New home for executive education

Top academic and political leaders gathered Monday at Harvard Business School (HBS) to celebrate the opening of the Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center, a multipurpose facility for students in HBS’ popular executive education program.

Harvard President Drew Faust and HBS Dean Nitin Nohria were joined by U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), his wife, former U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, as well as hundreds of guests to help pay tribute to the generosity of the Chao family.

Named for the late matriarch, a woman who valued the transformational power of education, especially for women, the Chao Center was made possible by a $40 million gift from her husband, James Si-Cheng Chao, and her six daughters, four of whom are HBS alumnae. It is the first building at Harvard to be named for a woman and for a person of Chinese descent.