Roland Mees appointed as professor of Practice of Business Ethics

The Faculty of Economics and Business is pleased to announce that as per 1 September 2022 Dr. Roland Mees has been appointed as professor of Practice of Business Ethics.

The chair will be situated within the Department of Economics, Econometrics and Finance (EE&F). Roland Mees is currently a director of Sustainable Finance at ING Wholesale Banking, where he mainly focuses on the moral practice of sustainability, for example when granting Sustainability-Linked Loans to corporate customers. Mees has gained a lot of experience in the banking sector, not only at ING, but also at ABN Amro and Triodos Bank.

While pursuing his career in a business environment, he felt the need to reflect more deeply on the pragmatic reality of the organizations he worked for. Thus, Mees sought to deepen his academic knowledge with a master’s in Philosophy in Business at Utrecht University, followed by a PhD at the Ethics Institute of Utrecht University. Both alongside his full-time job at ING. As of September 2021, he is also an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law of the Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam.

Sustainable action and motivation

Mees is an expert on motivational obstacles to taking sustainable action and pathways for individuals, institutions and humanity. He has published a book chapter and a book on the topic. As a professor of Practice of Business Ethics, he will work in close collaboration with Professor of Financial Ethics, Boudewijn de Bruin. Together with the other professors at the EE&F department that focus on topics such as sustainable development, sustainable banking & finance and corporate governance, Mees will contribute to setting up, innovating and carrying out education in the field of business ethics. Apart from his educational contributions, he will also take part in research projects within the faculty and develop his own research in the field of business ethics.