On the evening of 29 May 2013, Sir Michael Rake, Chairman of BT Group plc, Chairman of easyJet plc, as well as a senior independent director of Barclays plc, McGraw Hill Inc and the Financial Reporting Council, came to Tsinghua Eminent Entrepreneurs Lectures to give a keynote speech. Deputy Secretary of Party Committee of the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University and Director of Tsinghua SEM Advance ICT Lab Professor Zhu Yan hosted the event. 

Sir Michael Rake

In his opening speech, Zhu Yan said that Sir Michael Rake had rich life experiences. He joined KPMG in 1974 and worked in Continental Europe before transferring to the Middle East to run the practice for three years in 1986. He transferred to London in 1989, became a member of the UK Board in 1991, and was elected UK Senior Partner in 1998. Mr. Zhu also said that Sir Michael Rake would deliver a wonderful speech tonight, which centered on opportunities and challenges brought by the increasing globalization to business and politics and the important role of scientific and technological innovation, the Internet and information and communication technology in this environment. He believed that Sir Michael Rake would greatly inspire the audience.

Sir Michael Rake first said that looking into the future, China would exert ever-growing influence on the global politics and economics and play an increasingly important role in the geopolitics, security and stability of Northeast Asia.

Then Sir Michael Rake shared his view of the five future trends of global politics and economics, which are: 1. China’s increasing domestic demand of service and consumption will make Chinese leadership further open China’s market and drive up the demand of investment in water resources, health care and infrastructure construction, etc.; 2. China will play an increasingly important role in global financial market and foreign direct investment; 3. Changes in trade policies will enable China to get more market access to expand export; 4. Policy disputes will cause trade conflicts between China and America or Europe, but it is cooperation that solves these problems rather than trade protectionism; 5. Globalization driven by new technology is accelerating the evolvement of business, society and political life in an unprecedented fashion.

Finally, Sir Michael Rake took remote learning and telemedicine as examples to illustrate that we had entered an era of global interconnection and that information and communication technology would usher us into a more prosperous, healthy and happy world.

During the Q&A session, Sir Michael rake answered the students’ questions about trade protection, the use of China's foreign exchange reserves, etc.

A Brief Introduction of Sir Michael Rake:

Sir Michael Rake is Chairman of BT Group plc. He is Chairman of easyJet plc, as well as a senior independent director of Barclays plc, McGraw Hill Inc and the Financial Reporting Council. He is also chairman of the private equity oversight group the Guidelines Monitoring Committee. He was the first Chairman of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills from 2007 to 2010. He was a member of the National Security Forum for 2009/2010. From May 2002 to September 2007 Sir Michael Rake was Chairman of KPMG International. Prior to his appointment as Chairman of KPMG International he was Chairman of KPMG in Europe and Senior Partner of KPMG in the UK. He joined KPMG in 1974 and worked in Continental Europe before transferring to the Middle East to run the practice for three years in 1986. He transferred to London in 1989, became a member of the UK Board in 1991, and was elected UK Senior Partner in 1998. Mike is also a member of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Group, Vice President and Chairman of Governors of Wellington College, a Vice President of the RNIB, a member of the Board of the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue, a Trustee of the Prince of Wales’ Charitable Foundation, a member of the Advisory Council for Business for New Europe, Senior Adviser for Chatham House and on the Global Advisory Board of the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation. Mike is also a William Pitt Fellow at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Mike was Chairman of Business in the Community from 2004-2007 and a member of the board of the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum from 1998 to 2007.

A Brief Introduction of Tsinghua Eminent Entrepreneur Lectures:

Tsinghua Eminent Entrepreneur Lectures are organized by the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University. It invites visionary, innovative and charismatic business leaders as speakers to share their entrepreneurial and managerial experience and their thinking about life. Its goal is to improve Tsinghua students’ understanding of China’s private enterprises, reformed state-owned enterprises and the entrepreneurs and managers of multinational companies and spark their entrepreneurship.