Building bridges across borders

The Kellogg Greater China Business Conference (GCBC) engages leading executives, innovators and academics in conversations around major topics shaping business in Greater China — and it’s all organized by students.

Two-Year MBA students Yishi Huang ’26, Yifei Ma ’26 and Sarah (Luyan) Wang ’26 served as this year’s co-chairs, helping deliver a global conference. For them, it was more than an event; it was a platform to build cross-border understanding and develop leadership skills. Here, Yifei and Sarah share what inspired them to get involved, how GCBC has refined their career ambitions and the leadership lessons that they’ll carry forward beyond Kellogg.

Thinking back to when you were a prospective or first-year student, was the GCBC something that you knew about coming in? If not, how did you learn about it, and what drew you to get involved? If you were already familiar, what motivated you to step into a conference leadership role? 

Yifei: I heard about GCBC not too long after I started at Kellogg, and I immediately knew I wanted to join the team. I saw this as an opportunity to foster cross border communication — which is something I strive to do. Living in both the U.S. and China has shown me a persistent contrast: countless people in China striving to understand global markets, and just as many Americans holding an incomplete or outdated picture of China’s technology and businesses. GCBC was platform centered around the kind of cross-border dialogue that motivates me to engage. 

Sarah: I joined the leadership team in my second year. Last year’s co-chairs for the 19th GCBC laid a strong foundation to build on, and I wanted to contribute to that momentum while supporting long-term cross-border collaboration. I also wanted to strengthen the platform, helping individuals from diverse backgrounds better understand China and its economy.  

GCBC opens the door to connecting with senior leaders across industries and geographies. How has this experience influenced your career ambitions or the kind of impact you wish to have post-MBA? 

Yifei: For most of my career in technology, my thinking was centered around the immediate and the tangible aspects: how to build a better product, identifying the right business model or leveraging the newest technology to create value. Organizing GCBC and the enlightening conversations throughout the process with great thinkers like Professor Joel Mokyr and company executives Bo Li and Pin Ni have helped me more readily see how larger forces are reshaping the era we are living in.  

What struck me the most was realizing that the challenges of our moment are not merely geopolitical or economic. They are existential in a more profound sense. AI is beginning to raise questions that cut to the heart of human purpose, and these are not abstract concerns for future generations to sort out.  

Engaging with great leaders through GCBC reminded me that building a meaningful career and thinking seriously about the future are not competing priorities. The most consequential leaders are those who hold both at once. 

Sarah: GCBC made me more optimistic about where the world is heading and more determined to join the venture industry once I graduate from Kellogg. 

This year, nearly every program at GCBC was centred on AI. It’s easy to imagine that 30 years ago, at a similar conference at Kellogg, everyone was talking about the internet: curious, excited and uncertain about what lay ahead. History has a way of repeating itself. 

AI will fundamentally reshape how humans interact with the world, creating opportunities on a scale similar to the internet. And, in many ways, its adoption feels inevitable. We are at the intersection of opportunity and risk.  

Yifei, your professional background spans across marketing, technology and venture capital — you’re used to evaluating ideas, people and markets. How has your MBA experience helped you stretch in those areas and into a broader leadership role? 

Kellogg has expanded what I believe is possible for my career. Before arriving, I assumed my background spanning creative industries, marketing and technology across two countries was broad enough. I quickly realized that there are many paths that I didn't even know about. Being in a community of classmates who come from healthcare, energy, public policy, impact investing and more has opened doors for me. 

One example is venture capital (VC). While co-organizing GCBC, conversations with my co-chair Sarah, who had more experience in the industry, inspired me to see VC as a discipline that aligns with how I had always thought about products and markets. After working on a VC internship through Kellogg’s VC Lab, I started to consider VC as a long-term career path.  

Sarah, collaborating on a conference at the scale of GCBC requires balancing logistics, communication and stakeholder relationships among other aspects. What new skills or perspectives are you walking away with?  

Three new skills and perspectives I’ve gained through co-leading GCBC are: 

• Embrace diverse thinking: I came to better appreciate the value of diverse perspectives. For example, our operations vice president created a very detailed task sheet for conference day. I initially thought it might be more than needed, but it turned out to be critical in ensuring the event ran smoothly — especially with a 30-person team that included undergraduates and graduate students who were new to Kellogg conferences. Diversity helped surface blind spots and strengthen execution. 
• Keep an open-mind: Yifei served as a strong role model, and I applied this mindset by expanding opportunities beyond the typical approach where second-year MBA students lead panels. For example, I proposed to have an undergraduate lead our retail panel. While she was initially new to Kellogg conferences, she quickly ramped up and ultimately led the session, speaking in front of 300 attendees. 
• Diligent time management: During the winter quarter, I balanced the San Francisco immersion internship, coursework, GCBC planning and a VC competition, along with frequent travel for teamwork. The tight schedule pushed me to apply 80/20 prioritization and delegate effectively. 

For prospective students considering Kellogg, how does GCBC provide a platform to grow both personally and professionally? 

Yifei: Planning GCBC not only broadened my perspectives while interacting with senior leaders, but it also strengthened my soft skills. Leading a volunteer team where everyone is equal taught me a different kind of leadership. I learned how to inspire the team with no authority and how to play into each person's strengths and interests, placing them where they can contribute most meaningfully. 

Sarah: Beyond recruiting and internships, GCBC has been the most meaningful part of my MBA experience — I strongly recommend it to prospective students. Successfully delivering a conference demonstrates execution, strategic thinking and leadership. This experience has also strengthened my personal brand by showing that I can make things happen. Leading a 30+ person team with a 15-year age range in a fully volunteer setting can be more challenging than leading teams in a corporate environment, and through GCBC, my leadership development has accelerated. 

Additionally, working with global leaders broadens your perspective beyond near-term, tangible outputs, allowing you to view the world through a wider lens. For example, while preparing the macroeconomic fireside chat with Bo Li and Joel Mokyr, we read Mokyr’s recent book, which examines innovation through culture, history and societal structures. 

How do you see this experience shaping you moving forward? 

Yifei: Conference planning is unpredictable by nature, and early on I would feel anxious about things not going the way we planned. Over time, each unexpected setback became less of a crisis and more of a problem to solve or even an opportunity to explore, and I found myself moving faster from reaction to strategy. That composure under pressure is something I now carry into every professional context.

Sarah: I further enhanced self-trust and the courage to take risks. At the outset, I had limited conference experience, and the scale of the event felt challenging. As Yifei mentioned, throughout the process, we faced challenges at nearly every step. However, through strong collaboration and problem-solving, we overcame each obstacle, and the conference ultimately exceeded expectations in every respect. 

Achieving what once felt “impossible” creates a flywheel effect, building confidence to take on greater challenges over time. I believe that self-trust and a willingness to try are two invaluable assets for the future. 

Read next: Where ideas get tested

The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Kellogg School of Management or Northwestern University.