For the fourth year, Bay Area members led the C100 Business Forum at Stanford University, attended by 43 Chinese executive MBA students from the University of Hong Kong on July 26. Most of the students were mid-level managers from China working in business and municipal government.
The Forum is part of a five-day comprehensive program hosted by Stanford to familiarize the Chinese executives with Silicon Valley’s business culture. Executives have the opportunity to interact with American executives and entrepreneurs, as well as attend lectures. C100 organized the Business Forum under the aegis of the Committee’s Educational Exchange and Leadership Development initiatives. Later, organizers reported that of all the events the executives attended during the week at Stanford, they were “most satisfied” with the C100 Business Forum.
The Committee of 100 Business Forum was a multifaceted program led by technology entrepreneur and investor Milton Chang, who gave each student a copy of his book, Toward Entrepreneurship. George Koo, former Director, Chinese Services Group, Deloitte LLP, described the increasingly important role that Chinese American professionals play in Silicon Valley companies. Deloitte Partner Anna Mok covered the broad topic of community involvement and global trends in corporate governance. Former Intel executive Albert Yu spoke about Intel’s distinctive management style. Charlotte Russe President and CEO Jenny Ming analyzed the rapidly changing trends in the fashion industry, both in consumer behavior and in supply-chain management. Finally, Chang introduced the executives in a low-risk way to start companies that are increasingly popular with Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.
