Professor F. Warren McFarlan, the senior professor of Harvard Business School arrived inChina on March 24, 2008anddelivered a keynote speech titled “The Transformed Organization in the Information Age”in Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai.In Beijing,hewas conferred Guest Professorship by Tsinghua SEM and given the Award for Special Contribution. The award conveyshighrespecttothe professor from the United States who has witnessed the historical advancement in China and has made tremendous contributions to friendly communications between Tsinghua and Harvard.

Participants attended Beijing speech included Professor Qian Yingyi, Dean of Tsinghua SEM, Professor Chen Guoqing, Executive Associate Dean of Tsinghua SEM, Professor Xue Lei, Director of EDP Center and Professor Wang Gao, Co-chair for Senior Executive Program and some of the program participants, SEM alumni and executives from diverse industries.

In his address, Dean Qian Yingyi spoke highly of Professor McFarlan's contribution to the promotion of corporations and communications between Tsinghua and Harvard. He said Tsinghua SEM has been dedicated to promoting life-long learning for executives from diverse industries. TheSchool’sExecutive development program has graduated more than 30,000 participants; it has successfully helped build long-term ties between the School and business community and become a bridge linking scholars and executives from businesses. The Senior Executive Program, promoted actively by Professor McFarlan has become one of the top executive development courses in China. In his remarks, Dean Qian said the year of 2008 is a year full of special meanings; it will witness the 100th anniversary of Harvard University in the United States, and the 100th anniversary of MBA education, as well as the 29th Olympic Games in China. In addition, this year marks the 30th year of China's reform and opening-up, and Dean Qian said he believed the two schools will embrace a more promising cooperative future under such circumstances.

Dean Qian Yingyi conferred thecertificate of Tsinghua SEM Guest Professorship as well as "Award for Special Contribution" to Professor McFarlan on behalf of Tsinghua SEM.

Before his speech, Professor McFarlan gave an introduction to the Senior Executive Program which was jointly launched by Tsinghua-SEM, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), and Harvard Business School. In particular he talked about the cultural diversity of the Program’s participants' background, as he said, which stimulated the communications and interactions between participants, broughtthem new perspectives on exploring management issues.

Professor McFarlan then delivered a speech titled “The Transformed Organization in the Information Age”. Professor McFarlan talked about the leadership that CEOs and executives need in today’s information age and how to introduce theInformation Technology Governance Committee to the Company’s governance system.And over this topic, Professor Mcfarlan will have a deeper exploration with participants in the first module of the Senior Executive Program.

Professor F. Warren McFarlan’s Profile

Professor McFarlan earned his AB from Harvard University in 1959, and his MBA and DBA from the Harvard Business School in 1961 and 1965 respectively. He has had a significant role in introducing materials on Management Information Systems to all major programs at the Harvard Business School since the first course on the subject was offered in 1962. He has been a long-time teacher in the Advanced Management Program: International Senior Managers Program, Delivering Information Services Program, and several of the Social Sector programs. He teaches currently in the First Year Financial Reporting and Control course, and Second Year MBA course "Doing Business in China in the Early 21st Century," as well as in several short Executive Education programs.