MIT Sloan’s New International Office in Bangkok Promises Excitement

In late October of 2024, over 150 alumni and friends of the MIT Sloan School of Management gathered at the Chatrium Hotel Riverside in Bangkok, Thailand, to celebrate the grand opening of the MIT Sloan Office for Southeast Asian Nations (MSAO).

The new office, which is the school’s second international footprint, will provide broad and ongoing opportunities to expand upon MIT Sloan’s educational offerings, action learning, and convenings in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region.

Through these efforts, the MSAO will build on over two decades of experiential learning opportunities that over 700 MIT Sloan students and 96 companies have participated in across Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

“This is our opportunity to benefit the future of the region and to build upon the important work already underway and being planned for future academic programming, research, and relationship building. It is an exciting time for MIT Sloan, and I am thrilled to be a part of this,” John C Head III Dean (Interim) Georgia Perakis told the audience in Bangkok.

Along with Interim Dean Perakis, Kathryn Hawkes (Senior Associate Dean, External Engagement), David Capodilupo (Assistant Dean, Global Programs), Retsef Levi (J. Spencer Standish (1945) Professor of Management), R. Robert Wickham, SB ’93, SM ’95 (MIT Corporation Member), and other alumni, faculty, and staff also provided remarks during the ribbon cutting ceremony and an MSAO Advisory Council welcome reception.

“Our faculty really aspire to understand the problems—the real problems—because that’s the only way to make an impact in the real world,” said Levi, who researches innovations in water and agricultural systems in the ASEAN region.

The MSAO would not have been possible without the support of alumni, friends, and flagship partners who have participated with MIT Sloan in the region for more than a decade. As a result of their generosity, the office is ideally positioned to promote MIT Sloan programs to potential students and facilitate enhanced research and corporate outreach in the area.

“We’re so excited for this opportunity and this office in Bangkok, that we now have this incredible runway ahead of us and the resources that have been provided by our donors. It positions us for many things we wouldn’t be able to do without their support,” said Capodilupo.