BUILDING BRIDGES

Our story

Have you heard that oft-repeated “fact” that the humble bumblebee shouldn’t be able to fly?

Well, it does.


Perhaps you have also heard the popular myth that academics and practitioners have difficulties working together because of a so-called research-practice knowledge gap? Well, we fixed it.

NHCA is a bridge between research and practice. That bridge was established by a researcher and a practitioner. In late 2020, the former HCA Group – a research project at Copenhagen Business School led by Professor Dana Minbaeva – was ended, and its accumulated competencies and capabilities were integrated into NHCA. From the other side, Pete Jaworski - people analytics and organizational effectiveness leader with an established reputation in the Nordics – brought his in-depth practitioner knowledge and industry consulting experience in key strategic HR areas. Today, strengthened by the statistical expertise of other CBS faculty, NHCA is uniquely positioned to deliver actionable research-based insights, and also has a wide network of service partners who bolster NHCA’s ability to deliver holistic top-quality strategic advisory and practical support.

So, indeed, the bumblebee can fly. Not because scientists can prove it, but because we found and opened the window, and saw the bees flying around.

Our Team

Dana Minbaeva


Dana is NHCA’s Director and a Research Consultant. She is a Professor of HRM at King's College London. She also has a part-time position at Copenhagen Business School. Her research on strategic and international HRM has appeared in the top-tier international journals and prestigious book volumes. She received several national and international awards for her research achievements. Dana is actively involved in the MBA and executive education at King's Business School, CBS, and other European business schools. She also works in close contact with large Danish and European multinationals, as well as with large public organizations in the UK. She started the Human Capital Analytics Group research project at CBS in 2014.

Francesco Di Lorenzo


Research Consultant Francesco is an Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship in the Department of Strategy and Innovation at Copenhagen Business School (CBS). His research on strategic human capital has been published in leading international academic and practitioner journals. Francesco is an active faculty in the executive and MBA programs at CBS as well as other top North America and European business schools. Before the academic chapter, Francesco has worked as strategy consultant in prominent international consulting companies, as well he has been active as an entrepreneur.

Valentina Tartari


Research Consultant Valentina is Associate Professor in the Department of Strategy and Innovation at Copenhagen Business School. She holds a PhD in Innovation Management from Imperial College London, United Kingdom. Her research interests include: analysis of university-industry collaboration, technology transfer, economics and management of innovation, patent analysis and appropriability strategies, and analysis of social influence on individuals' behaviour. In her work she has extensively used and developed surveys. Her work has appeared in Research Policy, Industrial and Corporate Change and the Cambridge Journal of Economics, among others.

Aleksandra Gregorič


Research Consultant Aleksandra is an Associate Professor in the Department of Strategy and Innovation, and holds an affiliation with the Center for Corporate Governance, at Copenhagen Business School. Her current research focuses on the workers’ representation in boards of directors and gender inequality within organizations. Her work has been published in several leading journals. She is also involved in education programs on corporate governance and business analytics at CBS and other top European schools, and is a Board member of International Corporate Governance Society (ICGS).  

Raghava Mukkamala


Research Consultant Raghava is the director of the Centre for Business Data Analytics, an associate professor at the Department of Digitalization, Copenhagen Business School. Raghava holds a PhD in Computer Science and his current research focusses on Big Data Analytics, Data Science, Blockchain Technologies and Cyber Security. Combining formal/mathematical modelling approaches with machine learning techniques, his current research program seeks to develop new algorithms for big data analytics. He is also the Programme Director for the Masters in Data Science programme at CBS and teaches several courses on machine learning. Before moving to research, Raghava has many years of programming and IT development experience from the Danish IT industry.

Pete Jaworski


Pete is NHCA’s Practitioner Insights Consultant and supports our team with practice-related insights. His career within HR & Organizational Development so far covers 20 years of HR program-building experience within high-profile Nordic multinationals and 2+ years of consulting, advising executives on HR strategy and solution design. His prior professional roles have included being global head of Workforce Analytics & Planning, global head of Mobility, head of Total Rewards for EMEA, and head of Reward Infrastructure & Analytics for two of the largest Nordic companies. 

Contact us

For general inquiries


Francesco Di Lorenzo

Email: francesco@nhca.dk

Phone: +45 51 89 81 75

For research insights


Dana Minbaeva

Email: dana@nhca.dk

Phone: +45 41 85 22 82