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Mary Johnstone-Louis

Senior Fellow in Management Practice


Saïd Business School
University of Oxford
Park End Street
Oxford
OX1 1HP

Profile

Mary is Senior Fellow in Management Practice at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford where she designs research-based education for board members and senior leaders in many of the largest companies across the globe. She is interested in how strategy, leadership and governance enable companies to deliver on long-term commitments, and in the emerging field of corporates moving from sustainability to ‘regenerative’ business practices. 

Mary is Co-Director of the online Oxford Leading Sustainable Corporations and on-campus Oxford Sustainable Business programmes. The former has trained more than 5,000 participants to date in more than 70 countries. Mary is a Skoll Centre Fellow, Senior Associate of Oxford Net Zero, and member of Oxford’s St Cross College.

Mary publishes on a wide range of sustainability topics including women in business, the role of private and family businesses in sustainability, and governance. She has worked on five continents including fieldwork in Bangladesh, South Africa and Latin America and serves as an adviser to several impact-focused businesses in the UK and Europe.

She has also served as a World Economic Forum Global Futures Council Fellow, a jury member for a range of awards including the IMD-Pictet Sustainability in Family Business Award and the WE Empower United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Challenge, and as Founding Director of The Ownership Project. She is a board member of Blueprint for Better Business and Chair of B Lab UK.

Mary is a regular speaker, moderator, and panellist. Her written contributions have been featured in the Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Harvard Business Review, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Business Ethics Quarterly, and in the United Nations Global Compact’s Principles for Responsible Management Education series as well as on Saïd Business School's Oxford Answers and the British Academy.

Mary holds an MPhil from the University of Oxford, a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, and studied at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. She received her doctorate from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford as an Economic and Social Research Council scholar.

Expertise:

  • Responsible business
  • Stakeholder governance
  • Leadership and business ethics
  • Sustainable business

Publications

Debates, Metrics, and the Competitive Advantage of ESG

  • Chapter
  • ESG: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review (HBR Insights Series)
  • MARY JOHNSTONE-LOUIS
Strategy

The myth of the CEO hero(opens in new window)

  • Journal article
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Mary Johnstone-Louis,
  • Charmian Love
Strategy

THE BOARD'S ROLE IN SUSTAINABILITY(opens in new window)

  • Journal article
  • HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW
  • Robert G Eccles,
  • Mary Johnstone-Louis,
  • Colin Mayer,
  • Judith C Stroehle
Strategy

Business in times of crisis(opens in new window)

  • Journal article
  • Oxford Review of Economic Policy
  • Mary Johnstone-Louis,
  • Bridget Kustin,
  • Colin Mayer,
  • Judith Stroehle,
  • Boya Wang
Strategy
Finance
  • Bridget Kustin,
  • Mary Johnstone-Louis,
  • Colin Mayer
Strategy
See more publications

Social media

Get the latest news and updates from Mary on LinkedIn.

 

Oxford Answers

Thought-leadership and insights for business leaders written by our Faculty and Associate Fellows.

View articles by Mary.

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