Dear graduates, dear alumni,

HEC Stories is kicking off this new academic year under the banner of movement, connection and renewal. Because if there is one thing that never changes, it is our desire to tell the stories of those who bring HEC to life across the globe.

HEC Stories remains the voice of your international community: the alumni who start businesses, innovate, share their knowledge, make a difference, build bridges and come up with new ways every day to change the world.

This autumn, our editorial team is heading to China, where the School, the HEC Foundation and the HEC Alumni Association are embarking on a major tour to meet our Chinese community. The journey will culminate in a major event: the HEC Alumni Gala in Shanghai on October 9. An opportunity to celebrate the ties that unite us and, above all, to continue growing this remarkable international community.

And to shine a light on women’s journeys, the second season of the Trajectoires podcast is currently in the works! The upcoming episodes will explore the stories of inspiring women entrepreneurs, selected by the HEC We&Men Club. Recording is currently underway, and we cannot wait to introduce you to these new voices and unique journeys.

Telling the story of our times also means being willing to look squarely at the transformations shaping them. After the scorching summer we have just experienced, one question stands out: how do we learn to live and produce in a world that has changed? Climate is no longer a distant horizon: it is already transforming our businesses, our territories and our ways of life. Some of these changes appear irreversible, forcing us to think about adaptation and mitigation at the same time. But behind the challenges of production and transformation lie deeply political and human questions: what happens when certain territories become less habitable? Who can leave? Who must stay? Who decides what is habitable?

And how can we govern these transformations without leaving part of society behind? This is precisely what we will explore in the next issue of HEC Stories, through our feature on “Producing and Transforming,” with Fernando Diaz Lopez, and “Living and Governing,” with François Gemenne. Both professors at HEC and authors of IPCC reports, they will help us understand how climate change is reshaping the way we produce as well as the way we live together. Because understanding these transformations also means thinking about how we want to build what comes next.

HEC Stories is also a space to tell the rich and diverse stories of our community around the world. So whether you are in New York, Cotonou, London, Beijing, Abidjan or Doha, I have a very simple invitation for you: write to me.

Chapter presidents and chairs, alumni entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, artists, investors, executives, adventurers, changemakers: tell me what you do, what drives you, the projects you are launching and the challenges you are taking on. Tell me about your entrepreneurial successes, your unexpected encounters, your achievements and, why not, your detours and failures. Everything that makes every HEC journey unique. Our editorial team is looking forward to meeting you and sharing your stories with the entire community. Because that, too, is the strength of HEC: a global community, made up of a multitude of singular stories.

And this new academic year also marks a new chapter for HEC Stories. With the arrival of our new President, Adrien Nussenbaum (H.01), we will build on this new momentum. More digital. More video. More original formats to make HEC Stories a vibrant media platform, connected to its time and close to you.

So, this season, stay with us. Follow us, listen to us, watch us, share your stories — we stay in touch! And above all, let’s meet again on November 18 for another major event this autumn: the HEC Alumni Gala in Paris.

Wishing you all a wonderful start to the new academic year.

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