Professor Hervé Penan is a specialist in strategy and innovation issues. Throughout his academic career, he has developed close relationships with the business world. He has initiated several company chairs within the University.

Hervé Penan takes over the direction of the IAE Toulouse at the beginning of the 2000s, during which he was president of the IAE network.  Between 2010 and 2015, he joins the general management of an independent pharmaceutical group.

In 2015, he returns to the management of IAE Toulouse, which becomes, in 2017, Toulouse School of Management (TSM), a new brand name he initiates.

Advocating the school's internationalisation strategy, he has just been re-elected Dean of TSM on July 2, 2020 for a 5-year term.