The Yale School of Management (SOM) will launch and operate a new Beijing center to host leadership programming by schools and centers from across Yale University, the school announced late last month. To inaugurate the new Yale Leadership Center, Yale SOM will host a major conference next fall underscoring the university’s far-reaching engagement with China.
The new center is located in Beijing’s central Chaoyang District and will feature advanced technological capabilities to connect Beijing with New Haven and other points around the world for meaningful dialog, the school reports. The center will be home to research, conferences and professional and executive education. It will also provide office spaces for Yale faculty use when in Beijing as well as flexible work space for SOM’s MBA, MAM and PhD students.
“This center is meaningful given the importance of China and the United States to the global economy, but also given their central roles in all major issues facing business and society,” Yale SOM Dean Edward A. Snyder said in a statement. “With a center in Beijing’s vibrant Chaoyang District, we look forward to broad-based discussions with businesspeople, entrepreneurs and public leaders on diverse issues, including improving health outcomes, environmental challenges, the increasing importance of creative arts and managing financial assets,” he continued.
Gifts from two Yale alumni and one friend of the school made creation of the center possible. Neil Shen, founding managing partner of Sequoia Capital China; Bob Xiaoping Xu, founding partner of ZhenFund.com; and Brad Huang, founder of Lotus Capital Management, together committed $16 million. Shen will chair the center’s advisory board, while Xu will serve as vice chair. It will be Yale’s only center in China and will host programming for the entire university.
The center’s inaugural conference will be held October 26th and 27th. It will feature Yale scholars in discussions with business and social sector leaders on subjects ranging from how business leaders can advance environmental agendas, managing assets amid risks inherent in the global financial system and the challenges of maintaining economic growth while providing for the healthcare needs of large populations.
On October 27th, Yale SOM’s Chief Executive Leadership Institute (CELI) also will host its fourth China CEO Summit at the newly inaugurated Yale Leadership Center. Yale CEO Summits bring top corporate, nonprofit and government leaders together to discuss the macro-scale challenges they all face.
“Both the center’s opening conference and the CEO Summit in October demonstrate Yale’s distinctive intellectual and cultural strengths across sectors and regions drawing upon Yale’s 175 years of contributing to China’s economic development,” Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, SOM’s senior associate dean for executive programs, said in a statement.
