The HBS Century Club
Mission Statement

The HBS Century Club exists to stimulate discussion among its student members and noted guest speakers, who are expert on issues of pressing national and world importance, the sciences, humanities and the arts - issues that are beyond the traditional boundaries of business and commerce.  Membership in the Club is open to any Harvard MBA student who has achieved First Year honors.

The HBS Century Club
History

Since its founding in 1933, the HBS Century Club has provided a forum for Harvard MBA students to address the great issues of the day with distinguished national and world leaders.  The Club was formed by students as the world plunged from the depths of an economic depression to the ravages of a global war.  Many of the Club's alumni have become distinguished national leaders and policy makers.  Over 1000 former Harvard MBA students, men and women of all races, religions and many nationalities are alumni of the club.

Founding of the HBS Century Club
By: the late Arthur H. Dadian, MBA 1934, Founder and First President
(Written April 1, 1983 upon the fiftieth anniversary of the HBS Century Club)

The founding of the HBS Century Club in 1933 was the result of several things.  One was the mess the country was in - the Great Depression.  I still remember Professor Philip Cabot, a great teacher and a great man not given to exaggeration, telling us at the School that this could be the end of our way of life and our freedom.

Another factor was my background. My family had come to America after escaping the massacre of the Armenians by the Turks during World War 1.  We loved America, felt Indebted to it, and were saddened by what was happening to It.  My years at Harvard College, where I majored in American history and had attended lectures by great teachers such as Professors Kittredge, Whitehead, Lake and Perry, had made me love America even more and given me an overall picture of the country and its problems.

A third factor was the outlook of the Business School at that time.  It seemed so parochial, interested only in competence in business and unaware of the importance to business of competence in government and handling of national problems.  And here was a top grade student body many of whom would one day achieve positions of power.  Yet nothing was being done to interest them in our national problems and to help them learn how to determine the nature of those problems and the appropriate remedies.  (I might add that when I was the President of the HBS Club of Washington in 1949, the School was still ignoring this.  We worked very hard, fortunately with some success, to change its ways.)

All of these things led me to decide that a group should be formed to concern itself with our national problems - to identify them and consider solutions for them.

I discussed my ideas with Professors John Gurney Callan and Georges Doriot, both of whom I admired.  They encouraged me to go ahead with my plans.  Before the formation of the group was announced, I heard a rumor that the Dean was about to prohibit any more new clubs because he felt that the students had too heavy a schedule to take on additional Interests.  At that point, I asked Professor Callan to be our Honorary President and Professor Dorlot to be our first speaker.  They agreed.

Thus one night in 1933, without any formal announcement of the formation of the Club, a group of about eight of us sat around a table at the Faculty Club and had our first meeting.  I was president and Professor Dorlot was our speaker.

I must confess I do not remember exactly what we called the group.  That was not important.  But it was not based on or connected with any previous club at the School or any similar club outside the School.  I must admit we did not know how long the group would last, especially since the Dean's office was against it.

So you can imagine how pleasantly surprised and delighted I am that the Club has survived and prospered and become a Club of great distinction and accomplishment.  (The current president's) plan to have the alumni play an active roll will make the Club even more successful in the future.  We all owe a debt of gratitude to all those who nurtured the Club through the years and to the student member who have made this 50th Anniversary Celebration possible.

Editor's note: The HBS Century Club proudly celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2008.

The Club continues to provide a forum for outstanding Harvard MBA second-year students to address the great issues of the day with distinguished national and world leaders.