9 September 2003

Dear CBG Faculty, Staff, Fellows, and Friends,

Welcome back from what I hope was a productive but also relaxing summer -getting you ready for what promises to be an exciting year at the Center for Business and Government.

Let me start by welcoming our very impressive group of thirty-two fellows and senior fellows. These fellows represent a diverse array of interests and experience, hailing from Japan to Spain and many places in between; they are leaders from the academic, public, and private sectors. Have a look at their credentials and their research interests as fellows at the program's website.

Asia Programs has been extraordinarily active over the summer with two distinctive and successful executive education programs. First, they launched the Taiwan Trade Policy Program. Chaired by Prof. Robert Lawrence, Albert L. Williams Professor of International Trade and Investment, this program aims to "strengthen the leadership and strategic management skills of senior Republic of China officials, enhance their ability to contribute to political and economic development and support the culture of professionalism, integrity, and service as their government enters a new international relationship within the context of the WTO".

Second, they have convened another outstanding group of Chinese officials in the China Leaders in Development (CLD) Program. Participants, representing both local and national levels, arrived in the United States in August after a month of classroom instruction at Tsinghua University in Beijing. They spent a week on field visits to state and local government offices in Utah and Michigan before coming to Cambridge for five weeks of executive training. CLD is sponsored by AMWAY, and aims to expand the knowledge base of these officials on substantive issues of public management, leadership skills and analytical methods to help adapt to the changing needs of governance in the 21st century.

The Regulatory Policy Program has also had a fruitful summer. In July, Cary Coglianese and Jennifer Nash, with the assistance of Bernard Cahill, organized and hosted a conference in DC titled Leveraging the Private Sector for Environmental Gains. Cary and Jennifer are editing the papers from this conference as a forthcoming book.

Our initiative on HIV/AIDS and Business in Africa and Asia: Building Sustainable Partnerships held its third workshop at the Harvard Business School on September 4-5. It was attended by representatives from business, government, labor, NGOs, international agencies, and donor organizations. The discussion focused on how to build sustainable partnerships among the corporate sector, civil society organizations and governments, allowing the heavily affected societies to cope more effectively with this pandemic. As you may recall, the project itself is a successful partnership between Harvard, UNAIDS and the World Economic Forum, and within Harvard among KSG, HBS, the School of Public Health and the Harvard AIDS Institute. I want in particular to thank Diana Barrett of the HBS faculty, my partner in the initiative from the start, and the chair of this last workshop.

We also have some new additions to our staff. Monette Salud will be joining us as a financial assistant, and I'm thrilled to report that Helen Broderick will soon take charge of my life as my new executive assistant. We congratulate Isabelle Portzenheim and her new twins and wish them the very best.

As CBG heads into its 21st academic year, I want to thank everyone for their continued hard work and dedication. And I invite the entire CBG community to a Welcome Reception on September 23rd in Bell Hall at 4:30pm. This will be a great opportunity to welcome and honor all who make CBG the innovative force that it is today. I hope that you will all be able to join us for this kick-off event.

Cheers,

John G. Ruggie
Kirkpatrick Professor of International Affairs
Weil Director, Center for Business and Government
John F. Kennedy School of Government