About RI
Reputation Institute (RI) is the leading international organization devoted to advancing knowledge about corporate reputations and to providing professional assistance to companies interested in measuring and managing their reputations proactively. Founded in 1997, Reputation Institute has been and remains a pioneer and global leader in the development of measurement tools and in offering advice and counsel to leading companies around the world.
Our Approach
Through systematic research and analysis, Reputation Institute helps companies build comprehensive strategies and make operational decisions that are designed to align stakeholders with corporate objectives and thereby create tangible economic value.
In 2006, Reputation Institute launched the Global RepTrak™ System to identify and assess the world's most respected companies. The annual survey interviews more than 30,000 consumers in 29 countries using a standardized measurement system to rate the overall health of 600 of the world's largest companies. The results were featured in numerous publications around the world, and most prominently in Forbes in the US. The study is being repeated annually and enables us to provide unprecedented benchmarking capability for our clients.
Reputation Institute also conducts extensive internal analysis of employee alignment to assist clients in building increased support for their corporate strategies. We rely on proprietary methodologies embodied in our EcQ® System to identify internal weaknesses that prevent companies from building genuine ambassadorship and that limit their strategic capabilities. EcQ® has proven its value in both large global companies, as well as in smaller entrepreneurial firms.
Senior managers of leading companies around the world have come to trust Reputation Institute for our ability to draw on our extensive knowledge and research, sophisticated analysis, rigorous methodologies, and on our international network of experienced partners and advisors to help them develop robust and actionable reputation strategies. We invite organizations and individuals to take advantage of our proven and proprietary analytical tools, and work with our experts to manage, grow, and protect your organization's reputation.
Our Team
Reputation Institute's global network of local offices, associates, academics, and practitioners regularly produces thought leadership about corporate reputations that is shared in our conferences and workshops, and gets featured in our newsletters and in our peer-reviewed quarterly journal, Corporate Reputation Review. Our team consists of well-known thought leaders such as Reputation Institute founders Drs. Charles J. Fombrun and Cees B.M. van Riel, authors of acclaimed books such as Reputation: Realizing Value from the Corporate Image, Essentials of Corporate Communication, and Fame & Fortune: How the World's Most Successful Companies Build Winning Reputations. Reputation Institute also brings together a team of Senior Advisors with extensive hands-on knowledge and experience in specific areas that are critical to effective strategic development and execution of reputation management programs.
The Reputation Institute is led by an Executive Committee consisting of:
Charles J. Fombrun is Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Reputation Institute. Dr. Fombrun is a former Professor of Management at NYU's Stern School of Business where he was on the standing faculty from 1984 to 2004. He was also Professor of Management at The Wharton School from 1979 to 1984. Dr. Fombrun is the author of numerous books, including the path-breaking best-seller Reputation: Realizing Value from the Corporate Image, first released by Harvard Business School Press in 1996. Dr. Fombrun has published hundreds of articles in leading management journals, and is the creator of reputation management systems used by many companies around the world.
Cees B.M. van Riel is Managing Partner and co-founder of Reputation Institute; and RI Director for The Netherlands. Dr. van Riel is also a Professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam and head of its Corporate Communication Centre. His most recent book, co-authored with Charles Fombrun, is Essentials of Corporate Communication. Cees is the author of numerous books and articles, creator of the EcQ® Alignment Monitor, and co-author with Charles Fombrun of Fame & Fortune: How the World's Leading Companies Build Winning Reputations.
Kasper Nielsen is Managing Partner of Reputation Institute responsible for North America. Kasper has been engaged in international reputation management since 2000 helping companies in a range of industries such as Pharmaceuticals, Information Technology, Food and Beverage, Public Transportation, and Financial Services.
Kasper has made numerous presentations at international conferences on reputation management, as well as published a number of articles in Corporate Reputation Review as well as Journal of Marketing Communications. Kasper is also the co-author of the book Introduction to Organizational Theory published in 1999. Kasper is a graduate from Copenhagen Business School and holds an MBA from McGill University in Canada.
Nicolas Georges Trad is Managing Partner of Reputation Institute and responsible overall for RI's office and partner network. Nicolas earned his MSc in Intercultural Management from Copenhagen Business School and holds an MBA from UADE, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Nicolas has helped companies and countries improve within areas such as Corporate Reputation, Country Reputation, City Reputation, Corporate Branding, Employer Branding, CSR, Sustainability and HR. He has worked with companies around the world within industries such as Pharmaceuticals, Telecommunications, Financial Services, Energy, Transportation, Consumer Goods and Electronics.
Nicolas has published articles in numerous publications including Corporate Reputation Review and Journal of Marketing Communications and is a frequent speaker at international conferences.
Majken Schultz
Majken Schultz, PhD and Master of Organization, is Professor at Copenhagen Business School and partner in Reputation Institute. Her research interests are located at the interface between culture, identity and image, corporate branding and reputation management. She has published more than 50 articles in international journals. Among her books are The Expressive Organization and Organizational Identity with Oxford University Press. Her most recent book also with Hatch is Taking Brand Initiative: How Companies Can Align Their Strategy, Culture and Identity Through Corporate Branding with Jossey Bass. She serves on several company boards and is also active in the public debate.