From the beginning of her academic career, Dr. Lela Mélon has been focusing on path-breaking insights into corporate sustainability, arguing against a noncritical application of the shareholder primacy in the light of environmental and social sustainability challenges the corporate sector poses. With the SCOM project, Dr. Mélon achieved a remarkable impact with her work in academia and beyond, connecting the private and the public sector, opening science to broader society and created far-reaching strategic connection, which have been further fostered all up to today. She devoted her time and efforts to place sustainability as a guiding principle in the field of higher education and brought together the private and public sector through her work, assuring that the scientific findings are aligned with the needs of the society as a whole.