he sits on the board of trustees of his alma mater, northwestern university, the tsinghua university school of management and economics in beijing, the american enterprise institute, the business council, the american society of corporate executives, and the chicago council of global affairs. he serves as chair of the rhodes scholars selection committee for illinois-michigan. he has served as chairman of the u.s.-china business council. he has also served on the boards of the rand corporation, the u.s. department of defense, the u.s. department of defense science board. he has been an advisor to the city of tianjin, china, the ceo of hong kong, and the searle family trust. in 2004, he co-founded the galvin projects, a virtual global think tank that published three books (2008–09).