2012: Frederick Chavalit Tsao

Frederick Chavalit Tsao
on
Family Business and Sustainability 

Tuesday, May 8, 2012 from 4:30 to 6:00 pm
Albert M. Bender Room, Bing Wing
Cecil H. Green Library, Stanford University

Mr. Tsao will address the intersection of family and business in the developing world. As Chairman of a family-owned multinational corporation, he is interested in the peculiar challenges faced by family-owned businesses and the role of such businesses in promoting development. He is particularly concerned with the destabilizing effects of rapid economic growth on traditional social structures. Mr. Tsao will discuss recent efforts to promote development while preserving family, social, and cultural harmony.

Frederick Chavalit Tsao began his illustrious maritime career in 1977 after joining his family’s shipping business IMC Pan Asia Alliance Group. IMC is a four-generation family business that traces its roots to the early 1900s, when the founder’s family was engaged in banking, transportation and international trade in Shanghai. Mr. Tsao was appointed Managing Director of the IMC in 1989 and took over as Chairman in 1995. He has been the Chairman and CEO of IMC Industrial Group since 2008. Mr. Tsao is President of FBNPA, the Pacific-Asia Chapter of Family Business Network (FBN), has served as Chairman of Intercargo, and remains an Executive Committee Member of Intercargo. He is also a Director of the China Ship-owners Mutual Assurance Society and a member of the Bureau Veritas Asia & Australia Committee, and the American Bureau of Shipping. In addition, Mr. Tsao created the East West Cultural Development Centre, a non-profit organization aimed at building more harmonious relationships in a rapidly globalised world. Mr. Tsao holds a Master of Science in Engineering (Industrial and Operations Engineering) and a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering (Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering) from the University of Michigan.