2008 Headlines
The Parker Series: Designed to educate, stimulate, and broaden perspectives
Jeffrey P. Parker '65, MEng '66, MBA '70, managing director of The Parker Family Limited Partnership, founder of FirstCall and cofounder of both CCBN and StreetEvents, does not do things by halves. After moderating a panel discussion in Boston last year, "Asset Management Revisited: Strategies in a Newly Competitive Era," Parker decided to sponsor a number of similar events in cities around the world. The new Parker Series brings authoritative business experts to locations around the United States as well as London and Hong Kong. Jeff's goal is to make these "networking events designed to educate, stimulate, and broaden your perspective on timely business issues as well as what is going on at the Johnson School."
Similar in format to the school's "Business of..." series - an ongoing, periodic program of panel discussions launched in 2005 that draws on Johnson School intellectual capital to examine timely business issues - the Parker Series goes a step further, focusing exclusively on alumni audiences and expanding the School's reach and impact.
Parker has long been actively involved in the Johnson School, and currently serves as chair of both the Johnson School Advisory Council and the Parker Center Advisory Board, as well as a member of the Cayuga MBA Fund's Board of Directors. He decided to fund the Parker Series because he wanted to offer fellow alumni inspiring and informative networking opportunities that would appeal to a cross section of age groups.
The Parker Series discussion topics tend to focus on financial matters that showcase the school's strength in asset management, cultivated by the Parker Center for Investment Research, for which Parker provided the primary initial funding. Other topics so far include sustainability and entrepreneurship.
Parker, who founded and served as CEO of several successful financial service companies, serves as moderator at most of the events. He also works with the speakers in advance to determine the specific topics they will address, and some of the questions that could be asked at the end of the talks. "We try to keep these meetings really moving along, sometimes controversial, so that people go home saying, 'I took away something interesting, and I'm really glad I went,'" Parker says.
The Parker Series 2007-08 Events
September 19, 2007 - Boston: "Clean Energy: Myths, Realities, and Opportunities
February 28, 2008 - Chicago: "Expected Investment Returns Going Forward: Are You Being Realistic?"
March 13, 2008 - London: "Is Overdiversification Impacting Returns?"
March 20, 2008 - Hong Kong: "Asian Decoupling: Is It True This Time Around?"
April 22, 2008 - Los Angeles: Entrepreneurship (title TBA)
April 24, 2008 - San Francisco: Asset Management (title TBA)
2008-09 academic year - Locations for the four Parker Series events slated for the 2008-09 academic year include New York City, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. Topics and one additional location are to be determined.
