Jitendra V. Singh, PhD, Dean, School of Business and Management, Michael Jebsen Professor of Business Chair Professor, Department of Management, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology

Tues 9/30, 10am – 11am EST
Forum: Challenging the Business Model of Education

Jitendra Singh is currently Michael Jebsen Professor of Business and Management and Dean, School of Business and Management at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in Hong Kong. He moved to Hong Kong after a long career at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA, USA.

From 2007-2009, he was Dean of the Nanyang Business School (NBS) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, one of the leading science and technology universities in Asia Pacific. During this period, he was Shaw Foundation Chair and Professor of Strategy, Management and Organization at Nanyang Business School. In addition, at the university level, he was a member of the University Cabinet of NTU, and Chief Adviser, India Strategy to the President of NTU. At the end of his term as Dean of Nanyang Business School (NBS), their MBA program was ranked #24 in the 2009 Financial Times rankings, and was rated as one of the leaders in the Asia Pacific region.

He has been a faculty member at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, since 1987 where he was the Saul P. Steinberg Professor in the Department of Management before moving to HKUST. During 1998-2001, he was Vice Dean, International Academic Affairs. In his Vice Dean role, he was a member of Wharton’s core administrative leadership team and was charged with shaping and implementing the global strategy of Wharton. These efforts culminated, in part, in the worldwide alliance between Wharton and INSEAD, the foundation of Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India and the creation of Singapore Management University in Singapore. Earlier, he was Director of the Emerging Economies Program at Wharton from 1996-98. From 1991-1995, he was Research Director, Entrepreneurship at the Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Center at Wharton, the leading research center in entrepreneurship at any US business school.

He moved to Wharton in 1987 from University of Toronto, Canada where he was an Associate Professor (with tenure) in the (now) Rotman School of Business. In 1991, he received an M.A. (honoris causa) from University of Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford Business School in 1983. His earliest education was in natural and mathematical sciences and he received his B.Sc. (Physics, Mathematics, and Statistics) from Lucknow University, India. Subsequently, he received his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India. He worked as a line manager at Voltas Ltd., a Tata group company, in India for three years before coming to the US for his Ph.D.

His research and teaching interests focus on strategy and organization, with a specific current interest in emerging multinationals and business leadership in India.

Back to VIP Guests

Jonathan Spector, President and CEO, The Conference Board

Tues 9/30, 5pm – 6pm EST
Forum: Challenging the Business Model of Education

Jonathan Spector is president and chief executive officer of The Conference Board, the most widely cited private source of business intelligence. Previously, he served in several executive roles: as an adjunct professor and vice dean of The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and as chief executive officer of several venture-funded companies. Spector began his career at McKinsey & Company, where he spent 20 years and was elected a senior partner.  He is the co-author of We Are Smarter than Me (2007), which highlights how businesses can harness the power of collective intelligence. Spector serves as Vice Chair of The Demand Institute and the March of Dimes Foundation. He also serves on the board of directors of The Conference Board of Canada, The Echo Design Group and is a member of the Business Committee for the Arts (BCA) Executive Board. He is a Trustee Emeritus of Wesleyan University where he earned his BA in math/economics with honors and received an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.

See other VIP guest from The Conference Board: Rebecca Ray
Back to VIP Guests

Richard Straub, PhD, President & CEO, Peter Drucker Society Europe, Senior Advisor IBM Global Education Industry, Director of Corporate Services & EU Affairs, EFMD

Wed 10/1, 9am-10am EST
Forum: Challenging the Business Model of Education

In his 32 years with IBM Dr. Richard Straub has held key international executive positions such as Deputy General Manager for PC Europe and Global Chief Learning Officer. Since 2006 he has started a new career working with non-profit organizations – as part time executive and as social entrepreneur. He is currently executive committee member at the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) and Secretary General of the European Learning Industry Group (ELIG).  In addition he holds a strategic advisory role for the IBM Global Education Industry.
 
In 2008 he founded the Peter Drucker Society of Austria and in 2010 the Peter Drucker Society Europe as non-profit organizations. He is the president of both. The Peter Drucker Society has as its mission to be a catalyst for the improvement of Management as a vital role in modern society. As the crystallizing yearly event the Drucker Society organizes the Global Peter Drucker Forum in Vienna – the sixth edition will be held in November 2014. 

Back to VIP Guests

Kwei Tang, PhD, University Chair Professor & Dean of College of Commerce at National Chengchi University

Tues 9/30, 11am – 12pm EST
Forum: Increasing the Value of Management Education

Professor Kwei Tang is University Chair Professor and Dean of College of Commerce at National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan. Prior to holding the current position, he was the Allison and Nancy Schleicher Chair of Management and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the Krannert Questrom School of Business, Purdue University, USA. He received B.S. from National Chiao Tung University of Taiwan, M.S. from Bowling Green State University, and Ph.D. in management science from Purdue University. Professor Tang is a recipient of the 1988 U.S. Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation, and the 1998 Distinguished Alumni Award from National Chiao Tung University. He also received the 2003 Salgo Noren Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching, which is a recognition as the best teacher voted by students in the Master’s programs at the Krannert school.  Professor Tang is a Fellow of the Decision Sciences Institute and also held several honorary appointments, including Faculty Fellow at TiasNimbas Business School, University Chair at National Cheng Kung University, TienShen Chair at National Central University, and Ourso Professor in Business Analysis at Louisiana State University.  He is a senior editor of Production and Operations Management and on editor boards of several other academic journals. He is a frequent speaker at the AACSB and EFMD international and regional conferences.

Back to VIP Guests

Rebecca Taylor, PhD, Dean and Professor of Economics, The Open University Business School

Wed 10/1, 11am – 12pm EST
Forum: Supporting 21st Century Competencies

Professor Taylor is Dean and Professor of Economics at the Open University Business School. She holds a degree in Economics from Queen’s University, Canada, an MSc in Economics from the University of Toronto, Canada and a PhD in Economics from the University of Portsmouth, UK.

Rebecca started her career in financial services at the Toronto Dominion Bank. Following the completion of her PhD she spent several years lecturing in quantitative economics, international trade and economic development. She joined the Open University in 2011 from Nottingham Business School where she was Head of Economics for five years and Associate Dean of a further year.

Rebecca is a highly experienced educator at undergraduate and post graduate level. She has taught a range of courses, including: Doctorate in business administration- survey based statistical research; economics of international trade; international trade policy; Britain and the international economy; statistics for economists; and fundamentals of quantitative economics. She has also worked with the Economic and Social Research Council and the Higher Education Academy on addressing the identified skills deficit in quantitative methods across Social Sciences.

Rebecca is a Board member of the European Foundation for Management Development and a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute. She regularly contributes to conferences and workshops related to developments and innovation in education.

Back to VIP Guests

Howard Thomas, PhD, LKCSB Distinguished Term Professor of Strategic Management, Management Education Director, Academic Strategy and Consulting Unit, Singapore Management University

Forum: Supporting 21st Century Competencies

*Forum Hosts engage throughout the 60 hours at unscheduled times.

Professor Howard Thomas has had a distinguished, global career in business and management education spanning almost 50 years.

He has been a business school Dean on three continents: University of Illinois, USA; Warwick Business School, UK and Singapore Management University, Asia.

His teaching and research interests encompass strategic management and management education. He is a highly-cited scholar, who is a Fellow of the Academy of Management, USA, the British Academy of Management, the Strategic Management Society and the Academy of Social Sciences. He is also a Companion of the Association of Business Schools, UK.  He is a past Chair of the Board of the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC), the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB), the Association of Business Schools (ABS) and the Global Foundation of Management Education (GFME). He also served as President of the Strategic Management Society.

He has held visiting and permanent academic posts at institutions worldwide: the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) in Sydney, London Business School, Sloan School of Management, MIT, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern, EIASM, Brussels, and the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. He serves as a board member of State Farm Bank, USA, and the European Foundation for Management Development, (EFMD), Brussels.  He is also a Member of the Financial Research Council (FRC) of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

He recently authored ‘The Business School in the 21st Century’ (with Peter Lorange and Jagdish Sheth) Cambridge University Press, 2013, ‘Promises Fulfilled and Unfulfilled in Management Education’ Emerald, 2013 and ‘Securing the Future of Management Education: Competitive Destruction or Constructive Innovation?’ Emerald, 2014.

Back to VIP Guests

Karl T. Ulrich ScD, Vice Dean of Innovation & the CIBC Professor of Entrepreneurship and e-Commerce, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Tues 9/30, 2pm – 3pm EST
Forum: Challenging the Business Model of Education

Karl T. Ulrich is Vice Dean of Innovation and the CIBC Professor of Entrepreneurship and e-Commerce at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds an appointment as Professor of Mechanical Engineering. His research is focused on innovation, entrepreneurship, and product development. He is the co-author of Product Design and Development (5th Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2011), a textbook used by a quarter of a million students worldwide, and of Innovation Tournaments (Harvard Business Press, 2009). He is the winner of many teaching awards, including the Anvil Award, the Miller-Sherrerd Award, and the Excellence in Teaching Award at The Wharton School. At Penn, he co-founded the Weiss Tech House and the Integrated Product Design Program, two institutions fostering innovation in the university community. In addition to his academic work, Professor Ulrich has led dozens of innovation efforts for medical devices, tools, computer peripherals, food products, web-based services, and sporting goods. As a result of this work, he holds more than 20 patents. Professor Ulrich is a founder of Terrapass Inc. which the New York Timesidentified as one of the most noteworthy ideas of 2005, and he is a designer of the Xootr scooter, which Business Week recognized as one of the 50 coolest products of the 21st Century. Professor Ulrich holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering from MIT.

Back to VIP Guests

Francisco M. Veloso, PhD, Dean, Catolica-Lisbon School of Business and Economics

Tues 9/30, 12:30 pm – 1:15 pm EST
Forum: Challenging the Business Model of Education

Chat: Tues 9/30 1:15 pm-1:45 pm EST
Fostering Entrepreneurship

Francisco Veloso is the Dean of Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics, as well as a Full Professor in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. He is an internationally recognized scholar in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which has won several awards for his contributions, including the Alfred P. Sloan Industry Studies Fellowship, the Stan Hardy award for the outstanding paper published in the field of Operations Management, as well as grants from the National Science Foundation, the Sloan Foundation and the Richard King Mellon Foundation. Francisco has published in journals such as PNAS, Management Science, the Academy of Management Review, Journal of Operation Management and Research Policy, and worked with a variety of international firms and organizations, including McKinsey & Co., Alcoa, the Asian Development Bank, or The Mexican and Portuguese Science Francisco has a PhD in Technology, Management and Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an undergraduate degree in Physics Engineering from IST, both part of the Technical University of Lisbon.

Back to VIP Guests

N. Venkatraman, PhD, David J. McGrath Jr. Professor of Management at Boston University Questrom School of Business

Forum: Increasing the Value of Management Education

*Forum Hosts engage throughout the 60 hours at unscheduled times.

N. Venkatraman is the David J. McGrath Jr. Professor of Management at Boston University Questrom School of Business. Previously, he taught at MIT Sloan School (1984-1993) and London Business School (1999-2001). He was awarded the 2004 and 2006 IBM Faculty Fellowship for his work focusing on business

challenges in the network era. His research and teaching lie at the interface between strategic management and information technology with a particular focus on how companies position to win in a network era. He has been recently recognized by Thomson Financial/ISI as one of the most cited researchers in strategy and information technology. His 1989 paper in Management Science is considered as one of the highly cited papers over the 50 years of the history of the journal. His research has won awards from The Academy of Management (AT Kearney Award for Outstanding Doctoral Research) and Strategic Management Society (McKinsey Honorable Mention) and his doctoral students have been awarded prizes for their thesis work.

He writes papers for managerial audience and academic publications. His papers for managers have been published in the Sloan Management Review over the last decade. He has also published in IBM Systems Journal (1993 Special Issue on Strategic Alignment; the Turning Points issue in 2000), Business Strategy Review (London Business School) and Financial Times. His academic research has been published in Management Science, Strategic Management Journal, Information Systems Review, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review and others. He has consulted and/or lectured for many corporations in the USA, Europe and South Africa including IBM, Microsoft, CSC, BP, Novartis, Ericsson, Canal+, ABN-AMRO, Zurich Financial, McKinsey & Co., Federal Express and others.
He holds a B. Tech degree from IIT, Kharagpur (1976), an MBA from IIM Calcutta (1979); and Ph.D. from University of Pittsburgh (1985).

See other Boston University VIPs: Robert A. Brown, Ken Freeman, James Post, Michael Salinger

Back to VIP Guests

Padmasree Warrior, Chief Technology & Strategy Officer, CISCO

Thurs 10/2, 5:15pm – 6pm EST
Forum: Increasing the Value of Management Education

Cisco Chief Technology & Strategy Officer Padmasree Warrior is charged with aligning technology development and corporate strategy to enable Cisco to anticipate, shape, and lead major market transitions. She helps direct technology and operational innovation across the company and oversees strategic partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, the integration of new business models, the incubation of new technologies, and the cultivation of world-class technical talent.

In her previous role, Warrior served as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and also co-led Cisco’s worldwide engineering organization. As Senior Vice President, Engineering, she was responsible for core switching, collaboration, cloud computing and data center/virtualization, security, and architectures for business transformation.

Back to VIP Guests