Cornell University The Johnson School at Cornell University

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May 2006

RenionSave the Date
Reunion Weekend 2006
June 8-11
[more information]

Becky MitchellDirector's Message: New alumni team in place
Greetings from Ithaca, NY, where the forsythia and daffodils are blooming! We are pleased to bring you this issue of Sage Connections, our periodic alumni newsletter. I am especially excited about this issue since I am announcing that our alumni affairs team is finally fully staffed! After many months of searching for the right candidate, we have found an individual whom I believe can elevate our alumni outreach efforts to a new level. [more]

A job well done! New national chair for Annual Fund
Robert D. Redmond, MBA '80, is stepping down as national annual fund chair. Rob has served the Johnson School in this capacity since the fall of 2002. In the annual report to donors in Rob's first year as chair, he was quoted as saying "A big reason I've taken on the job is that I believe in giving back in proportion to what's been given to me. It's easier to write a check than invest your time. This is where I saw the need." Rob has more than lived up to that promise, giving freely of his time and advice. In addition to his work with the annual fund, Rob maintains his association with the Johnson School as a corporate recruiter, and now as a member of the advisory council.

In the years that Rob has been our chair, the annual fund has risen from $1.1 million and 21 percent participation rate in fiscal 2003, to $1.5 million and a 25 percent participation rate in fiscal 2005. We sincerely thank Rob for his service to the Johnson School.

Randall Chafetz, MBA '85, has agreed to serve as our national annual fund and dean's leadership committee chair for a two-year term, beginning in July 2006. In this capacity, he will also serve ex officio on the Johnson School advisory council. The dean's leadership committee is a group of alumni who assist the Johnson School annual fund in raising gifts at the Tower Club ($5,000 +) level from fellow alumni. Randy has for many years been a strong and consistent supporter of the Johnson School annual fund, and a valued advisor to the director of the annual fund. He has served on the dean's leadership committee since its inception in 2003. In 2005 he co-chaired the class of 1985 20th reunion campaign, which resulted in $162,240 in gifts from 25 percent of the class. Randy is a managing director and group head of capital markets at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities (USA), the broker/dealer affiliate of Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ ("BTMU") He joined Mitsubishi in November 1998 from UBS, where he headed the private placement and structured finance capital markets groups. Prior to UBS, he spent ten years at Credit Suisse First Boston in New York and London in various capital markets and private finance roles. Randy holds a bachelor of commerce from the University of British Columbia. He is married to Lisa Strauss-Chafetz and lives in Manhattan.

Alumni are capitalizing on innovation
Johnson School students, faculty, alumni, and friends turned out for the student-organized "Capitalizing on Innovation" symposium in March. The Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club and Net Impact sponsored the event, as part of the first annual Entrepreneurship@Cornell Celebration.

"Capitalizing on Innovation" was designed to inspire and inform potential entrepreneurs interested in owning their own businesses or investing in high-growth ventures. The symposium featured panel discussions with leading venture capitalists and entrepreneurs from across the United States and the world.

Emerging Markets
The Johnson School's own Archil Gachechiladze, MBA '06, discussed venture capital opportunities and risks in Eastern Europe. Gachechiladze spoke about extensive venture capital experience in the former Soviet Bloc country of Georgia as a member of the panel on Investing in Emerging Markets.

"You find the opportunity to make a lot of money in industries that wouldn't be perceived as growth industries in the U.S.," Gachechiladze said. "One example is banking." One caveat to investing in Eastern Europe: "Your partner really matters," Gachechiladze said. "The legal system is not that developed, and it's hard to enforce contracts."

For Raj Alur, MBA '95, managing director, Vesbridge Partners, LLC, oversight of investments in emerging markets is critical." Young companies are in a fluid state, and require constant monitoring from the investor prospective," he said.

Clean Technology
Clean technology came to the fore during the panel discussion "Investing in Clean Technology Ventures," as did two Johnson School alums: J. Alex Sloan, MBA '98, partner in Blackwolf Ventures, and Cameron Brooks, MBA '03, project director, Clean Energy Group.

Brooks specializes in public-private partnerships focused on community-based alternative energy development. Rising gas prices, he said, are driving interest in a whole range of alternative fuels, not just clean technologies. Sloan, on the other hand, says his firm is not investing in commodity driven products. "I'm nervous about making investments that bet on government subsidies," he said, "because subsidies go away."

Sonia Rucker Office of Diversity welcomes assistant director
The Johnson School's Office of Diversity and Inclusion is pleased to welcome Sonia Rucker as the assistant director. Previously, Sonia worked in Cornell's Office of Minority Educational Affairs where she served as the associate director for the last three years. Sonia has several years of experience working in student services at Southeast Missouri State University, career placement services at the Full Employment Council in Missouri, and in government services at the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services in Austin, Texas. Sonia holds a BA in psychology from Central Missouri State University, and she earned her MS in educational psychology: industrial/organizational psychology at Tarleton State University at Central Texas.

Get involved with career recruitment events
Our Career Management Center (CMC) invites alumni to represent their companies and participate in the following events and programs during the 2006-2007 academic year:

2006-'07 Recruiting Opportunity Events

We encourage alumni to return to Sage Hall and talk with students about a variety of topics such as international careers, careers in specific functional/industry areas, transitioning to the workplace, etc. Please call the CMC (607-255-4888) or e-mail cmc@johnson.cornell.edu for more details on any of the listed programs. We'd love to host you!

JS holds steady in latest ranking
U.S. News & World Report released its latest annual rankings of business schools in early April. Most of the top business schools remained in basically the same positions. The Johnson School is #16 (we were #15 last year). Over the last five years in this particular survey we have consistently ranked between #14 and #16.

Unlike the Financial Times, U.S. News does not solicit data from alumni. Their ranking is based on a combination of statistical indicators (60 percent), and evaluations from recruiters and business school deans/program directors ("quality assessment" = 40 percent). Understanding that the variance between schools on many of these attributes is very small, we did better compared to some peer schools on attributes such as recruiter and peer evaluations, admissions acceptance rates and starting salary for graduates. We did not do as well as some of our peers on GPA and GMAT scores--which are not our sole barometers of quality in admissions--and employment three months after graduation. As we do whenever we get feedback on our programs, we will analyze these results to see what we should be doing in addition to our current initiatives to improve the quality and reputation of the school.

Catch the Durland Lecture on the web
For those of you who could not attend the annual Durland Lecture, the video is now available via the Johnson School Web site.

Sharon Allen, chairman of the Board of Directors, Deloitte & Touche USA LLP delivered the 19th Durland lecture on February 28. Her address was the "The Workforce of Tomorrow: Leadership, Integrity and the Changing Business Environment."

Allen has been named one of the "Top 50 Women to Watch" by the Wall Street Journal, "Top 100 Most Influential" in accounting by Accounting Today magazine, and an outstanding leader by the United Way of Greater Los Angeles for her philanthropic efforts.

The Durland Lecture Series is the most prestigious invitational business-speaking event at the Johnson School. It was established in memory of Lew Durland, treasurer emeritus of Cornell, who served as the university's chief financial officer for more than 25 years.

Featured alumni
Imran Khan, MBA '00, is the director of marketing at E-LOAN and oversees a marketing budget of over $50 million and all aspects of integrated online and offline customer acquisition activities including TV, online, sports and direct mail marketing. [more]

David M. Bowen, MBA '77, was named assistant administrator for Information Services and chief information officer (CIO) of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on January 9, 2006. [more]

Eric Beringause, MBA '82, joined Alcoa in January 2006 as president, Alcoa Consumer Products. [more]

Recent media hits
Johnson School faculty and staff were quoted or mentioned in numerous news articles in the last few months. They include Danny Szpiro, director, Boardroom EMBA program; marketing Professor Brian Wansink; economics Professor Robert Frank; finance Professor Yaniv Grinstein; and Dean Robert Swieringa. BR Ventures, the student-run venture-capital fund, also received media attention.

Publications include the New York Times; Business Week Online; St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Mass High Tech; National Post of Canada; the Columbian of Clark County, Washington; The Oregonian of Portland, Oregon; the Globe and Mail of Canada; and the New Zealand Herald.

Events

View the online alumni events calendar to check out the latest offerings in your area. It's a great way to keep in touch!