INSEAD and the Society for Progress awarded gold medals and US$400,000 for scholarship and leadership

INSEAD and The Society for Progress, an academically diverse working group of social scientists, philosophers, and business leaders, announced the seven laureates being honoured for the 2018 Progress Medals for their pioneering work and contributions in shaping the economic system to achieve greater fairness and well-being.

Contributions are honoured with a formal certificate, a gold medal, and a cash award, all funded by donors from around the world. The contributions and laureates in 2018 are as follows:

• For her historically grounded moral philosophical exposition of the troubling structure of contemporary workplace governance and employee experience, a Progress Medal was awarded to Elizabeth Anderson, the John Dewey Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
   
• For a seminal demonstration of the vital role of economic analysis and theorising in better integrating private and common interests, and for an accessible and authoritative discussion of the inadequacies of private markets and public policies that underlie much societal anxiety, a Progress Medal was awarded to Jean Tirole, professor at and chairman of the Toulouse School of Economics (TSE) and the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST), France.
   
• For exposing how fundamental financial theories and models don’t just explain but also, by rationalising and legitimating practices and regulations, cause financial products, markets, and outcomes, a Progress Medal was awarded to Donald MacKenzie, chaired professor of Sociology at the University of Edinburgh.
   
• For pioneering work in developing standards and methods that today enable and encourage thousands of enterprises worldwide to pay attention to, measure, report, benchmark, and improve their environmental and ethical “footprints,” a joint award was made to Bob Massie and Allen White, co-founders of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI); and to Jean Rogers, for creating the independent Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) which helps firms to better measure and disclose, on an industry-specific basis, sustainability information that is material to the proper pricing of their securities by investors and creditors.
   
• A Progress Medal was also awarded for reflective business leadership to Fadi Ghandour, Chairman and Founder of Wamda Capital, for his bold and impactful scaling of venture funding and mentoring, including especially in technology, via Wamda, a platform for youth entrepreneurship, empowerment, and economic development in the Arab world.

The 2018 ‘Progress Medals’ Ceremony was held in Fontainebleau on 16 June 2018.