Administration
 William C. Kirby, Chairman
William C. Kirby is T. M. Chang Professor of China Studies at Harvard University and Spangler Family Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He is a Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor. He serves as Director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and Chairman of the Harvard China Fund.
A historian of modern China, Professor Kirby’s work examines China's business, economic, and political development in an international context. He has written on the evolution of modern Chinese business (state-owned and private); Chinese corporate law and company structure; the history of freedom in China; the international socialist economy of the 1950s; relations across the Taiwan Strait; and China’s relations with Europe and America. His current projects include case studies of contemporary Chinese businesses and a comparative study of higher education in China and the United States.
He is Honorary Visiting Professor at Peking University, Nanjing University, Chongqing University, and Fudan University. He has held appointments also as Visiting Professor at the University of Heidelberg and the Free University of Berlin. Before coming to Harvard in 1992, he was Professor of History, Director of Asian Studies, and Dean of University College at Washington University in St. Louis. At Harvard, he has served as Chair of the History Department, Director of the Asia Center, and most recently, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
As Dean of Harvard's largest school from 2002 to 2006, he initiated major reforms in undergraduate education in Harvard College; enhanced Harvard's international studies at home and abroad; increased substantially financial aid in the College and in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; supported the growth of the Division (now School) of Engineering and Applied Sciences; and oversaw the construction of major new buildings in the Life Sciences, Engineering, and the Arts. During his tenure the Faculty expanded at its most rapid rate since the 1960s.
Professor Kirby holds degrees from Dartmouth College, Harvard University, and (Dr. Phil. Honoris Causa) the Free University of Berlin. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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 John Chen, Executive Director
John Chen is the Executive Director of the Harvard China Fund (HCF), Harvard University. Prior to joining the HCF, John was the Managing Director, International at Harvard Business School Publishing (HBSP), which is one of the four divisions comprising the Harvard Business School.
In addition, John is also the Co-Director of Global CPCL (The Global Colloquium on Participant Centered Learning). This two week Executive Education program is attended by Professors from Business Schools in Asia, Europe and Latin America and focuses on to teach using the case method and how to develop materials for case based courses. His most exciting accomplishment at HBS was probably working with HBS faculty in launching and managing the PCMPCL ( Program on Case Method and Participant-Centered Learning ), an executive education program at the Harvard Business School which trains top business school deans and faculty from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. He was the Director of the Program during 2004-2009. To date, PCMPCL has trained 485 deans and leading faculty and made an impact on improving management education in the region.
John began his career in 1993 in the U.S. as a Research Associate in the Division of Research at
Harvard Business School, writing cases and assisting faculty chairs in structuring executive
education programs. He is a graduate of the Harvard Business School PMD73, an executive program for general managers.
Prior to his position at Harvard Business School, John was a Vice President, Business Development, Asia of Warner Bros. International Television, where he restructured Warner Bros. Television’s business in China and collaborated with HBO International in launching the HBO Chinese Movie Channel. John also served as Managing Director (China) of the ECM Group, the British production company for the well-known game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? He was the executive producer of the show in the Chinese version. He also served as Associate Director of the Norton Company prior to his television career.
John came to the U.S. 20 years ago, when he began his studies at the Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver and earned an MA degree. He received his undergraduate education at Shanghai Foreign Language Institute and was trained as a simultaneous interpreter. After college, he was recruited to join the Chinese military, where he worked in the Chinese Defense Ministry and COSTIND (Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense) as a military staff and general aide.
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