On August 8, 2008, the annual Advisory Board meeting of Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management was held at the Main Building of Tsinghua University. At the meeting, Professor Qian Yingyi, Dean of Tsinghua SEM reported the significant progress the School has made on student, faculty, and SEM's internationalization process etc. during the past year. The board members held discussion regarding further development of Tsinghua SEM.

On the night of August 8, all the participating members attended the opening ceremony of the 29th Olympic Games held in the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, in north Beijing.

Before the meeting, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qizhan held talks with the overseas members of the advisory board attending the 2008 annual meeting. Minister of Education Zhou Ji attended the meeting. Wang expressed his welcome to the visiting members, wishing them an impressive night on the day for opening ceremony of Beijing Olympic Games.

This year saw the ninth meeting of the Advisory Board, which was held on the same day with the grand opening of Beijing Olympic Games-when China hosts the world with pride. The 2008 annual meeting had the most attendees since the advisory board was established in October, 2000.

Tsinghua SEM’s development benefits tremendously from the contributions of its Advisory Board, which works for the common goal of making Tsinghua SEM one of the premier economics and management schools in the world. During recent years, it has helped the School create extensive international links, build up research institutions and contribute valuable ideas to the School’s strategic development.

Members of the Board are made up of elite business leaders, visionary government officials and renowned scholars from internationally renowned businesses and academic institutions. Former Premier Zhu Rongji is the Honorary Chairman of the Board. Mr. Henry M. Paulson Jr., US Secretary of the Treasury and former Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, had been the founding Chairman of the Board. Lord John Browne, Group Chief Executive of BP p.l.c. was the second Chairman of the Advisory Board and the current Chairman is H. Lee Scott, Jr., president and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc..

Overseas Members Attending the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Advisory Board of Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management:

1.   Lloyd C. Blankfein, Chairman & CEO, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

2.   Sir John Bond, Chairman, Vodafone Group PLC;
Former Group Chairman, HSBC Holdings PLC

3.   Jacques de Chateauvieux, Chairman, Supervisory Board, AXA Group

4.   Steven A. Denning, Chairman, General Atlantic LLC

5.   Victor K. Fung, Group Chairman, Li & Fung Group of Companies

6.   Christopher Brian Galvin, Chairman & Co-Founder, Harrison Street Capital LLC;
Former Chairman & CEO       , Motorola

7.   Carlos Ghosn, President & CEO, Nissan Motor Co.,Ltd.;
President & CEO, Resault S.A. 

8.   Terry Gou, Founder & Chairman, Foxconn Technology Group

9.   Maurice R. Greenberg, Chairman & CEO, C.V. STARR & Co., Inc.;
Former Chairman & CEO, AIG

10. Rajat Kumar Gupta, Senior Partner Emeritus, McKinsey & Company;
Former Managing Director Worldwide, Mckinsey & Company

11. Tony Hayward, Group Chief Executive, BP PLC

12. Nobuyuki Idei, Founder & CEO, Representative Director, Quantum Leaps Corporation;
Former Chairman & Group CEO, Sony Corporation

13. Irwin Mark Jacobs, Chairman, Qualcomm Incorporated

14. Gerard Kleisterlee, Chairman, President & CEO, Royal Philips Electronics

15. Richard Li, Chairman, PCCW Ltd

16.    Jay O. Light, Dean, Havard Business School

17.    Andrònico Luksic, Chairman, Luksic Group

18.    Michael McNamara, CEO, Flextronics International

19. Jorma Ollila, Chairman, Nokia Corporation;
Chairman, Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

20. John Roberts, Senior Associate Dean, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University

21. David M. Rubenstein, Co-Founder and Managing Director, The Carlyle Group

22. David C. Schmittlein, John C Head III Dean, Sloan School of Management
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

23. Stephen A. Schwarzman, Chairman & CEO, The Blackstone Group L.P.

24. H. Lee Scott, Jr., President & CEO, Wal-mart Stores, Inc.

25. Keiji Tachikawa, Corporate Advisor, NTT DoCoMo,Inc.;
Fomer President & CEO, NTT DocoMo

26. John L. Thornton, Professor and Director of the Global Leadership Program at Tsinghua University;
Retired President and Member of the Board of Directors of the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. 

27. G. Richard Wagoner, Jr., Chairman & CEO, GM

28. Marjorie Yang, Chairman, Esquel Group