Who we are

In the LEAD (Leadership, Evidence, Advice & Data) is the centre of expertise at the University of Groningen in the field of leadership. The centre of expertise provides organisations with state-of-the-art research on the effectiveness of leadership. We also deliver tailored advice and present lectures and talks to professionals and organisations.

Our professors and researchers are experts in the area of leadership within organisations, regions and countries. Below you can read more about the expertise of the directors of In the LEAD. Your organisation could benefit from their scientifically grounded knowledge. Please contact us for more information.

In the LEAD directors

Prof. Janka Stoker

Janka Stoker has been Professor of Leadership and Organisational Change at the University of Groningen since 2003. In her work she has always combined academic research with practice. For many years she combined her role as senior managing consultant at Berenschot with her professorship, and as Vice Dean at the Faculty of Economics and Business she has had five years’ of first-hand experience of what it means to be a manager. Her research focuses on questions that are both relevant to the academic world and of immediate interest to organisations. She works also on behalf of third parties, such as in projects with Ahold, De Nederlandsche Bank and Aedes. In her advisory role, she has advised large private and public organisations – such as ProRail, MeesPierson, the municipality of Groningen and Unilever – on issues of leadership and change. She was also a member of the commissie Ottow, which did an evaluation of the review process of DNB and AFM. Since August 2018 she has been appointed by the AFM as external expert for these evaluations. As a member of the Advisory Board at the University of Twente, as chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Economic Board Groningen and as Vice Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Groningen, she has gained substantial practical experience of the ins and outs of leadership. She is a sought-after speaker at conferences and on courses for managers and administrators. She also makes regular media appearances. See, for example:

Prof. Harry Garretsen

Harry Garretsen has been Professor of International Economics & Business at the University of Groningen since 2008. Alongside a long academic career, as attested among other things by his appointment as fellow at the University of Cambridge and his earlier professorial appointments at Radboud University Nijmegen and Utrecht University, he has always been actively concerned with economic policy and policy advice. He worked at De Nederlandsche Bank, was deputy crown-appointed member of the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (SER) from 2004 to 2014 and for many years he was a member of the Advisory Board and an academic partner of the CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis. He gained management experience as Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business in Groningen and as a member of the Supervisory Board of the Waarborgfonds Sociale Woningbouw (WSW). He is also a member of the Bank Council, the advisory body to the Governing Board of De Nederlandsche Bank.

His research field has always been the international monetary and trading economy and the link between economy and geography. For several years, his research focuses on the interface between economy, leadership and management. Both at home and abroad, Garretsen is regularly asked to act as an expert or contract researcher. In recent years, for example, he has worked for the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Bundesbank, the EU and the World Bank. Through the universities of Groningen and Cambridge he has gained broad experience with executive education, and he takes part regularly in the public debate on economic and leadership issues, including via the Me Judice forum, where he is an editor. See, for example: