Ioannis Georgopoulos
CITIZENSHIP
Greece
HINRICH SCHOLARSHIP
INSEADSingapore
Master in Business Administration, Class of 2021
CURRENT EMPLOYMENT
Senior Manager, Financial Planning & AnalysistRBI, Zurich, Switzerland
“Only sustainable global trade will ensure continuous prosperity, respect for human rights and environmental protection. This scholarship enables me to become a global trade leader for a better world.”
Scholar background
Ioannis is a Senior Manager at Restaurant Brands International (RBI), a franchise investment firm that owns several well-known quick-service restaurant brands, including Burger King, Popeye’s, Tim Horton’s and Firehouse Subs. Ioannis joined the firm in 2021 as a Senior Manager of Operations Excellence, where he coordinated with franchisees and analyzed operational aspects of the business. He has recently rotated to the Finance team as a Senior Manager, where he is responsible for finance planning and analysis, with a focus on analyzing performance and budgeting across the brands for EMEA and globally.
Before joining RBI, Ioannis was a in business development at Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), an American global food processing and commodities trading corporation, in their Belgium office.
Ioannis earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from the Athens University of Economics and Business in 2012 and completed his MBA at INSEAD through the Hinrich Global Trade Leader Scholarship Program in 2021.
Personal statement
Having lived and worked in six countries, I have built my career in truly diverse, international environments with a strong focus on global trade and development.
During my professional life, I created value by promoting innovative, environmentally friendly and financially sustainable applications of industrial chemical by-products that would otherwise be treated as waste streams. Moreover, I have heavily immersed myself into the world of agricultural commodities, by trading the soybean complex in bulk or in containers on a global scale and under the “No to Deforestation” commitment. On my latest role, I initiated and led Archer Daniels Midland’s Industrial Vegetable Oils Platform for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region; within this role, I worked closely with both family-owned and publicly listed corporations in their successful transition from mineral-based oil to certified sustainable bio-based alternatives.
As an avid advocate of free, fair and sustainable trade in practice, I’m honored to be selected as a Hinrich Global Trade Leader Scholar and plan to commit to the values the Foundation stands for. I consider INSEAD’s MBA a unique opportunity to position myself in Asia, expand my understanding of the region, connect with the global trade community, and actively support the Hinrich Foundation’s causes. More precisely, I am aspiring to commit both the big agricultural commodities trading companies and the Hellenic Shipping Industry in the dialogue over sustainability, while utilize the resources, the knowledge and growing network of the Foundation in this aim.