop leaders that will transform organizations and contribute to society. The Leadership Stream spans the entire year and includes leadership labs, coaching, and access to psychoanalysts. The leadership focus is reinforced by our emphasis on experiential learning, from International Consulting Projects to Leadership Labs to Start-up Projects and a month-long residency module in Singapore. Employers come to IMD because they know they can find the leadership potential they are looking for.”

P&Q: What types of services do you provide to first-year MBAs to ease their transition into business school?

Toulan: “At IMD, we recognize that the transition into an MBA can be both exciting and challenging, so we prioritize personalized support from the very beginning. Before students even arrive on campus, they receive curated pre-program materials to help them prepare academically, professionally, and personally. Once on campus, our intensive onboarding and orientation week focuses on team building, cultural integration, and getting familiar with IMD’s unique, hands-on learning model.

What truly sets IMD apart is the level of individualized attention our MBAs receive throughout the year. With a deliberately small class size of around 90 participants, students benefit from close contact with faculty and staff. Each MBA is paired with a dedicated Leadership Coach from the beginning to guide their personal development. In addition, they have access to a dedicated support team to help navigate academic and administrative matters.

We also start career preparation early with workshops on CV writing, mock interviews, and one-on-one coaching. Peer-to-peer learning is another essential part of the experience, strengthened through team projects and a strong sense of community within the cohort.

All of this creates an immersive and supportive environment where students can grow rapidly, both as professionals and as individuals.”

P&Q: What types of support do you provide to international students before and during business school to enable them to better acclimate to your country?

Toulan: “With over 95% of our MBA class coming from outside Switzerland, IMD has deep experience supporting international students throughout their transition. That support begins well before arrival. We provide pre-arrival briefings, personalized visa guidance, and help with housing, banking, health insurance, and settling into life in Lausanne. A digital onboarding platform and regular communication ensure a smooth relocation.

Once on campus, students benefit from a multicultural orientation that covers Swiss norms, and practical living tips. We connect incoming MBAs with current students and alumni who offer both social and logistical support. Intercultural learning is an essential part of the IMD experience, and our small, inclusive community ensures a warm and welcoming atmosphere from day one.

Students also have access to support for family relocation (if needed), and ongoing guidance from staff who specialize in international transitions. Switzerland’s safe, stable environment and Lausanne’s high quality of life make for an ideal setting, and its location in the heart of Europe offers easy access to nearby countries, making it perfect for personal travel and expanding professional networks across the continent.

When combined with IMD’s highly personalized approach, this creates a strong foundation for international students to feel at home and thrive throughout their MBA journey.”

P&Q: How does your program integrate other disciplines, such as the liberal arts and STEM, across your curriculum to provide students with a more interdisciplinary experience in business school?

Toulan: “While a generalist program, the program integrates a set of 10 humanistic or what we call Transversal Skills across the year, all focused around strategic thinking and communications. These are skills that are important in every function.”

P&Q: What are two ways that your program is incorporating Artificial Intelligence into your programming? How do they better prepare students for the future world of work?

Toulan: “Aside from having courses on AI at different times of the year, this year we are using AI to help provide individualized feedback on our set of 10 Transversal Skills (pattern recognition, systems thinking, problem solving, storytelling, presentation skills, etc). Having developed AI rubrics and pre-tested each one, we are able to leverage individual assignments submitted by students to provide them individualized feedback on each skill, in addition to the functional feedback and course grade given by the professor. Each student receives a report 3 times a year followed by one-on-one meetings to assess how to continue improving on each skill.

In addition, IMD has developed its own IMD GPT, based on all the course material and class recordings, which allow students to ask questions 24/7 about their courses. Essentially it is their MBA in their back pocket.”

P&Q: What types of educational and career support do you provide to alumni after graduation? How does it make them more valuable to employers during their careers?

Toulan: “The IMD Career Development Center (CDC) distinguishes two types of alumni: those who graduated recently and do not yet have an accepted offer of employment and all other alumni.

For recent graduates who are still in the researching or negotiating stage, the CDC promise is to support these alumni until they are offered and have accepted an employment opportunity. In this regard, recent alumni have unlimited access to career advisers and coaches, including individual referrals for opportunities and access to company presentations where possible. As such, recent graduates are treated no differently to existing students.

For the rest of our alumni, while the Career Development Center does not have a formal alumni career development program, the IMD Alumni Association negotiated access to reduced-rate career coaching and workshops with external suppliers. In addition, IMD has a suite of open enrolment programs that are relevant for all alumni seeking to upskill themselves.”

Click on the links below for in-depth profiles of the Class of 2025.

MBA Student	Hometown	Undergraduate Alma Mater	Last Employer
Agustina Bigatti	Montevideo, Uruguay	University of London	Light-It
Zareen Cheema	Pune, India	University of Pune, India	Volvo Cars
Daniel Keat	Wellington, New Zealand	University of Canterbury	Salesforce
Anton Kongsted Amtrup	Copenhagen, Denmark	University of Copenhagen	The Royal Lifeguards
Alfonso Martinez	Guadalajara, Mexico	Universidad de Guadalajara	IKEA
Ishita Mishra	Odisha, India	BITS Pilani	J.P. Morgan Chase
Vin Ne Foo	Ipo, Malaysia	National University of Singapore	Incitec Pivot Ltd
John Nicholas	Cape Town, South Africa	Stellenbosch University (South Africa)	ZAQ Actuaries
Ronald Omores	Cotonou, Benin	University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne	CNP Assurance
Ashton Songer Ferguson	Denver, CO	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	No Single Individual
Kabelo Themane	Johannesburg, South Africa	University of Cape Town	Edge Growth
Oliver Zeidler	Munich, Germany	University of Applied Science in Munich	Deloitte

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