A packed audience crowded Harvard Business School’s Burden Auditorium yesterday to watch four graduates receive honors at the annual Alumni Achievement Awards Forum.

Jay Light, Dean of Harvard Business School, presided.

“These Awards are the most important honor the school can bestow upon its graduates,” said HBS Dean Jay O. Light, who presided over the event. “These people personify what this school stands for.”

Since 1968, the awards have been presented to alumni who have led outstanding careers while making meaningful contributions to the world.

The four honorees were Sir Ronald M. Cohen, who received his MBA from Harvard in 1969, prominent venture capitalist and Co-founder and former Chairman of Apax Partners; William H. Donaldson, who graduated from HBS in 1958, Co-founder and former Chairman and CEO of Donaldson, Lufkin, & Jenrette, and former Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission; Ann S. Moore, a member of the MBA class of 1978, Chairman & CEO of TIME Inc.; and Philip L. Yeo, who earned his Harvard MBA in 1976, Chairman of Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology, & Research, and former Chairman of the Singapore Economic Development Board.

During the ceremony, the public service efforts of the honorees were highlighted.

Cohen recently stepped down from Apax to devote his work to social investing in the United Kingdom and the Middle East and Yeo has become a trailblazer in the effort to further work in the biomedical sciences in Singapore.

After the ceremony, HBS professor William Sahlman moderated a panel discussion, “The Communication of Wisdom and How It Makes A

Difference,” opening the floor to students. The honorees offered insight and advice on entering the business world.

Moore said she was enthusiastic about the opportunity to speak to the students.

“It’s fun to come back thirty years later and give new students tips about what to do,” she said.

HBS Director of Media Relations James Aisner said the event provided a valuable learning experience for the students.

“This is the opportunity for them to see, listen to, and learn from people who have done wonderful things with their lives, who have had an impact on the world, and who have fulfilled the mission of Harvard Business School, which is to make a difference in the world.”