Executive Forum: Leadership Priority and the Role of AI
Join us for a CEIBS Executive Forum on October 9, 2025, with Mr. Manny Maceda, Chairman of Bain & Company, who will have a fireside chat with CEIBS Associate Dean, Director of MBA Programme Zhang Lingling on the theme of Leadership Priority and the Role of AI.
About the Event
In an era defined by rapid technological advancement and shifting global dynamics, leadership has never been more complex, or more essential.
At this Executive Forum, Bain & Company Chairman Mr. Manny Maceda will reflect on his career and professional journey, sharing his perspective on the evolving priorities of senior leaders across industries.
Drawing on decades of experience advising global CEOs, Manny will explore how leadership philosophies are shaped by personal experiences, how generative AI is redefining the way organisations operate, and which capabilities will be critical for the next generation of leaders. He will also discuss Bain’s continued evolution as a workplace - the firm was recognised as #1 on Glassdoor’s Best Led Companies list in both 2024 and 2025 - highlighting how leadership and innovation have helped the company stay at the forefront.
Our speakers
Mr. Manny Maceda
Chairman, Bain & Company
Mr. Manny Maceda is Chairman of Bain & Company. He previously served as Worldwide Managing Partner from 2018 to 2024. Mr. Maceda oversaw Bain’s transformation into a company with embedded digital and technology capabilities and a deeper focus on sustainability, while maintaining the firm’s culture; the company consistently ranked as one of Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work and earned the #1 position on Glassdoor’s Best Led Companies list in 2024 during his tenure.
Mr. Maceda joined Bain in 1989 and, throughout a career lasting over 30 years, has advised several global CEOs and become a leading expert in large-scale company transformations involving strategy, growth, cost reduction, performance improvement, and organisational effectiveness across a range of industries, particularly technology. During his time as a CEO, Manny also built rich expertise in generative AI, global realignment, stakeholder capitalism, and private capital.
Prior to serving as Bain’s Worldwide Managing Partner, Manny's roles at the company included Chairman of Asia-Pacific region and Global Leader of Bain’s Full Potential Transformation Group, Performance Improvement Practice, and Global Recruiting. He has also served as a member of Bain’s Board of Directors, Nominating Committee, and Global Operating Committee.
Mr. Maceda has also been actively involved in the World Economic Forum as a member of the Forum’s International Business Council, the First Mover’s Coalition, and other related committees. Additionally, he sits on the Board of Directors of Bridgespan, the MIT Sloan North American Advisory Board, the OneTen Advisory Board, and is a founding partner of The Asian American Foundation.
Manny holds an M.S. in Management from MIT Sloan School of Management, a B.S. in Chemical Engineering (magna cum laude) from Illinois Institute of Technology, and an honorary Doctor of Business Administration from De La Salle University in the Philippines. He resides in the San Francisco area with his wife; they have four children.
Prof. Zhang Lingling
Associate Dean,
Director of MBA Programme, CEIBS
Prof. Zhang Lingling is an Associate Professor of Marketing and Associate Dean (MBA) at CEIBS. Prior to joining CEIBS, she was an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland. Prof. Zhang holds a DBA in Marketing from Harvard Business School, an MA in Applied Statistics from University of Michigan, and an MS and BA in Information Science from Nanjing University.
Dr. Zhang’s research interests focus on digital marketing, healthcare marketing, and AI-powered consumer insights. Trained as an empirical modeller, Dr. Zhang uses large-scale field data to understand market competition and consumer behaviour. Her research utilises various modelling methods, including econometrics, machine learning, causal inference, and industrial organization. Her papers focused on price bargaining on platforms and resource allocation across multiple channels have been published in Marketing Science, MIS Quarterly, and Decision Support Systems. Her recent projects combine machine learning and causal inference to examine consumer behaviour and provide implications for firms and policy makers. In one project, she studied the impact of price transparency in the healthcare market. In another work, she used causal machine learning models to estimate the heterogeneous effects of seller communication on digital platforms. Her recent research also investigates how AI and data analytics can help improve service quality in the home care market for the seniors. Dr. Zhang frequently presents at international marketing conferences including INFORMS Marketing Science and Artificial Intelligence in Management.
Dr. Zhang teaches courses on marketing analytics, marketing research methods, the fundamentals of digital marketing, and business data analysis. At the Robert H. Smith School of Business, she was the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award every year from 2016 to 2020 and received the Allen J. Krowe Award for Teaching Excellence from 2019 to 2020. She serves as the ad hoc reviewer at various top-tier journals, including Marketing Science, Management Science, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, and Production and Operations Management.
Event details
Date & Time: October 9, 2025 @ 19:00-20:30
Venue: AC3 -115, CEIBS Shanghai Campus, 699 Hongfeng Road, Pudong, Shanghai, China
Language: English
Event Format: Offline
Agenda:
19:00-19:05 Opening Remarks & Speaker Introduction by Prof. Zhang Lingling
19:05-19:45 Fireside Chat between Prof. Zhang Lingling and Mr. Manny Maceda
19:45-20:15 Q&A
20:15-20:30 Networking
Contact/Registration: To register, click the link below, contact Ms. Ruby Han at execforum@ceibs.edu, or call +86-21-28905396 for more information.
