CITIC Private Equity Funds Management Co., Ltd. (“CITICPE”), a leading private equity firm in China, today announced that it has collaborated with the Yale School of Management on a second “Corporate Executives Program”. The program supports CITICPE’s core philosophy “Creating value through expertise, investing for a better world”, and as a champion of innovative learning, the firm is committed to building an educational and communications platform to improve the management and operation capability of its portfolio companies.

The “CITICPE Corporate Executives Program” teaches executives and entrepreneurs about advanced global management concepts and practices to help to improve their management skills and cultivate them to be outstanding business leaders, who will lead first-class enterprises. In addition, the platform encourages a valuable dialogue between CITICPE and its portfolio companies, helping to strengthen their relationship. This year’s “Corporate Executives Program” will focus on four major modules, namely leadership, competitive marketing strategy, organizational management and digital enterprise operation. On May 18, when the first module officially started, leaders and guests from CITICPE and the Yale School of Management attended an opening ceremony for the program, at which Molly Nagler, Vice President of the Yale School of Management, delivered a welcome speech, and Mr. Lefei Liu, Chairman and CEO of CITICPE, gave remarks as Dean of the CITIC Private Equity Management Institute.

Mr. Liu said the first “Corporate Executives Program” in 2016 achieved excellent results and the participating executives responded positively. Based on this feedback and the idea of continuous learning, the CITIC Private Equity Management Institute launched the second program, optimizing the curriculum according to the latest market developments and demands of senior executives.

He commented, “Leadership is the ability to lead a team so it can achieve success and excellence. The acquisition of leadership skills is a lifelong learning process; trainees are expected to be engaged in the program and apply what they have learned from it to their professional roles.”

The opening ceremony was also attended by Mr. Yu Tian, President of CITICPE; Mr. Feng Zhai, Managing Director and Head of the Portfolio Management Department of CITICPE; staff and LP representatives of CITICPE, as well as more than 30 senior executives of the firm’s portfolio companies. The majority of the leadership courses in the first module of the 2018 program are taught by Professor David Bach, MBA of the Yale School of Management and Senior Deputy Dean for Global Programs. Bach was named one of the “World’s Best Business School Professors Under Age 40” by Poets & Quants and his courses have been rated by the Aspen Institute as one of the “World’s Top 20 Most Interesting Business School Courses”.

The “Corporate Executive Program” adopts innovative and diversified teaching styles and methods, focusing on enterprise strategy, competitive strategy, organizational change, cultural innovation and brand strategy amongst other topics. The inaugural class of the first program was successfully completed in December 2016. Its participants were made up of 30 CEOs and senior executives of the portfolio companies in which CITICPE holds controlling stakes, from a variety of sectors including Industrial & Energy, Healthcare, Financial Services and Consumption.

The second “Corporate Executives Program” has already received a positive response and enthusiastic feedback from several trainees.

Mr. Xiaofei Yin, COO at Hairology Group, remarked, “The second program has totally exceeded my expectations by leading us to think at the next level and looking beyond the conventional notions of leadership. The discussion has been focusing on synergies across the industry and the supply chain from a nonmarket perspective, which has been very innovative and benefitted me greatly.”

As part of CITICPE’s comprehensive training system and in addition to the “Corporate Executives Program”, CITIC Private Equity Management Institute helps senior executives and employees of its portfolio companies improve their industry and professional knowledge through regular “CITICPE Up Study” programs and an online training platform called the “CITICPE Cloud School”.

As one of the largest private equity players in China, CITICPE is one of the few investment firms to adopt a comprehensive value-added service system. The company advocates “Comprehensive Investment and Management” and encourages full intervention at every stage of an investment. CITICPE has a dedicated post-investment management team that works with its investment team to improve the financial, corporate governance and operating status of portfolio companies. The firm partners with renowned universities, such as Yale University, to help its portfolio companies improve their operational management and apply international business practice standards in all aspects of enterprise operations