Hugo Marynissen

Senior Non Executive Partner

Hugo Marynissen (born 1966) is a Belgian expert in crisis governance, senior partner at PM•Risk Crisis Change, professor and senior researcher at the University of Antwerp (Faculty of Business & Economics, Management department), and professor at Antwerp Management School. The focus of his current research is on crisis networks, organizational resilience, normal chaos, and the role of crisis governance as a way to anticipate extreme events.

He is the president of CIP Institute, a non-profit organization that brings together scientists and practitioners from various disciplines in an inspiring and innovative platform to exchange and develop knowledge about the Complex and Interactive Processes (CIP) in the field of crisis. Between November 2020 and July 2021, he had been appointed as an expert to the Special Parliamentary Commission investigating the COVID-19 approach in Belgium.

Hugo Marynissen studied change management at Saïd Business School (Green Templeton College, University of Oxford) and HEC Paris, where he received his Master’s Degree in 2009. At Cranfield University, School of Management, he received his Ph.D. in 2014 with the dissertation “A constitutive view on risk communication in organizations managing high-risk processes: Towards a conceptual framework”.

After his graduation, Marynissen was appointed the Academic Director of the first Executive Ph.D. program in Belgium (Antwerp Management School). In this function, Hugo was responsible for the program design and content, the selection of faculty members, and the support and follow-up of the Ph.D. candidates. During this period (2015-2019), he successfully launched collaborations with Lingnan (University) College, a division of the Sun Yat-sen University in the People’s Republic of China, and with Management Center Innsbruck (MCI) in Austria. Additionally, he has been an invited Professor at Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium), Management Center Innsbruck (Austria), Lingnan (University) College, and IE Business School (Spain). He also acts as the Academic Director and professor at the “Crisis Communication Module” in the Post Graduate Program Disaster Management at Campus Vesta.

As a senior non executive partner at PM • Risk Crisis Change, Hugo has provided regular coaching and consultancy services in the field of risk and crisis management. During the terror attacks in Brussels (March 22, 2016), he and his colleagues advised Belgium’s Prime Minister on the crisis communication strategy. Together with his colleague Stijn Pieters, he developed the Crisis Communication Work Process (CCWP), an evidence-based method for crisis communication.

Hugo Marynissen co-authored multiple books and book chapters, and his research has been published in the Public Administration Review, Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, International Journal of Business Communication, and Sage Business Foundations, among others.

+32 473 89 42 60

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Books

Marynissen, H., Brugghemans, B., van den Oord, S. (2020). Brandweer in transitie. Vijf jaar bedrijfsmanagement in tijden van verandering. Vanden Broele, Brugge.
Pieters, S., Marynissen, H. (2017). Crisisbeheer in zorgorganisaties. De gouden driekhoek van operaties, beleid en communicatie (Crisis management in health organizations. The golden triangle of operations, policy and communication). Acco: Leuven / Den Haag.
Marynissen, H., Pieters, S., Van Dorpe, S., van het Erve, A. M., Vergeer, F. (2010). Geen commentaar! Communicatie in turbulente tijden (No comment! Communication in times of turbulence). Houtekiet / Business Contact, Antwerp – Amsterdam.

Academic papers

Van den Oord, S., Vanlaer, N., Marynissen, H., Brugghemans, B., Van Roey, J., Albers, S., Cambré, B., Kenis, P. (2020). Network of Networks: Preliminary Lessons from the Antwerp Port Authority on Crisis Management and Network Governance to Deal with the COVID-19 Pandemic, Public Administration Review, 80(5), 880–894.
Marynissen, H., Lauder, M. (2020). Stakeholder-focused communication strategy during crisis. A case study based on the Brussels terror attacks. International Journal of Business Communication, 57(2), 176–193.
Lauder, M. A., Marynissen, H. (2018). Normal chaos: a new research paradigm for understanding practice. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 26: 319–323.
Marynissen, H., Pieters, S., Mertens, P., Ramacker, B., Brugghemans, B. (2015). Het Werkproces Crisiscommunicatie. Naar een verdere professionalisering van de communicatiediscipline. In: Devroe et al. (Eds.) Zicht op first responders. Handboek bij het beheer van evenementen en noodsituaties in Nederland en België. Maklu, Antwerpen – Apeldoorn (pp. 267-288).
Brugghemans, B., Marynissen, H. (2013). The process of decision-making in a fast burning crisis situation: A multiple sequence approach of decisiveness. International Fire Service Journal of Leadership and Management, 7, 41-50.
Marynissen, H. (2011). The relationship between organisational communication and perception. Acta Chirurgicum Belgica, 11(4), 193-199.

Practitioner journals

Marynissen, H., Pieters, S., Mertens, P., Ramacker, B., Brugghemans, B. (2015) Het Werkproces Crisiscommunicatie. Naar een verdere professionalisering van de communicatiediscipline. In: Devroe et al. (Eds.) Zicht op first responders. Handboek bij het beheer van evenementen en noodsituaties in Nederland en België. Maklu, Antwerpen – Apeldoorn (267-288).
Marynissen, H. (2014). Over foute helden en een nieuwe visie op veiligheidscommunicatie (About false heroes and a new vision on safety communication). Ad Rem (Flemish practitioners’ journal for communication professionals), 3, 10-12.
Brugghemans, B., Marynissen, H. (2013). Beslissingen nemen in complexe brandweerinterventies (Taking decisions in complex fire fighter interventions). De Brandweerman (Practitioners’ journal of the Belgian Fire Fighters Association), 89(538), 7-8.
Marynissen, H. (2013). Waarom communicatie niet werkt? (Why communication doesn’t work?). Ad Rem (Flemish practitioners’ journal for communication professionals), 4, 8-10.

Blog posts

Together with the PM team and our Faculty, Hugo shares his current three most valuable insights, webpages, publications and blog posts from the fascinating world of crisis at PM and beyond.

📕 Book launch

Our new book ‘Everything is under control’ is now available.

🚀 Research taking off

Our Research & Development department is fully operational.

🦠 Wicked problems

Covid-19: The coercion is here, but we have to work on the urge.