An invitation to apply

for the position of:

Executive Director
Schwarzman Scholars
New York, New York

“China’s economy is growing at three times the rate of the West, and if that growth continues,
China will become the largest economy in the world within the next couple of decades.
Disproportionate levels of growth often create global imbalances and tensions, which will need
to be addressed in the decades ahead. Looking to the future, it is crucial that both countries
and others around the world work hard to build on a foundation of interdependence, to foster
stronger and deeper relationships, and to develop a real and full understanding of each other’s
cultures among the next generations of business and political leaders. In the 21st century,
China is no longer an elective course, it’s a core curriculum.”

Stephen A. Schwarzman
Founder and Chairman, Schwarzman Scholars

THE PROGRAM

Schwarzman Scholars was founded in 2013, enrolled its first class in 2016, and graduated its first
Scholars in 2017. The third cohort is currently in residence. A 21st century version of the Rhodes
Trust, it is designed to inspire and educate future world leaders who will serve as intermediaries
between China and the rest of the world for their entire career. The program will sponsor up to
200 international students annually to study for a one-year Master’s Degree at Tsinghua
University in Beijing, a leading Chinese institution and the educator of much of China’s political
and managerial elite.

After more than three years of intense planning, the program has exceeded expectations. The
class of 2019 attracted more than 2,700 applicants for 135 acceptances and achieved a 95 percent
yield on admission offers. Word of the program has spread rapidly and the strongest graduates of
the great universities of the world apply. Applications for the fourth class of Scholars, now in
review, exceeded 2,800. It has instantly become among the most eminent scholarship programs
in the world.

The Scholars live in a state-of-the-art residential college on Tsinghua’s campus. Approximately

40 percent of the Scholars currently come from the United States, 20 percent from China, and the
remaining 40 percent from every corner of the globe. They inspire each other and bond readily,
in a setting that promotes academic, professional, and social life. The program attracts students
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with exceptional academic skills who also possess the ambition and personal qualities to take on
leadership roles in business, government, media, science, and civil society. The Scholars live and
work in an engaged community, learning in a curriculum designed to explore Chinese culture,
economics, politics, and diplomacy in the context of the country’s rapidly expanding role in the
world. They have distinguished mentors, take professional experiential learning trips around
China, and have the opportunity to intern in settings relevant to their career aspirations. When
the Scholars graduate, each new class becomes part of an active, enduring network.

With a fundraising goal of $600 million to build an endowment that will sustain the program in
perpetuity, Schwarzman Scholars is the single largest philanthropic effort in China’s history,
with funds coming from a global cohort of donors. On a per student basis, it is significantly
better endowed than any university in the West.

“These future leaders will have unprecedented exposure to China, where they will come to
understand the nuances of its history, culture, and aspirations. In this environment, Schwarzman
Scholars will be able to forge bonds of true understanding—between individuals and nations—
for years and generations to come.”-Stephen A. Schwarzman

More information is available at www.schwarzmanscholars.org

THE MISSION

Schwarzman Scholars emerged in a dialogue between the leadership of Tsinghua University and
Stephen A. Schwarzman. As a Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO of the Blackstone Group, a
leading asset manager, he became increasingly immersed in international business and the
economic, social, and political discussions on the emerging role of China.

Schwarzman and the leadership at Tsinghua University founded the program out of a shared
desire to bridge cultural barriers and improve understanding between nations. With China’s
economy growing at three times the rate of the West, disproportionate levels of growth can
create imbalances and tensions. Looking to the future, it is crucial that China, the United States,
and other countries around the world work hard to build on a foundation of interdependence, to
foster stronger and deeper relationships, and to develop a real and full understanding of each
other’s cultures among the next generations of business and political leaders. For this reason,
Schwarzman said, “In the 21st century, China is no longer an elective course, it’s the core
curriculum.”

The Schwarzman Scholars program advances an intimate understanding of China and its place in
the world. China has an ancient history, with an enduring governance structure that lasted for
millennia, and a sophisticated civilization that, for most of its history, greatly outshined the West.
China takes great pride in the success of the last 40 years, during which it has emerged as a great
power. It looks forward to a successful future that matches its exceptional accomplishments, both
ancient and modern.
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THE PARTNERSHIP

The Scholarship program is a collaborative effort between the Stephen A. Schwarzman

Educational Foundation (SASEF) and Tsinghua University, a partnership fully endorsed by both
the Chinese and U.S. governments. The highest levels of the Chinese leadership have celebrated
the effort, supported its development, and take a vivid interest in the program. President Xi and
President Obama both sent letters of support that were read at the official announcement in April
2013.

The governance structure reflects the partnership: half of the board is composed of members
appointed by SASEF and half are appointed by Tsinghua. The University is responsible for the
awarding of the degree, and the specially-designed curriculum was developed through
collaboration between Tsinghua and academic leaders from some of the world’s most prestigious
universities. The program’s dean, Xue Lan, the Cheung Kong Chair, Distinguished Professor,
and Dean of the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University, provides
leadership for the content and delivery of the academic program; he reports to the Board and to
Tsinghua University. The Executive Director reports to the Board and collaborates closely with
the dean of the College and the SASEF team. Every portion of the program requires a
collaborative effort, and in that sense, the program models the mission.

Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University was designed by Robert A.M. Stern, the former
Dean of the Yale School of Architecture. The 260,000 square foot campus houses the most
advanced higher-education facilities and is one of the first LEED Gold–certified academic
buildings in China. It is built in Chinese architectural styles, but is also inspired by the residential
colleges at Harvard, Yale, Oxford, and Cambridge. A virtual tour of Schwarzman College can be
found at:
https://www.schwarzmanscholars.org/news-article/a-global-perspective-for-a-changing-world/

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT

Schwarzman Scholars is the most significant program of its kind since the Rhodes Trust was
founded in 1902. The Rhodes Trust was established at a time when England was the dominant
power on the globe and Europe was its center. Today, the global center has shifted, and the
Schwarzman program reflects the new geo-political landscape. The founders assembled an
Honorary Advisory Board that attracted former heads of state, cabinet officials, and presidents of
great universities in the nations of Europe, North America, Australia, and China. A
complementary Academic Advisory Board meets annually. Its members, including prominent
scholars from the U.S., Europe, and China, engaged in the initial program design and help to
further refine it. Additional information about the Academic Advisory Board can be found at:
http://www.schwarzmanscholars.org/about/advisors/

The founders set an original target of $300 million to endow the program and Stephen A.
Schwarzman personally committed the first $100 million toward this initiative; additional
commitments have been secured from a multitude of individuals and corporate partners including
BP, Delta Air Lines, EMC Corporation, the Boeing Company, the Walt Disney Company,
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Bloomberg Philanthropies, Masayoshi Son Foundation, leading global financial institutions, and
prominent corporations in China. The campaign has been remarkably successful, raising roughly
$576 million to date. Donors are committed to the program’s mission and are eager to see the
program succeed, at scale. They are engaged in diverse aspects of the program, including student
recruitment, a mentoring program, and the Practical Training Program, which enables students to
develop a further understanding of China through working or volunteering in a Chinese or
international company, nonprofit organization, or institution. The sizeable endowment ensures
that the Schwarzman Scholars program will prevail well into the future, training future leaders
for decades to come.

SCHOLARS

Schwarzman Scholars represent the world’s next generation of leaders—exceptional students

with eager minds and limitless potential. Scholars are expected to have outstanding academic
aptitude and intellectual ability, but they are selected primarily on their demonstrated leadership
potential: the ability to take initiative to help a group work together to reach a goal, and to
persevere in the face of challenges and obstacles. Schwarzman Scholars is designed to prepare its
graduates to build stronger relationships between China and a rapidly changing world, and to
address the most pressing challenges of the 21st century.

Leadership development is woven throughout the Schwarzman Scholars program, both in its
academics and in the student experience. The program offers a required course and workshops
focused specifically on leadership development. In an environment that emphasizes interaction
and collaboration, students learn to cultivate broader perspectives, a key characteristic of
successful leaders. All classes and activities are designed for students to learn from each other,
and to understand and appreciate their different backgrounds, views, and strategies for
confronting challenges. Additional information about the curriculum can be found at:
http://www.schwarzmanscholars.org/program/curriculum/

All Scholars receive a fully funded scholarship to study at Schwarzman College at the
prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing. The first three classes of Schwarzman Scholars were
roughly 50 percent recent graduates from undergraduate studies and 50 percent young adults
who had pursued either graduate studies or professional work.

Academic life is enriched by a range of extracurricular opportunities, from interactions with

high-level visiting speakers at Schwarzman College to participation in sports to casual social
activities at the student pub and extraordinary evenings with performing artists. A list of guest
speakers can be found at http://www.schwarzmanscholars.org/program/guest-speakers/

The inaugural class of Schwarzman Scholars, diverse in their backgrounds, experiences, and
countries of origin, pursued post-program endeavors that reflect these diverse interests and
experiences: 75 percent have entered the public, private, and non-profit sectors, across myriad
industries and geographies. Almost 19 percent of the class continued their education, from PhDs,
to law degrees, to medical school; destinations include the University of Cambridge, Tsinghua
University, Harvard Medical School, and Columbia Law School. Finally, three percent of the
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class are fulfilling military commitments and three percent are pursuing personal endeavors such
as writing professionally and running for office.

THE ESSENTIAL OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR THE EXECUTIVE

DIRECTOR OF THE SCHWARZMAN SCHOLARS PROGRAM

Schwarzman Scholars seeks an Executive Director (ED) who will build on the program’s
remarkable early record and will make the program a premiere academic destination for the
world’s most ambitious and able young people. The ED must embrace a series of crucial
leadership and management tasks that are essential to building and maintaining a successful
program, ensuring it fulfills its mission, builds on its early successes, and lives up to its globally
recognized aspirations. The ED must be able to simultaneously run the program and solve day-
to-day issues, while also looking to the future. In all programmatic and operational initiatives,
the ED is expected to promote Stephen A. Schwarzman’s vision of the program and represent the
global leadership values he embodies.

Represent the program, its vision, and its values with leaders in New York, China, and around
the world.

The leadership of Schwarzman Scholars, in the U.S. and in China, aims to identify a diverse
group of exceptional future leaders and to give them an experience and network that will benefit
them throughout their lifetime and contribute to greater understanding and collaboration between
nations. The ED will serve as a public face of the organization and must be able to advance its
objectives through frequent interactions with international leaders from all walks of life. The ED
is a public persona who can carry the message and assure highly varied and distinguished
audiences of the importance of the Schwarzman mission and who can persuade them to
contribute, each in their own way, to the success of the program.

Persistently pursue the development and advancement of administrative systems to enhance

communication between Tsinghua University and Schwarzman Scholars.

The Tsinghua/Schwarzman partnership has worked energetically to introduce the program,

design a curriculum, recruit faculty from Tsinghua and internationally, build Schwarzman
College, launch a robust recruitment and admissions operation, and welcome three cohorts of
exceptional Scholars. As described above, the program is off to a strong start, but much remains
to be done. To further advance the overall student experience, the program is still being built and
is constantly being refined, with a particular focus on building the administrative systems
necessary to establish a sustainable enterprise. The ED will need to be persistently persuasive in
this endeavor, combining significant managerial experience, a record of establishing effective
academic policies and functioning administrative systems, and should have an appetite to work
with colleagues in New York and Beijing to build the relationships necessary to earn support
from all constituencies. The program’s reputation and ultimate strength depend deeply on the
successful execution of these administrative tasks.
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Further integrate New York-based staff and be an inspiring leader for the team.

Working closely with colleagues in both the United States and China, the ED will be based in
New York City, but the role will require significant travel to Beijing in order to develop critical
relationships at Tsinghua University and Schwarzman College. The Schwarzman team in New
York is comprised of a group of highly talented directors who have driven fundraising, managed
student recruitment, and helped Tsinghua academic leadership in the development and evolution
of the curriculum and the recruitment of international faculty members. They work within their
functions at a distance from the program in Beijing. The ED must convey passion for the
program, serve as an inspiring leader to this group, and work to enhance communication
internally. The ED should promote coordination among the program functions, ensuring the New
York team is well integrated with the leadership in Beijing and with the operational components
of the program at Tsinghua. The ED must inspire and engage, actively and happily, in the day-to-
day activities of the operation in both New York and China.

Continue to build trust and break down cultural barriers between staff, faculty, and students
at Schwarzman College.

The ED should seek, at every turn, program innovations that help to integrate and unify the
whole of the Schwarzman experience at Tsinghua. The Schwarzman program is a carefully
negotiated joint venture with deeply shared governance between Tsinghua University and
SASEF. Success requires the careful construction of an academic and co-curricular life that
blends the most advanced global expectations for education with an eminent, highly successful,
and quite traditional Chinese university. Both parties have expectations and operating styles that
have successfully adapted to their very different realities. Each party must fundamentally believe
that they have the respect of the other, and that all activity is intended to build the reputation of
the partners and of the venture. The leadership of the ED, expressed in the day-to-day co-
governance and management of the Scholars program, must model the intent of the program
itself, a carefully attuned effort to succeed at an exceptionally complex task and to
simultaneously build enduring trust and respect.

A critical part of the program’s mission is building a strong and engaged alumni body that,
throughout their careers, will help contribute to strong, peaceful, and prosperous ties between
China and the rest of the world. The ED will help devise the strategy to engage alumni and keep
them connected to each other and the program. Programming includes academic symposia,
career networking, and social interactions. As future global leaders, alumni represent the mission
and values of the Schwarzman Scholars program through their professional pursuits and
interconnected lives.

Further refine the Schwarzman Scholars curriculum to allow top scholars and teachers to
provide exceptional classroom and co-curricular experiences for students.

Schwarzman Scholars admits the brightest scholars who are poised for leadership. The
program’s curriculum should be continuously assessed and enhanced to sharpen the focus on the
program’s mission, further stretch students intellectually, and respond to changing global issues
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and challenges. The co-curricular components of the program, including deep dive trips across
China, should also be more fully integrated into the academic experience. The goal is for
students to find a formative and dynamic experience in the formal classes, the residential setting,
and the experiential learning components that will forever shape their view of China and the
world. The ED, along with the academic leadership in Beijing and New York, will be responsible
for the continuous evaluation and refining of the didactic and co-curricular activities that make
up the Schwarzman Scholars experience.

PERSONAL QUALITIES AND EXPERIENCES THAT ARE ESSENTIAL FOR

SUCCESS

The leadership of Schwarzman Scholars seeks an energetic, experienced executive director with
substantial accomplishment in his or her career and demonstrated creativity at building and
managing complex organizations. Stephen A. Schwarzman created a culture at Blackstone where
all members of senior leadership are “front line troops,” immersed in the work, doing what must
be done, constantly engaged, building, creating, and inspiring their staffs to take on more and do
more. This is the model he has replicated at Schwarzman Scholars.

Schwarzman Scholars is seeking an ED who will lead, manage, direct, and do. The ED may
come from a variety of fields and backgrounds but should have a strong track record of
accomplishment against the odds, a creative spirit that will breathe life and purpose into the
partnership, and a hunger to make a mark on a groundbreaking global academic program.

 A passion for the mission and a sophisticated interest in China and in global socio-
economic development. The program is designed to attract future leaders who will
benefit from an understanding of China and a strong global network of relationships. The
ideal candidate brings substantial working experience in China, preferably within an
academic institution. Similarly, this search seeks candidates who have a broad view of
global development and an active interest in China’s place in the world. Sophistication
and expertise are appreciated, but a broad general engagement and passion for the topic is
what is required. Fluency in Mandarin is helpful but not required.

 Exposure to China. It would be helpful if a candidate has had significant exposure to

China and working with Chinese organizations. At minimum, the successful candidate
must have the ability and willingness to quickly learn about China and how to work
successfully within the system of Chinese higher education.

 Academic experience. It would be helpful if a candidate comes to the role with exposure
to the academy, faculty recruitment, retention, and governance, student life, and
curricular and co-curricular design.

 A leader, an entrepreneur, and a manager. Entrepreneurs are famously leaders. They

are often, equally famously, not always managers. This program is still relatively new,
and has fast deadlines and high expectations. The ED must have the skills of all three
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identities, with a particular aptitude for inspiring a team while managing people and
processes across locations and cultures.

 A diplomat in style and substance and an entrepreneur in action. The program is

designed to bridge cultures and, on a daily basis, the work must bridge cultures. The ED’s
management style should foster a respectful culture, but one that encourages
entrepreneurship and settles for nothing less than excellence.

 The gravitas and capacity to persuade the leaders of great institutions, worldwide,
that they should contribute to the program. Schwarzman Scholars is founded on an
idea: that greater understanding between nations is essential to the prosperity and security
of the world. As Founder and Chairman of Schwarzman Scholars, Stephen A.
Schwarzman will be a primary contact for many individuals and organizations interested
in contributing to the program, but the ED must be a credible spokesperson, a personal
emissary, and a persuasive ambassador for the Schwarzman Scholars mission.

TO APPLY

The Stephen A. Schwarzman Educational Foundation has engaged Isaacson, Miller, a national
executive search firm, to assist with this search. Inquiries, nominations, and applications should
be directed in confidence to the firm as directed below.

Please send CV with cover letter, electronically, in strict confidence to:

John Isaacson, Sean Farrell, Jeff Kessner, or Carmen Delehanty

Isaacson, Miller
263 Summer Street, 7th Floor, Boston, MA 02210
www.imsearch.com/6392