Time: Sunday, March 9, 2008, 10:05 am - 11:20 am

Few people would disagree that Asia will lead the next wave of economic development of the global economy. The enormous opportunities and shortage of talent in Asia make more and more people start thinking seriously of building a career in Asia.

The “Building a Career in Asia” panel discussion invited speakers with extensive experience in human resource development in Asia to discuss how to build a successful career in Asia. What characters are the Asian companies looking for in their recruiting? How to prepare yourself for a future career in Asia while you are still in college or business school? What is the outlook of the human resource market in China? What are the uncertainties to start a career in Asia? How different is it to work in Asia comparing to work in developed economies?

Thomas J. DeLong (Moderator)

Philip J. Stomberg Professor of Management Practice, Harvard Business School

Professor DeLong teaches MBA and executive courses focused on managing human capital, organizational behavior and managing talent in professional service firms. Before joining the Harvard Faculty, DeLong was Chief Development Officer and Managing Director of Morgan Stanley Group, Inc., where he was responsible for the firm's human capital and focused on issues of organizational strategy regarding people, organizational change and globalization.

Professor DeLong received his undergraduate and masters degrees from Brigham Young University and his Ph.D. from Purdue University in Industrial Supervision. He was also a post-doctoral fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Linda Lai

Career Coach, Harvard Business School

Linda is a career coach at HBS with extensive work experience in Asia. She is CEO of Career Solutions Ltd., introducing best practices in career development / talent retention programs and representing CareerLeader® in Greater China. She has been involved in selective executive search for senior positions at exclusive investment banks, private equity and hedge funds in Greater China. Previously she worked at McKinsey & Co., Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and China International Capital Corp. (CICC). Linda holds an MBA from HBS and a BA in Economics from Stanford University.

Miranda Shu

Director of Professional Development, Greater China, McKinsey & Company

Miranda is now the Professional Development Director of McKinsey's Greater China offices. She oversees recruiting, training, staffing, evaluation and mobility of all consultants in McKinsey Greater China. She also provides career conseling and feedback to consultants in McKinsey Greater China. Previously, she has worked as a consultant in McKinsey Shanghai office and as a project supervisor in Market Research department at Procter & Gamble in China. Miranda holds an MBA from DePaul University and a BS from Shanghai Jiaotong University.

George Wang

Founder and Chairman, Chinese Professional Network (CPN)

George Wang is founder and chairman of Chinese Professional Network or CPN (www.cpnhome.com), a premier membership-based professional network focus on China. The collective insights, experiences, access, opportunities, relationship, and influence from CPN members have made CPN a leading resource for professional and personal development. As a result, CPN has emerged as an integrated platform for top employers, educators, advertisers, and brands to reach China's high value population. Prior to CPN, Mr. Wang was a management consultant with Bain & Company and A.T. Kearney in Asia. Mr. Wang received his MBA from Kellogg School of Management and B.S. from Dalian University of Technology.

Benjamin Zhai

Principal, Egon Zehnder International

Benjamin is a Principal with Egon Zehnder International and leads the firm’s Industrial Practice in Greater China, based in Shanghai. Ben has extensive experience serving clients in automotive, energy, private equity and other financial institutions etc. Prior to Egon Zehnder International, Ben was Managing Principal and Head of Beijing Office for A.T. Kearney Management Consultants. He also worked in EDS (Australia) as an Associate; in Medal Technology (China) Inc. as Vice General Manager; and in Luoyang Float Glass Corporation as Director of Information. Ben has a Bachelor of Computer Science from Wuhan University of Science and Technology, China; MBA from Australian National University, and is a GMP graduate from Harvard Business School.