Alumni Board members on campus for their annual spring meeting // Credit: Panfoto

Hard work, with humility for humanity, is the spirit that animates Harvard Business School's MBA program today, Matt Weinzierl, Senior Associate Dean and Chair of the MBA Program, told the Alumni Board at its annual spring meeting earlier this month.

"This is a place where we work hard, we are focused, we are cutting edge, for the public good," said Weinzierl, who is also the Joseph and Jacqueline Elbling Professor of Business Administration.

During the Alumni Board's two-day meeting, HBS leadership shared updates on the MBA program, the campus framework planning process, fundraising and alumni engagement, and plans to enhance Reunions. The Alumni Board is a representative group of about 75 alumni who reflect the diversity of HBS constituencies: a broad geographic base, a balance of MBA, Doctoral, and Executive Education degrees and accreditations, and a range of sectors, demographics, and experiences. Board members are drawn from a pool of active alumni volunteers. The current board president is Andreas Stavropoulos (MBA 1997). On behalf of the current members of the board, in their role as ambassadors to the HBS alumni community, what follows are highlights of the Spring 2023 Alumni Board meeting.

MBA Update
Over the last 40 years, the number of CEOs of publicly listed US firms with an MBA has grown from 24% to 37%, with HBS educating the greatest percentage of those leaders. Applications to the HBS MBA program have seen a similar trajectory, although there have been periods of plateaus, including the time we are in right now. As the world is rapidly changing, HBS is asking challenging questions about how the MBA can remain essential and how the School can continue the virtuous cycle that has defined the transformational experience of an HBS MBA.

"Will we continue to get the most promising young students and future leaders and attract the most remarkable faculty and staff that creates this transformational experience that create alumni like you, that inspire the next generation of students?" Weinzierl asked. To ensure this, the School's strategy for the MBA Program is divided into three categories:

• Invigorating a sense of purpose: Setting a tone; making sure the curriculum embodies that sense of purpose and students have the resources to focus on that sense of purpose.
• Centering the education: Keeping the expectations we have of students and faculty high.
• Making sure we attract the very best: Increasing access by making affordability a priority, focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and making sure we are reaching all the groups of students we think will make a difference in the world.

Campus Framework Plan
Today, Harvard University is comprised of 26 acres in the Longwood neighborhood of Boston, 209 acres in Cambridge, and 360 acres in Allston, which includes the HBS campus. HBS is the only top business school in the country with a self-contained residential campus that forms its own vibrant community in the heart of Boston. Those 360 acres in Allston are where the opportunity is, said Executive Dean for Administration Angela Crispi (MBA 1990).

With the opening of the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences across Western Avenue from the HBS campus in 2021, for the first time in almost a century, HBS has gone from being "across the river" to experiencing thousands of Harvard students, faculty, and staff crossing its campus. Looking out over the next century, HBS becomes the geographic center of Harvard University. The planned growth of HBS and Harvard includes more than doubling the number of housing units in Allston, moving the American Repertory Theater to Allston, and eventually adding a new faculty building and other buildings over time as part of the campus master plan.

Across Western Avenue, closer to the Charles River, an Enterprise Research Campus that will include two lab buildings, a University conference center, a hotel, and two residential towers, is projected to come online by the end of the decade, according to Carl Rodrigues, CEO of the Harvard Allston Land Company. Farther down Western Avenue to the west, more than 12 million square feet of buildings are under construction or planned, with an anticipated population increase to Allston of 40,000.

External Relations Update
The School's priorities are focused on investing in our intellectual capital—faculty, the research happening at the School, and how that research is tied to practice, continuing to increase affordability and access, establishing a digital infrastructure for the School to complement our physical campus, and exploring and strengthening the role of business in society, said Janet Cahill (AMP 189, 2015), Executive Director of External Relations.

With Dean Srikant Datar in his third year, the Dean's priorities continue to unfold and are cross-cutting: the Institute for the Study of Business in Global Society; the Digital, Data, Design Institute at Harvard, Digital Transformation; and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion touch every part of the School, Cahill told the Board.

External Relations' activities continue at a rapid pace as the School reimagines Reunions to preserve what is special about Reunions while also enhancing the Reunions experience; uses a recently completed alumni content survey to inform the redesign of the Alumni Bulletin and an early stage redesign of the alumni website; and welcomes the School's new Chief Digital Officer, Katia Walsh.

Donors continue to demonstrate their belief in the School's mission and priorities by investing in the HBS Fund, as well as providing generous support for a range of areas at the School, from financial aid to research. With the fiscal year ending June 30, the School will share final fundraising results in the Report on Giving in the fall. The School is also celebrating the 10^th anniversary of the Investors Society, its leadership annual giving society.

Last November, HBS hosted its first in-person alumni conference since March 2020. The Entrepreneurship Summit brought 355 alumni founders, builders, and investors back to campus. A second alumni conference, Accelerating Climate Solutions, was held in May as part of the University-wide Harvard Climate Action Week.

During this past year, HBS has also hosted virtual programs on timely topics, including:

• Balancing Profitability and Social Accountability, with Deborah L. Spar, Jaime and Josefina Chua Tiampo Professor of Business Administration, Senior Associate Dean, Business and Global Society; and George Serafeim, Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration
• Five Technologies That Will Change the World, with Shikhar Ghosh (MBA 1990), MBA Class of 1961 Professor of Management Practice of Business Administration, and
• The Silicon Valley bank collapse, with Robin Greenwood, George Gund Professor of Finance and Banking, James F. Rothenberg Faculty Fellow, and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Research; and Jeff Bussgang, Senior Lecturer; and Samuel Hanson, William L. White Professor of Business Administration.

Finally, since last fall, alumni have gathered in eight cities and regions to hear the Dean share how the School is on the cutting edge of addressing the biggest challenges facing business and society today. Dean Datar traveled to Chicago, London, the Bay area, Los Angeles, Palm Beach, and New York prior to the Alumni Board meeting, and then went to Tokyo and Singapore immediately after the meeting. Another event is planned for Boston this fall, and more cities will be added through the coming year. Please watch for an HBS event near you and for more updates from the Alumni Board when the board returns to campus for its fall meeting.

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