Isabelle Lescent-Giles

Isabelle Lescent-Giles is adjunct faculty of international business at the University of San Francisco and a tenured associate professor of economic history at the University of Paris-Sorbonne, where she taught for 10 years. Before relocating to San Francisco, she was trained as a business historian in the city of Paris at the Ecole Normale Supérieure and has taught at New York University, Oxford University, University of Bordeaux (France) and the University of Paris-Sorbonne. As an international scholar and consultant with clients and colleagues in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia, and as part of a tri-cultural family, Professor Lescent-Giles has a passion for cross-cultural management, bridge building across cultures and entrepreneurial networks in global diasporas.

Professor Lescent-Giles’ research focuses on change, adaptation and innovation in global family firms. She consults with and advises global families, foundations and firms on the use of culture and history to frame, implement and communicate business strategies and change management, particularly in the area of succession planning and next-generation education for multicultural high net worth families. Also, she has written extensively on the impact of national, professional and organizational cultures, from both the organizational and individual perspectives. In 1994, her Ph.D. summa cum lauda in British economic history won the International Economic History Association’s prize for best Ph.D. in 19th Century economic history.

Education

• PhD Université Paris Sorbonne (Paris IV) (1988 — 1992)
• Agrégation d'histoire 1988 Ecole normale supérieure (1985 — 1989)
• Institut des Hautes Etudes en Entreprise (2004 — 2005)
• Ecole normale supérieure