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W. Carl Kester

George Fisher Baker Jr. Professor of Business Administration

George Fisher Baker Jr. Professor of Business Administration

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W. Carl Kester Biography

  1. Carl Kester is the George Fisher Baker Jr. Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. A member of the faculty since 1981, he has served as Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs (2006-2010), Chairman of the Finance Unit (2005-2006), and Senior Associate Dean and Chairman of the MBA Program (1999 to 2005). He teaches corporate finance in both the School’s MBA and Executive Education programs.

Under Professor Kester's leadership of HBS's academic programs, a new course on leadership, corporate accountability, and business ethics, and another on entrepreneurial management, were introduced into the MBA Program’s first-year required curriculum; the required finance curriculum was redesigned; and the elective curriculum in the Program’s second year was rebalanced and expanded to improve course development opportunities for faculty and course selection options for students. The MD/MBA, MBA/MPP and MBA/MPA-ID joint degree programs between HBS and Harvard Medical School and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, respectively, were also created and launched under his supervision.

In addition to his work at HBS, Professor Kester has chaired the Harvard University Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility, and served on the Harvard University Health Plans Subcommittee, the Harvard University Committee on Calendar Reform, and the Harvard University Employees Credit Union Board of Directors. He is currently a member of the Committee to Visit Harvard Medical School and School of Dental Medicine, which reports to the University's Board of Overseers. Professor Kester is a member of the advisory boards for the IESE Business School of the University of Navarra located in Barcelona, Spain; the IPADE Business School in Mexico City, Mexico; and the international advisory committee for a consortium of business schools in the Andean region: INALDE (Colombia); IDE (Ecuador); and PAD (Peru).

Professor Kester’s research and course development focuses on international corporate finance and corporate governance. He is the author or co-author of numerous case studies and articles on these topics. His book, Japanese Takeovers: The Global Contest for Corporate Control, which is a comprehensive field study exploring the Japanese M&A wave of the 1980s and 1990s, was the winner of the O’Melveny & Myers Centennial Grant award. Since 1992, Professor Kester has been a co-editor of the leading volume of finance cases used worldwide, Case Problems in Finance (Irwin/McGraw-Hill), now in its twelfth edition, and Case Problems in International Finance (Irwin/McGraw-Hill). His research has been presented to academic and corporate executive audiences throughout North America, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Among these are the Council on Foreign Relations, the Financial Executives Institute, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, the Shanghai Stock Exchange, The Strategic Planning Society, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, and the World Economic Forum.

Professor Kester’s consulting activities have involved him with a wide variety of organizations on finance-related topics such as corporate valuation, capital budgeting, real option valuation, and mergers and acquisitions. He has worked with many corporations including J.P. Morgan, IBM, G.E. Capital, Merck & Co., the National Football League, the Standard Chartered Bank, the World Bank, and Xerox Corporation, among others. He is an independent trustee of the BlackRock Closed-End Mutual Funds Complex which consists of approximately 100 funds with combined assets under management in excess of $50 billion. From 2005 to 2008, he was also an independent trustee of Access Capital Strategies Community Investment Fund, Inc., a closed-end mutual fund that enables financial institutions to invest in loans made in low-income areas in such a way as to qualify for Community Reinvestment Act credits. Professor Kester served as a trustee (1988-2002), and as President of the Board of Trustees (1999-2002), of the Nashoba Brooks School, an independent school for boys and girls (pre-school through grade 3) and girls (grades 4 through 8). As Board President, Professor Kester was responsible for developing the School’s long-range plan, and overseeing the School’s first capital campaign and a major expansion of its facilities. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Governors of the Handel and Haydn Society, a Boston-based musical society featuring an internationally recognized chorus and period instrument orchestra playing historically informed baroque and classical music.

An economics graduate of Amherst College (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa), Professor Kester also holds advanced degrees from Harvard Business School (MBA, Class of 1977), and the London School of Economics and Political Science (M.Sc.). He received his Ph.D. in Business Economics from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, where his doctoral thesis, Growth Options and Investment: A Dynamic Perspective on the Firm’s Allocation of Resources, was the winner of the Advanced Management Program Thesis Fellowship prize. Professor Kester is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Finance Association, the Financial Management Association, the International Economics and Finance Society, and is a Research Associate of The Center for Japan-U.S. Business and Economic Studies at the Leonard N. Stern School of Management at New York University.

Professor Kester resides in Concord, Massachusetts with his wife, Jane. They have three adult children: Kelsey, Eric and Kirsten.

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  • How do I book W. Carl Kester to speak at my event?

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  • What are the speaker fees for W. Carl Kester

    Speaking fees for W. Carl Kester, or any other speakers and celebrities, are determined based on a number of factors and may change without notice. The estimated fees to book W. Carl Kester are for live events and for virtual events. For the most current speaking fee to hire W. Carl Kester, click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to speak directly with an experienced booking agent.
  • What topics does W. Carl Kester speak about?

    W. Carl Kester is a keynote speaker and industry expert whose speaking topics include Business, College, Finance, International Business, Professors.
  • Where does W. Carl Kester travel from?

    W. Carl Kester generally travels from an undisclosed location, but can be booked for private corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. For more details, please contact an AAE Booking agent.
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    AAE Speakers Bureau has successfully booked keynote speakers like W. Carl Kester for clients worldwide since 2002. As a full-service speaker booking agency, we have access to virtually any speaker or celebrity in the world. Our agents are happy and able to submit an offer to the speaker or celebrity of your choice, letting you benefit from our reputation and long-standing relationships in the industry. Please click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page including the details of your event, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536, and one of our agents will assist you to book W. Carl Kester for your next private or corporate function.
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    AAE Speakers Bureau is a full-service speaker booking agency, meaning we can completely manage the speaker’s or celebrity’s engagement with your organization from the time of booking your speaker through the event’s completion. We provide all of the services you need to host W. Carl Kester or any other speaker of your choice, including offer negotiation, contractual assistance, accounting and billing, and event speaker travel and logistics services. When you book a speaker with us, we manage the process of hosting a speaker for you as an extension of your team. Our goal is to give our clients peace of mind and a best-in-class service experience when booking a speaker with us.
  • Why is AAE Speakers Bureau different from other booking agencies?

    If you’re looking for the best, unbiased speaker recommendations, paired with a top-notch customer service experience, you’re in the right place. At AAE Speakers Bureau, we exclusively represent the interests of our clients - professional organizations, companies, universities, and associations. We intentionally do not represent the speakers we feature or book. That is so we can present our clients with the broadest and best performing set of speaker options in the market today, and we can make these recommendations without any obligation to promote a specific speaker over another. This is why when our agents suggest a speaker for your event, you can be assured that they are of the highest quality with a history of proven success with our other clients.

W. Carl Kester is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics . The estimated speaking fee range to book W. Carl Kester for your event is available upon request. W. Carl Kester generally travels from and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Benjamin C. Esty, Marc L. Bertoneche, Krishna G. Palepu, Robert Eccles and G. Felda Hardymon. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling W. Carl Kester for an upcoming live or virtual event.

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