1 November 2019. Dr. Gralf Sieghold is a German citizen; he was born in 1962 in Bremen, Germany and lives in Singapore.

He studied business administration at the University of St.Gallen (HSG) and completed his studies with a master degree in 1987. In 1989, he received his doctorate with a thesis on "Optimal Planning and Execution of Mergers & Acquisitions Transactions from the Management's Point of View with Special Consideration of the Role of Third Parties". After working as a consultant for two years at McKinsey & Company, he started his own business in 1991 and together with three McKinsey colleagues took over Bau-GmbH Ludwigslust in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania during the course of German reunification. This company formed the nucleus for the establishment of a “Mittelstand” group of companies with numerous holdings in the fields of hydraulics, mechanical engineering, industrial services and construction. The group was successfully sold in 2008 and continues to exist to this day.

Establishment of the St.Gallen Institute of Management in Asia

As a successful entrepreneur and investor, Dr. Sieghold has remained closely associated with the University of St. Gallen in various functions over decades and has provided it with a significant amount of support. In particular, Dr. Sieghold was the primary initiator for the establishment of the St.Gallen Institute of Management in Asia (SGI-HSG) in 2011, and has guided its expansion as its Founding Chairman. The SGI-HSG, which is based in Singapore, is the first international institute of the University of St. Gallen.

As part of the HSG's internationalisation strategy, the SGI-HSG performs a multidisciplinary task and has established itself as a platform for the entire university in recent years. The institute enables more than 300 students to take courses in Singapore every year, and is an intensively used international networking opportunity for faculty members and doctoral students of the University of St.Gallen. Dr. Sieghold's commitment has made a decisive contribution towards the Institute's success today.

Guest lectures at bachelor and master level

In addition to his role as Chairman of the SGI-HSG in Singapore, Dr. Sieghold is associated with the HSG in many ways. Dr. Sieghold regularly enriches the bachelor and master courses offered in Singapore with guest lectures, which are very popular with students and are rated very positively. Furthermore, he was actively involved in the HSG student mentoring programme for ten years and continues to act as a mentor for doctoral students at SGI-HSG on an individual basis. Dr. Sieghold has also been supporting the St.Gallen Symposium for many years. He was repeatedly involved there as Topic Leader and accompanied the respective Asian teams of the Symposium during their time in Singapore.

Gralf Sieghold was appointed honorary professor by the Senate at the recommendation of the School of Management.