2007 January Newsletter
Dear Fellow Alumni,
My best to all for the New Year.
Regards,
Bob Stillerman MBA '77, USIAA National Communications
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Happenings in the INSEAD Community
New Southern California President
I would like to welcome Karim Kano, a Senior Managing Director for Alagem Capital Group. Karim serves as Chief Strategy Officer of various business entities in the group portfolio. Among other things, he manages private equity investments in a number of early and middle stage high technology ventures.
From 1994 to 1998, Karim served as Vice President Strategic Investments and Acquisitions for Packard Bell. Prior to joining Packard Bell, he was Vice President of Zenith Data Systems Corporation and an Executive with Groupe Bull. Karim also served in various capacities with Schlumberger Limited, Gilbert Associates, and Westinghouse Electrical Corporation. Karim received his BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, his MS in Electronics and Computer Sciences from the University of Michigan, and his MBA in Program-Finance and Investment from INSEAD..
Karim, originally from Lebanon, is married to Elisabeth and they have two children, Alexandra 11 and Nicolas 8. The family moved to Los Angeles in 1994 and currently lives in the West side.
Karim takes over the role from Dirk DeWart who had been the local President for many years and that we wish to thank profusely for his efforts to keep a very wide region together and organize a number of quality events, including the annual Committee meeting in February of last year. In spite of a recent and well-deserved promotion that will make him even busier, Dirk has accepted to remain involved and we look forward to new and exciting things happening in the Los Angeles area, thanks to Karim and him.
Michel Darnaud, EVP Regions, MBA '84
The US INSEAD Alumni Fund Telephone Fundraising Campaign / Thank you for taking our calls!
A huge thank you to everyone who took a call from our dedicated team of 9 partners and students! We know that you?re busy and really appreciate you giving us the time - especially as we?re asking you for money!
Each annual IAF telephone campaign aims to raise funds for a variety of priority institutional causes: scholarships, research and infrastructure. Past campaigns helped the school provide financial aid to almost 100 talented MBA scholars who otherwise may not have been able to study at INSEAD. More than 50 research projects received IAF funding including topics as diverse as organisational behaviour, hedge funds, humanitarian aid and leadership. Those who returned to Fontainebleau recently or have visited our campus in Singapore cannot but have noticed the very tangible results of the school?s ongoing investment in state of the art facilities. These three core axes of development help ensure that INSEAD remains a leader in its field.
Some facts and figures about the 2006 US phonathon:
- About 900 pre-call post-cards sent to Alumni living in the USA
- 9 (partner/student) callers
- 260 hours of calling
- 50% of the alumni who answered the phone promised to make a gift
- $20,000 collected to date and many more pledges secured
Although the results of the US campaign are still coming in we hope to do even better than last year! It is never too late to participate; you can make your donation online right now at http://www.inseadusa.com/imef/donate/.
Don?t worry if you live in Asia or Europe and haven?t heard from us yet ? we will be calling your region in the New Year, and look forward to speaking with you then!
Thanks again for your continued help and support,
Sharyanne McSwain, Alumni Fund, MBA, '91 on behalf of the IAF Telephone Fundraising Campaign Team
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INSEAD in the News ? December 2006
December was another strong month for INSEAD in the US press. Many of you read the story on ?Lucky Options? that created buzz across the country, thanks to a report written by Urs Peyer at INSEAD, Lucian Bebchuk at Harvard, and Yaniv Grinstein at Cornell. Those of you who follow food trends may have seen more coverage of INSEAD marketing professor Pierre Chandon?s ?Low Fat Foods? study, which was released in November. The school?s global activities, in Singapore and in Abu Dhabi, were talked about in the US press.
Here are some highlights:
Study: 1,400 Directors Were 'Lucky' With Their Stock Option Grants,
By Ellen Simon - Associated Press,
December 19, 2006
?About 1,400 corporate directors received option grants whose timing was manipulated, according to an academic study released Monday. Of all options grants to directors, about 9 percent were received at ?lucky? times ? when the stock price was equal to a monthly low. After studying the period form 1996 to 2005, academics at Harvard Law School, Cornell University and INSEAD in France estimated that about 800 lucky grant events were the result of opportunistic timing.?
Link to the Washington Post?s reporting of the story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/17/AR2006121701043.html
Low-Fat Foods May Encourage Overeating,
Consumer Affairs.com,
December 14, 2006
People -- especially overweight people -- consume up to 50 percent more calories when they eat low-fat versions of snack foods than when they eat the regular versions, according to a new Cornell study. The study, conducted with Pierre Chandon, a marketing professor at INSEAD, an international business school in France, is published in the November issue of the Journal of Marketing Research. http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/12/low_fat_foods.html
U.S. Universities Set Up Campuses in Arab Lands,
By Jim Krane - Associated Press,
December 4, 2006
U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf are spending billions to keep students at home by luring their favorite U.S. and European universities here. American colleges aren't the only ones moving in. Paris' Sorbonne University opened a campus in Abu Dhabi this year. France's INSEAD Business School has announced plans for an executive education center there too - similar to one that it opened in Israel.?
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061202/BUSINESS/612020423/1003
Ellen Cohan, MBA '02, VP Public Relations
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Membership
New Year Resolution: Save on Membership Fees!
2006 was a great year. INSEAD has a new Dean and a new logo. the MBA program has increased the percentage of women enrolled and our association the number of its members who demonstrate fabulous support for the brand!
We want 2007 to start equally brilliantly and to mark the beginning of the year, we have decided to lower the annual membership fees to $75. Yes, you've read well! All new members will now be asked to contribute $75 to the dynamism of this association!
So - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!"
Nathalie Criou, '04, VP Membership
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Career Opportunities
Career Services News
Help your fellow alumni in their career aspirations:
Many of us belong to enterprises that frequently or occasionally hire MBA?s, and you may be willing to talk about your organization to our recent graduates aspiring to a career in the U.S. They would be interested in learning about your organization, its policies, practices, opportunities, etc. The dialog could be by phone or by e-mail, or even face-to-face, if it can be arranged.
Please confirm your willingness to help our fellow alumni through communicating with them for a few minutes to an hour, by providing the following information to me by email.
Name:
Organization:
Phone #:
E-mail:
For privacy reasons, we will not publish a list of participants on our Web site, but we will publicize the availability of this service in our newsletters and Website.
Mba-jobs Digest
Mba-jobs Digest is a daily e-mail blast of the currently available jobs. Alumni can subscribe to the list either to announce positions available or to job hunt. The mailing list is moderated by Dharma Djojonegro (MBA- July ?05) by a system which combines subscribers? job announcements into a single daily e-mail that then goes to all subscribers. To join the mailing list, send a blank e-mail to:
mba-jobs-subscribe@inseadalumni.org - confirmation is required by clicking a link.
To unsubscribe, send an e-ail to mba-jobs-unsubscribe@inseadalumni.org
It appears this listing gets a lot of very high quality traffic and is very valuable for recent alumni. It's a fantastic example of community-generated content with real value and facilitated by very simple technology.
Career Seminar in NY, April ?07
The Tri-State NY Chapter is planning a career seminar in early April with a panel of career experts from select industries. Our fellow alum, Peter Felix, President of the Association of Executive Search Consultants and his staff specialized in career management services, will be spearheading this program. Details with the exact date and location will be announced in January.
Jag Rao, Vice President, Careers, MBA, '
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Regional News
Northern California and NorthWest - Jonathan Klinger, MBA '99, President
I'm delighted to announce the appointment of Paawan Kothari to the role of Director of Communications for the INSEAD Alumni Association in "Northern California".
Paawan is a recent graduate from INSEAD (class of July '06) where she spent time at both Fontainebleau and Singapore Campuses. She works as a Marketing manager for IBM in the Marketing organization of IBM's Software Group, doing cross-program planning for the Information Management brand. Prior to INSEAD, Paawan was in Professional Services for nine years working for Oracle, Commerce One and Trigo Technologies (acquired by IBM in 2004). Born in India, Paawan moved to the US to further her education. She received her masters degree in Computer Science from the University of Southern California. After graduation, she moved to San Francisco Bay Area for her first job and has lived here ever since (apart from the one year she spent at INSEAD). Paawan is a proponent of eco-friendly, sustainable and healthy lifestyle and dreams of starting her "eco-chic and fair trade" home store in the future.
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INSEAD Alumni Holiday Party 2006-7
When: Saturday, Jan 20th, 7pm ? 11pm (and dancing beyond!)
Where: Circolo restaurant, private ?Wa? lounge
500 Florida St @ Mariposa, Potrero Hill, San Francisco
http://www.circolosf.com/
Directions: http://www.circolosf.com/directions.html
Dress code: chic & festive
Price:
INSEAD Alumni Association members: $45 before Jan 11th, $55 after
Non-IAA members and guests: $65
What?s included: dinner, drinks & dancing
Registration: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=125869
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MBA Event organized by Swissnex
Think Out of the (In)box: Team-intensive collaboration solutions from an MBA perspective
Date: February 6, 2007 6:30-9:00PM
Location: Swissnex, Montgomery 730, San Francisco, CA, 94111
Overview: Join MBA alumni and faculty members for a panel-lead discussion on the topic of new trends in team collaboration technologies. Leading Bay Area academics and industry experts will lead a discussion on state of the art collaboration solutions and social trends that support knowledge-intensive team projects from an MBA student?s perspective.
Panelists: Well-balanced panel of professionals, academics and analysts on team collaboration. Currently committed panelists include from the academia Dr. Homa Bahrami and Sara Beckman (Haas, UC Berkeley), venture capitalist Dave Hornik (August Capital), and the moderator, David Coleman (Collaborative Strategies), an industry specialist in the field of collaboration. See below panelists' profiles.
Program:
6:00 Open doors
6:30 Welcome by Swissnex and Collanos Software
Panel Discussion
8:00 - 9:00 Networking and Finger Food
9:30 Doors close
RSVP: Free event, please register in advance.
Suggestion: For those who are planning to attend the event, we highly recommend downloading and installing Collanos Workplace as this will give you a better idea of how simple it is to Think Out of the (In)box and be more effective on team projects.
To read more details on the event: http://www.collanos.com/m1/en/about_us/events
DC - Richard Pulliam, MBA ', President
Happy New Year and Welcome!
HAPPY NEW YEAR! I am very excited to start off 2007 to start working toward a fantastic year for our alumni! And let us all welcome John and Amanda?s new baby boy Max. Thanks to John for all the hard work for INSEAD DC and make sure you bring Max, surely a future INSEAD?er to some future events!
DC Coming Online
First on the agenda is the upcoming launch of the INSEAD DC Alumni Web Site, which will allow for easy communication of news, events and even among each other!
Second, we will continue monthly cocktails this year with other top tier schools and soon to unveil a joint online networking/community effort called DC MBA Network, coming soon to a browser near you!
Please email me at richard.pulliam at alumni.insead.edu or call me at 415-299-1705 with anything you might like to discuss. I am excited to be serving you all and welcome your advice and feedback!
MidWest ? Brigitte Morel, MBA ?78, President
February 3rd, starting at 5.30 pm
Your are invited to a party at Liska and David Blodgett, 333 North Canal TH-4 (townhouse 4).
Valet Parking is available. Although there is also street parking since not too many people are in that neck of the woods yet.
Liska and I will cater some food, please bring a bottle of something...
Please RSVP to let me know if you will be with us.
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Dinner with Minnesota Alumni
Brigitte Morel and Mary Hess will welcome the Minnesota Alumni at a dinner in Minneapolis on Feb 1st, in a local restaurant. RSVP to Mary Hess.
SouthEast - David Ratajczak, MBA '06, President
All INSEAD alums and affiliates in the Southeast are cordially invited to our first dinner event of 2007 at South City Kitchen (1144 Crescent Ave NE, Atlanta, 30309) on January 27th from 6-8PM.
Please RSVP by email to david.ratajczak at alumni.insead.edu or by phone (404) 348-3940. We haven?t had an event in a while, so I hope to see everyone there! Guests are welcome
TriState, Shivani Kannabhiran, MBA '00, President
Happy New Year to everyone and welcome to 2007! We?ve lots of events planned for the year and we hope to see as many of you as possible in 2007.
Need an achievable New Years Resolution that results in big dividends?
Join the INSEAD Alumni Association. Membership qualifies you for significantly reduced prices at our various events, and helps subsidize the events that are organized for you on a volunteer basis. http://www.inseadusa.com/membership-online.asp
There are some key dates to put into your calendars as we start the new year but first an update on our FANTASTIC holiday cocktail party in December.
A huge thank you to our tireless team of volunteers who made this event such a success:
Melina Spadone (MBA 2000), Anne Holbach (MBA 1985) , Natalia Lechmanova (MBA 2002), Peggy and Jag Rao (MBA 1964) , Simone Amber (MBA 1980), Susan Mulcahy (MBA 2000), Robert Dunand (MBA 1975) , Stephanie Lim (MBA 2004) with advice and help from Hinson Ng (MBA 2000) and JJ Doran (MBA 1981) .
The INSEAD Tri-State Volunteer Team
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The Tri-State Holiday Cocktail Party ? Smashing time had by all
We had a fabulous evening at Axelle Fine Arts Galerie (www.axelle.com) on December 14th with about 85 alumns from the Tri-State region showing up for cava, sushi, wine and cheese. The gallery located in Soho is a beautiful space and features contemporary impressionist artists from all over the globe. Robert Dunand, MBA 1975, Senior Art Consultant and our very gracious host, gave us a short insight into the world of art. The evening gave people a chance to catch up and reconnect ? people came early and left late and drank up all the good stuff. Needless to say, a fun time was had by all.
Axelle Gallerie has kindly agreed to donate 3% of any art sales through December attributed to the INSEAD party towards the campaign to set up an INSEAD alumni office in New York City. We?ll have an update on the total raised in February 2007.
Thanks to Ann Holbach for the photos!
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January 2007 Events: Save the Date! (Tri-State Events)
Monthly cocktails January 11th, 2007:
Take advantage of the IAA 1st of the year offer and have a drink on us.
Welcome the new year and get over your holiday blues with friends and fellow alumni at the Four Seasons this January. Early bird INSEADers get one FREE drink!
Thursday, January 11th, 2007
When: 7:00 - 9:00pm
Where: The Four Seasons Hotel, 57 East 57th Street , New York , NY
(between Park and Madison)
Please contact Sandeep Gill, our monthly mojito man, on 908-406-1671 if you are unable to find the group.
Volunteer Team meeting January 11th, 2007:
Looking to hang out with the most fun people in the City? Join the volunteer team! We meet at the McKinsey offices in midtown (55 East 52nd and Park), at 6:30 pm on Thursday January 11th. We?ll head over to the Four Seasons to join everyone else for a drink after the meeting. Please RSVP to Shivani..
Calling all entrepreneurs.
Are you interested in networking and meeting with other INSEAD entrepreneurs? If so, contact Joe Tabet Joe Tabet (MBA 1992). Joe is hoping to initiate an entrepreneurs club in early January 2007.
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OTHER INFO: MANAGING YOUR CAREER
Executive Search and Your Career - The BlueSteps Guide to Career Management
by the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC)
A fellow alumnus, Peter Felix (MBA 1973) is President of the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC), the worldwide professional association for the retained executive search industry. Peter has kindly offered INSEAD alumni the following service on BlueSteps.com, the premier online career service that puts you in touch with exclusive, top-tier executive search recruiters.
INSEAD alumni - Sign up for BlueSteps.com today and receive a 30% discount on membership fees. To take advantage of this offer, go to www.bluesteps.com and enter the following partner code when you reach the credit card payment screen: xinsd
Read on?.
Candidates are often confused about executive search, and are unsure of precisely what role they play in the process of retained search. Misconceptions about the search professional-candidate relationship abound.
BlueSteps.com is the largest online global community of senior executives and the only career management service providing executives continual exposure to the world's top search firms. For more information, go to www.bluesteps.com
AESC is also proud to announce the publication of their new book, Executive Search and Your Career ? The BlueSteps Guide to Career Management. This book is designed to answer questions about executive search, provide an overview and history of the industry and a step-by-step explanation of the entire process. In addition to explicit advice for working with executive search consultants, the book contains expert tips on networking, presentation, interviewing, and negotiation.
INSEAD alumni can get a copy of the book for 35% off the cover price at $12.95. Click Here to read more and order your copy today.
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Save the date: FEBRUARY 2007
2nd week February (check the website for updates):
Ending poverty in Africa: What is the role of the private sector?
Featured speaker: Guido Schmidt-Traub, Associate Director, UN Millennium Project
In 2000, world leaders adopted eight Millennium Development Goals and committed themselves to halve extreme poverty by 2015. Over the past 4 years, the UN Millennium Project (www.unmillenniumproject.org) under the direction of Prof. Jeffrey D. Sachs, has worked with the leading development experts and governments to develop practical approaches for achieving universal primary school enrolment, cutting maternal mortality rates by 75%, halving hunger, and meeting the other Millennium Development Goals. Why has progress in Africa been so slow and what will it take to achieve these Goals? What is the role of the private sector? Can of this really be done? You?ll have a chance to ask questions directly, hear some of the tremendous success stories to date, and get first-hand insight into how the UN and the international system works.
Many more events are planned throughout the year including talks by alumni, industry events, networking events, recruiting events, random dinners and much more. Check out the Tri-State website for details about our INSEAD events as well as events by the Grandes Ecoles group and the NY Business School Club at: www.inseadusa.com/nyc
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USIAA Contacts
US INSEAD Alumni Association (USIAA) National Executive Team
| Daniel Lalonde, President Email: Daniel.lalonde at lvmhwatchjewelry.com |
Anne Holbach, Vice President, Human Resources Email: acholbach at aol.com |
| Michel Darnaud, Executive Vice President, Regions Email: Michel.darnaud at alumni.insead.edu |
Jonathan Meiri, Vice President, Entrepreneurship E-mail: jonathanmeiri at yahoo.com |
| Yusuf Khapra, Executive Vice President, Operations Email: yusuf.khapra at alumni.insead.edu |
Nathalie Criou, Vice President, Membership Email: nathalie.criou at alumni.insead.edu |
| Renita Kalhorn, USIAA Administrative Coordinator Email: renita.kalhorn at earthlink.net |
Ellen Cohan, Vice President, Public Relationsr E-mail: ellen.cohan at alumni.insead.edu |
| Lydia Zaininger, Treasurer E-mail: lydia at zaininger.com |
Bob Stillerman, Vice President, National Communications Email: bob at VoiceTip.com |
| Jag Rao, Vice President, Careers E-mail: jagadish.rao at alumni.insead.edu |
Other US INSEAD Contacts
| Frank Brown, Dean Email: frank.brown at insead.edu |
Roberto
Buaron, President, US Council Email: Roberto.Buaron at alumni.insead.edu |
| Eric Benhamou, Chairman West Coast Council Email: eric at benhamouglobalventures.com |
Sharyanne McSwain, IAF Rep (National) Email: sharyanne.mcswain at sgcib.com |
| Tom Barry, President IMEF Email: tcb at zmlp.com |
US INSEAD Alumni Association (USIAA) - Regional Presidents
| Aleksandra Bozic President of New England [Boston] E-mail: abozic2002 at yahoo.com (Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Delaware, Vermont) |
Jonathan Klinger President of Northern California & Northwest Region E-mail: jonathan.klinger at gmail.com (Northern California, Washington, Oregon) |
| Frances Pordes Phillips President of Central [Denver] E-mail: fpordes at yahoo.com (Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, North/South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas) |
Karim Kano President of SoCal E-mail: karim.kano at alumni.insead.edu (Southern California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona) |
| Darach Chapman President of Florida [Miami] E-mail: darach.chapman at us.pwc.com |
David Ratajczak President of Southeast [Atlanta] E-mail: dratajcz at yahoo.com (North/South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee) |
| Brigitte Morel President of Midwest [Chicago] E-mail: bmorelcurran at ameritech.net (Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan) |
Richard Pulliam President of Washington, DC E-mail: richard.pulliam at alumni.insead.edu (Virginia, W. Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, DC) |
| Siv Gollakota President of South Central [Houston, TX] E-mail: sivaram.gollakota at alumni.insead.edu (Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana) |
Shivani Kannabhiran President of NY, TriState & PA E-mail: shivani.kannabhiran at gmail.com (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania) |
| Song Bac Toh Contact for Pacific Northwest Region E-mail: songbac.toh at alumni.insead.edu (Washington, Oregon, British Columbia) |
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