Letter of Reference (1)
To whom it may concern:

It is my great pleasure to write this letter of recommendation for Mr. Li Yan, one of the best staffs in my company, for entrance into your MBA program.

I have known Li for about two years since he joined my company. I hired him as a software engineer for FOX product of my company, CGI Japan, in May of 2000. CGIjapn is the Japan subsidiary of CGI Corp, which is the fourth largest independent IT services provider in the world (ranking No.1 in Canada) . CGIjapn's clients are mainly the large financial companies in Japan. FOX is our key software package. It is an advanced system for real-time stock trading, providing customers with real time market information and maximum uptime services. Due to the high productivity of the financial industry where loss may count to million dollars for a single system-down, it is a really challenge to any IT professional who wants to pursue a career success. It has proven that Li is the very person from the beginning. He shows his ability to handle every critical situation. His professional skill, plus his personality and gifts of perception, gains the trust of his customers and colleagues. Besides, his communication skill has helped us overcome some very difficult situations and brought back a very important customer.

Li has the potential to be a good leader. First of all, he is quite ready to take the responsibility and deal with the subsequent difficulties. In August 2000, after the sudden leave of his team leader while they were doing a project for SANWA Securities, Li was appointed to take the leadership. He took over the management despite of the strict schedule and the complicated situations. Thanks to his effective communication with the customers (he could speak very fluent Japanese), the project was finished on time and was highly evaluated by the customer. Secondly, Li is very good at learning and applying his knowledge to practice. He spent his spare time to study project management, and finally got a certification as Project Management Professional (PMP) from Project Management Institute. I should say it is a quite difficult certification. Moreover, he effectively utilized some software tools in his project planning and management: a website integrated with such tools was constructed under his proposal to facilitate the communication and cooperation among his team members. All these have helped him to finish several projects on time and on budget.

Lastly, Li always keeps very good relations with people around, such as his supervisors, colleagues and customers. His team is composed of members from different countries. I know that they all have very good impression of Li. This should largely rely on his humility. Whenever there's some trouble, he never blamed others or shirked his responsibility. Instead, He could concentrate on finding the cause of the problems and solve them. This helped to keep his whole team as a high-efficient and harmonious professional group. Li also keeps very good relations with his customers, even after the project is over. I remembered what he has said to me, that "the finish of contract is the beginning of relationship".

As I know, Li is an ambitious young man who desires for further development through a systematic study of business knowledge. For this, he would even abandon his position of now. I am very sorry for his leave but I respect his decision and I believe he would have a very success future. I also believe he could make outstanding contribution to your college.

Yours truly,
Jimmy
Director of Capital Market Dept.
CGI JAPAN