CYGNA: The many shapes and forms of Service & Leadership

Reports on our 67th CYGNA meeting - where we shared our experiences with a wide range of leadership and service roles

Anne-Wil Harzing - Wed 19 Nov 2025 15:31 (updated Thu 9 Oct 2025 17:54)

Our 67th meeting was organised and hosted by Ciara O'Higgins, who convened a brilliant panel of nine very engaging CYGNA members from six different countries with a combined experience in a wide variety of service and leadership roles (see their bios at the end of this post): Athina Dilmperi, Maria Elo, Susy Menis, Tina Miedtank, Stefanie Reissner, Olga Ryazanova, Betina Szkudlarek, Tatyana Tsukanova, and Natalie Wilmot.

We had no less than 31 participants coming from all over the world, 30 of which can be found in the above picture. We had members joining at 6am in the USA and staying until 11pm in Australia. The chat was overflowing and ran to 11 pages with more than 200 thumbs ups hearts and hugs.

The meeting topic was clearly of great interest to our CYGNA members. As always in our CYGNA meetings, the time flew by and we could easily have filled another hour. I loved how one new member described the session: "Many thanks for the session so far - such a tonic after a busy week!"

Session outline

Ciara started the session with a brief overview of what’s to come in CYGNA during the 2025-2026 academic year. Our 12th year of the network is again packed with opportunities to engage. You can download Ciara's slides here to learn more. We then moved on to the two panels which we had split up into roles within and outside your own institution.

Panel 1: Service & leadership roles in your own institution

What roles should I consider taking on at what stage in your career?
How much service/leadership should I take on and why?
When & how to say no, when and how to step down?
Creating opportunities and the challenges of service & leadership in my own institution

Panellists: Athina Dilmperi, Susy Menis, Tina Miedtank, Stefanie Reissner, Natalie Wilmot

Panel 2: (Non)traditional service & leadership in the broader academic community or society

What traditional and non-traditional service or leadership roles exist outside my institution that I might I consider?
Why take on roles outside my institution?
What recognition can I expect for different types of roles? Why is this important?
Opportunities and pitfalls to watch out for when volunteering for service or leadership roles outside of academia (e.g. business associations, NGOs…)?

Panellists: Maria Elo, Olga Ryazanova, Betina Szkudlarek, Tatyana Tsukanova

It is impossible to do full justice to the wealth of experience that was shared in the session. However, Ciara and I have written up a white with.....

Panellist bios (in alphabetical order)

If you'd like to connect with any of the panellists you can find their bios here:

Athina Dilmperi, Associate Professor and Head of Department of Marketing, Enterprise & Tourism, Middlesex University London, UK

Athina is an interdisciplinary academic leader with a background in Economics, Arts Management and Consumer Psychology. As HoD, she champions inclusive leadership, strategic innovation, and well-being in business education. Her research explores the intersections of music, culture, and marketing, and she is deeply engaged in rethinking what academic leadership can mean — especially for women.

Maria Elo, Professor of International Business and Entrepreneurship, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark

Maria holds diverse international positions, she is a member of the Central Gender Equality Committee at SDU, WOMEIBA and Talents4aa ambassador. Her research focuses on international business, entrepreneurship, and migration, with particular expertise in internationalization, skilled migrants and returnees, migrant and diaspora entrepreneurship, transnational and family businesses, and diaspora networks, investment, and remittances with specific interest on women and diverse sub-groups.

Susy Menis, Senior Lecturer in Law, Birkbeck London University, Faculty of Business and Law, School of Law, UK

PhD Lead; Programme Director (designer and convenor) Certificate HE Legal Studies; Module designer, convenor and lecturer (LLB, LLM, GDL Criminal Law; LLB Dissertation; LLB Legal Research and Writing; LLB Law Research and Policy); Deputy Chief Examiner (Criminal Law) London Undergraduate Laws Consortium; External Examiner Sussex University; Interim Committee of the Legal Humanities Association; Steering Committee of Birkbeck Centre of the Study of Law and the Humanities; Socio-Legal Studies Association Co-convenor stream: Criminal Law & Criminal Justice stream.

Tina Miedtank, Assistant Professor, Radboud University, the Netherlands

Tina is an Assistant Professor in Strategic HRM at Radboud University. She is part of the curriculum development implementation team for the bachelor program and coordinating the Personal and Professional Development learning line. As part of the curriculum revision team, she helps shape an inclusive and innovative education environment. These topics connect with her research stream on improvisation theater and leadership development.

Stefanie Reissner, Full Professor of Organizational Studies, Durham University, UK

Stefanie has held a range of leadership roles both within her organization and externally. Following a series of teaching-focused roles at previous institutions (Senior Tutor, Programme Director, Chair of the Board of Examiners, Chair of the Board of Studies), Stefanie is currently serving as Director of Research for a 120-strong department. She has championed female academics, early career researchers and colleagues from underrepresented backgrounds through formal development opportunities and mentoring.

Olga Ryazanova, Associate Dean for Strategy and Governance, Faculty of Social Sciences, Maynooth University, Ireland

Associate Editor of Academy of Management Learning & Education (since 2020), member of the Editorial Review Board for British Journal of Management (Knowledge and Learning section). Served as a Secretary and Research Coordinator of the Management Education and Development (MED) division of the Academy of Management.

Betina Szkudlarek, Professor of Management, University of Sydney, Australia

Betina is Professor of International Management and a consultant with the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. Throughout her career, she has held a number of senior leadership roles, including Program Director, PRME School Lead, Associate Dean (Research Education), and Deputy Dean (Research). Her research is driven by a strong commitment to creating tangible societal and organizational impact, and she chooses her professional roles with similar principles in mind.

Tatyana Tsukanova, Assistant Professor, EHL Hospitality Business School, HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western, Switzerland

Tatyana is an Assistant Professor in Lausanne, having transitioned into a faculty role from a managerial position. Her research explores how entrepreneurs act under uncertainty, with a focus on tech, wellbeing, and ecosystems. She draws on practical experience in her research and mentorship, keeping both grounded and relevant.

Natalie Wilmot, Reader in International Business, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK

Natalie has held a variety of senior academic roles, including Deputy Dean and Dean at business school level. Whilst she has enjoyed these roles and found them professionally enriching, she has recently chosen to focus more fully on her passion of International Business and is looking forward to once again engaging with her discipline more deeply than she found to be possible when in a senior management role.

Resources

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Anne-Wil Harzing is Emerita Professor of International Management at Middlesex University, London. She is a Fellow of the Academy of International Business, a select group of distinguished AIB members who are recognized for their outstanding contributions to the scholarly development of the field of international business. In addition to her academic duties, she also maintains the Journal Quality List and is the driving force behind the popular Publish or Perish software program.

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