Executive+Director+Mr.+Derbyshire

=Introducing our Executive Director and Architect for the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at Guangya International Schools...= = = =Previously, "Director of Academic Office", 2010-2013...= = = =Mr. Richard (Rich) Derbyshire:=


 * "Mr. Rich" never ceases to explore and create**.

His newest development is the innovative **Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership**, with the benchmark **Business, Economics, and Entrepreneurship Studies Program**. The **first program of its kind in China**, **a milestone** and **a benchmark** for such programs world-wide.

Rich comes to Guangya via the prestigious China Agricultural University (CAU) in Beijing. There he taught courses in business and management, business computing, e-business and management information systems (MIS/ICT) in CAU's International College.

His favorite subjects included entrepreneurship, marketing & direct/database marketing, operations management, international business, and e-business. His knowledge and experience as an e-business entrepreneur made for courses of outstanding richness and depth, such that CAU produced a video recording of Rich's e-business lectures via sponsoring a special university seminar series.

He also brought to China his 15 years experience and association with the MIT Enterprise Forum, and continuously champions and encourages entrepreneurship with his students. (See GuangyaOpenHouse: "Big Bang Fruit Stand" and "Business Club")

At CAU, Rich participated in a very special experimental project called "TiP", short for "Theory in Practice." The concept was to fundamentally redesign a business curriculum that emphasized learning through experience and experimentation. Rich has brought this new educational paradigm to Guangya, and his Faculty team is actively re-engineering the school's curriculum.

Rich loves technology and the advantages technology can bring to education. He has initiated the use of wikis as a communication medium for administrators, faculty and staff, and has championed the launch of the GuangyaOpenHouse, GuangyaFacultyPages, and GuangyaSchoolTimes digital student news. Behind the scenes, Rich expedited the installation of Moodle, a Course Management System (CMS), that enabled every teacher to have an interactive course website.

Prior to coming to China, Rich had a long career in "High-Tech". He was a consultant for E-Ink, an R&D Program Manager for MKS, and an e-business entrepreneur, for example. He was part of the Fujitsu-Gresham Semiconductor Fab start-up core team, and has been a Principal Engineer and Engineering Manager. He has a specialty in "turnarounds" and "start-ups" management. He says his career "grew up in Silicon Valley" where he worked and lived during Silicon Valley's "hey day".

Educationally, Rich is a polymath, and has completed three masters degree programs, two graduate certificates, and has a CAGS in an Ed.D. Program in Administration, Policy and Training Studies. His doctoral research focused on "technology transfer to developing countries", with a focus on China. His undergraduate studies included Physics & Math, with a focus on spectroscopy, and electronics. He says he's just a "life long learner, and has never stopped learning". His current interests outside of education include artificial intelligence & robotics, future studies, design and architecture, and "anything else that catches my interest".

One additional "love" is the topic of creative thinking and design. One of Rich's masters programs was in Critical & Creative Thinking. His thesis focused on the "technology of thinking" which he coined "Thinkology". His paper entitled "Thinkology and TQM" was accepted at the International Conference on Thinking in Malta. He has been trained in Kepner-Tregoe, Synectics, and CPS methodologies, to name but a few, and has met and worked with creative thinking guru's George Prince and Sydney Parnes. He is passionate about creativity and design, and integrates his knowledge and experience into his courses, and into his former job as the Guangya Academic Director, and now as Executive Director and Architect. Take a look at his innovative "business labs" on the GuangyaOpenHouse website.