Our Mission
The mission of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government is to advance the state of knowledge and policy analysis concerning some of society’s most challenging problems at the interface of the public and private sectors. The scope of its work ranges from the local to the global. Drawing on the unparalleled intellectual resources of the Kennedy School and Harvard University, and bringing together thought leaders from both business and government, the center conducts research, facilitates dialogue, and seeks answers that are at once intellectually rigorous and policy relevant.
At a time of critical challenges to government policy and private sector activity: wages and living standards for working families are stagnant; the middle class is increasingly alienated by the rising prosperity of the wealthy; global climate change threatens economies and social stability; the energy markets on which our economies depend are being transformed as new supplies disrupt the status quo; businesses are grappling with not just the legal license but also the social license to operate; and businesses and governments alike struggle to agree on regulations that provide necessary protections and enhance long-term sustainability without undermining the economy.
The Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government (M-RCBG) is uniquely positioned to play a critical role in helping to address these challenges. I see M-RCBG as an incubator of ideas that inform policy-based options and solutions. Through our many programs and affiliated faculty, the Center studies regulation; examines energy policies; considers how best to protect the environment; explores the role of public and private sector collaboration in education; analyzes the future of finance; evaluates the future of the international trading system; strives to develop paradigms through which sustainability becomes a central element of economic discourse; promotes corporate social responsibility at a time when business organizations are increasingly under challenge; and focuses on markets as central institutions in our society, institutions that cannot stand completely alone without strong public policies that undergird their function.
Thank you for your interest in our work. I hope you will continue exploring this website to learn more about our research activities, seminars, events, working papers, op-eds, faculty affiliates, fellows, and student programs, all focused on creating public value at the interface of business and government.
John Haigh
Jason Furman
Our History
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December 14, 2005Renaming
The Center was formally renamed the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government during a special conference on December 14, 2005. The renaming recognized a generous endowment gift from Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani and her husband, Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, a Kennedy School alumnus, that allows the center to expand its long-term capacity for research, scholarship, and teaching on some of society’s most challenging problems at the intersection of business and government.
In the years since its founding, the center has benefited from the involvement of many distinguished faculty. Learn more about the center’s Distinguished Service Award recipients.
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1982Establishment of the Center
President Derek Bok and Dean Graham Allison presented their new vision for the Kennedy School as it moved to its present-day location adjacent to the Charles River. In a publication entitled A Commitment to Excellence in Government: Harvard University, the two wrote: “At Harvard’s School of Government, this dual responsibility— to build intellectual capital and bridge the public and private sectors — will be fulfilled by six new research centers…. [The Center for Business and Government] will build on the initiative of Professor John T. Dunlop who is coordinating the development of a joint venture between the Business School and School of Government—the new Program on Business and Public Policy. The center will include the School of Government’s Regulatory Reform Project…(and) will also serve as a focus for research on such topics as capital formation, the interrelationships of policy planning in business and government, and opportunities for less adversarial relations between business and government consistent with the public interest — opportunities for a new partnership…[T]he Center will attempt to bridge the gap between researchers and those with practical experience in addressing the problems of business and government. Perhaps even more importantly, it will attempt to link members of the public and private sectors in collaborative efforts at problem solving.”
Based on John Dunlop’s initial explorations, Derek Bok’s and Graham Allison’s vision for a revitalized Kennedy School, and Frank Weil's generous support and recruitment of first director Winthrop Knowlton, the Center for Business and Government was established in the fall of 1982. -
1978John Dunlop: in the beginning
John Dunlop advocated for the creation of the center in essays and writings in 1978. As the Harvard Lamont University Professor, he launched an examination of the University’s role in promoting a better understanding of the relationship between business and government. He proposed that Harvard should hire new professors and support staff so that the Business School and the Kennedy School could pursue convergent work on business-government relations. These initial explorations led to the founding of the Center for Business and Government a few years later.
Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani is Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of DNO International ASA, an Oslo-listed oil and gas company active in the Middle East and North Africa. An experienced industry executive, he serves concurrently as Chairman of RAK Petroleum Public Company Limited in the United Arab Emirates and of Foxtrot International, LDC, a Franco-American oil and gas company active in West Africa. He was founder and first chief executive of Houston-based Apache International, Inc. In addition to his industry positions, Mr. Mossavar-Rahmani is active in public and international affairs. He is a Trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and Chairman of its Department of Islamic Art Visiting Committee, a member of the Visiting Committee to Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and a Director of the Persepolis Foundation. He has published more than 10 books and dozens of articles on global energy markets and was decorated a Commandeur de l’Order National de la Cote d’Ivoire for services to the energy sector of that country.
Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani is chief investment officer for the Private Wealth Management Group of Goldman Sachs’ Investment Management Division. She is responsible for overall strategic asset allocation with tactical investment strategies within Private Wealth Management. Ms. Mossavar-Rahmani joined Goldman Sachs as a partner in 1993 after six years with Fidelity Management Trust Company, where, most recently, she was chief investment officer responsible for all separate and commingled fixed income accounts. Ms. Mossavar-Rahmani is a member of the Board of Trustees and the Investment Committee of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the Advisory Council of the Bendheim Center for Finance at Princeton University, and the National Advisory Board of the Merage Institute for the American Dream. She has published two books and numerous articles on portfolio management issues. Ms. Mossavar-Rahmani earned a BA from Princeton University in 1980 and an MS from Stanford University in 1982.