Brandeis International Business School

Dear students, alumni and friends of Brandeis International Business School: 

I am delighted to announce plans for the International Business School Ceremony on Sunday, May 21st, during Brandeis University’s Commencement weekend. On that day, Lan Xue ’90, MA’91, will receive the school’s highest honor, the Dean’s Medal, and also deliver the keynote address. Professor Benjamin Gomes-Casseres ’76, a key architect of the business school and a prominent scholar of business partnerships, will deliver the faculty address. 

Lan is a female trailblazer in global finance and someone deeply committed to making a positive difference in the world. After graduating in the second class of our Lemberg MA in International Economics and Finance, she worked her way up to become head of China research first at Merrill Lynch and later Citigroup in Hong Kong, becoming the first female research lead for any major international bank in Asia. She was named one of the top three China analysts in the world for 15 years running. In 2010, she founded Trivest Advisors in Hong Kong, which is now one of the world’s largest China-oriented hedge funds. You may remember that she spoke of those experiences here last fall, both at our panel on “Shattering Glass Ceilings” and with a small group of students afterwards. 

Lan often remembers her grandmothers’ philanthropic support for educating girls in rural China and has herself taken on commitments to transform lives. She has helped to advance the careers of women and is a strong supporter of early childhood education in China through the “Teach for China” program. Inspired by the Wien Scholarship that had brought her to Brandeis, Lan has also endowed a scholarship at Brandeis. 

Professor Benjamin Gomes-Casseres, currently the director of the Asper Center for Global Entrepreneurship, has been a leader at the International Business School since the school’s early days. He was the founding director of the MBA program and also created the Brandeis business major. His innovative ideas lie behind many of the school’s most important events and accomplishments over many years. Meanwhile, he has become widely recognized as a prominent scholar of business partnerships, and has three major books to his credit, including the recent Remix Strategy: The Three Laws of Business Combinations (Harvard Business Review Press, 2015). Ben received a BA at Brandeis, a master’s degree at Princeton and a DBA at the Harvard Business School. 

It will be a great pleasure to welcome Lan Xue back to campus, to hear Professor Gomes-Casseres, and most of all to celebrate the achievements of the class of 2017. 

Sincerely,
Peter Petri
Interim Dean