Club Events Reflect Diverse Student Interests
Club Events Reflect Diverse Student Interests
The breadth of interests and experiences among the School's MBA students can easily be seen when looking at the diversity of student organizations. In addition to the standard business topics of investment banking, marketing, and international business, the 62 officially recognized clubs on campus include students interested in motorcycles, the martial arts, the state of Texas, and wine and cuisine. The following summaries represent a few of the many happenings that student groups have organized in recent months.
WSA Conference Focuses on Reaching Goals
"There is today a great need for leaders who live their lives with integrity, courage, and commitment," declared Dean Kim B. Clark in his welcoming comments at the Women's Student Association's (WSA) eighth annual business leadership conference in late January.
The conference is the yearly centerpiece event of the WSA, a fifteen-year-old organization whose mission is to foster a supportive environment for women at the Business School and to provide services that help them to succeed as students and in their careers. The event is cosponsored by the Committee of 200, an organization of the nation's top businesswomen.
Held at Burden Auditorium, the theme of the 1999 conference was "Women Enriching Business." To that end, the WSA gathered together a host of prominent women from the public and private sectors to participate with attendees in panel discussions, speeches, and receptions. From Judy Haberkorn (111th AMP), president of Public and Operator Services at Bell Atlantic, to Pamela A. Thomas-Graham (MBA '88/JD '89), a partner at McKinsey & Company, to Joan Helpern, president and CEO of Joan & David Shoes, the conference featured a rich diversity of knowledge and skills, not to mention style.
In fact, the business side of style was the subject of a rousing keynote address delivered by Martha Stewart, chairman and CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, and Sharon L. Patrick (MBA '78), the firm's president, that kicked off the day's events.
Widely touted as a cultural icon and arbiter of domestic decorum, Stewart said her business owes its success to the "respectability and trust" she has built with her audience over the years. From rewiring a vintage lamp to baking the perfect pie shell, "we're intent on encompassing style in its highest form," she said. "We're reaching out to get the audience to believe that homemaking and gardening are an art form, not drudgery."
Stewart and Patrick have worked to bring their vision of style to an even wider audience, as their newest venture with strategic partner Kmart illustrates. Stewart reported that her soon-to-be-launched "everyday garden" line is expected to exceed $1 billion in sales within three years. Based on the success of her two-year-old bed-and-bath Kmart product line, which has already surpassed the $1-billion mark, that lofty goal seems realistic.
After the keynote address, conference-goers fanned out to attend sessions on topics such as "Launching Your Career," a discussion between HBS professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter and McKinsey's Thomas-Graham. Afternoon sessions delved into industry-specific interests, from finance to public policy to marketing.
Joan & David's Helpern gave a particularly moving presentation on "Career Transition: Doing It All." She exhorted the world's future business leaders to consider that "you have a chance to become what you want to become." In an age of mass production and cost cutting, Helpern spoke of her personal commitment to providing products that stand out for their quality and style. "I believe in designing things that have value and make you feel unique," she said. "Better to go with longevity than be a sheep following the herd.
"I encourage women to dare," she told the rapt crowd, "and to believe that everything is possible."
by Eileen K. McCluskey
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WesTrek:Students Find Options in Bay Area
This year's "WesTrek" offered more than three hundred HBS students and partners a chance to network and investigate career options in the opportunity-rich San Francisco Bay Area. Held in early January, the annual WesTrek is sponsored by the High Tech and New Media Club, with collaboration from other student clubs as well as the School's Career Services Office and California Research Center.
Representing the gamut of career options in the area, participating companies included small, private firms like software startup AlphaBlox, well-established public giants like Intel and Hewlett-Packard, and a host of firms in between. While most of the companies fell into the category of high tech-new media, communications, and computer software and hardware-others represented more traditional business activities, such as consulting, retail, and banking. All told, 150 firms participated, either by hosting site visits or by having employees serve on panel discussions or deliver presentations to students.
The HBS "trekkers" spent their days touring companies and learning more about career and summer job opportunities. In the evenings, they met HBS alumni, fellow graduate students from local universities, and company representatives from around the region. Nightly social events hosted by local sponsors provided students with a chance to network informally.
The first WesTrek, in 1996, attracted just 75 students. In the past few years, however, HBS student interest in working in the Bay Area has increased. With a strong alumni network and a full range of career options, the Bay Area is now, after New York City, the second most popular destination for graduating MBAs.
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Exploring Asia at the Crossroads
The 1999 Harvard Asia Business Conference, held at HBS in early February, again lived up to its billing as Harvard University's largest student-run conference. This year's event, "Asia at the Crossroads: Challenges and Opportunities," featured some fifteen hundred attendees and a roster of high-profile academics, business practitioners, and government officials who participated in 26 panel discussions. "This is one of the premier forums for learning about the issues facing Asia today and how business and economic leaders are approaching the future," conference chair Joseph L. Ngai (HBS '99) told the Harbus News.
Cohosted by the Asia Business Club of HBS and the Asia Law Society of Harvard Law School, the conference kicked off with a Friday afternoon keynote speech by Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, director of the Harvard Institute for International Development, whose remarks were followed by a plenary session and several panel discussions.
Saturday's sessions began with an opening address by Amaret Sila-on (68th AMP), chairman of Thailand's Stock Exchange and of the country's Financial Restructuring Authority. Some twenty panel discussions followed throughout the day, on subjects ranging from "Japan: What Happened to the Miracle?" to "Competing for One Billion Customers: Telecommunications in China." Twelve of the conference's panels were moderated by HBS professors.
The gathering also featured social events and many opportunities for networking. As Andrea S. Chen (HBS '99), finance director for the conference, told the Harbus, "What makes this conference special is the ability for students to interact professionally and socially with a huge range of attendees from around the region and the world."
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"Back to the Future: Leveraging Past Successes to Shape the New Millennium" was the theme of this year's African-American Student Union career and alumni conference. The 27th annual AASU event offered a variety of thought-provoking presentations and discussions for current and prospective students, alumni, and business leaders.
Those who attended the gathering, held in mid-February, heard from two keynote speakers: entrepreneur George Fraser, the author of Success Runs in Our Race, and General Gary Cooper, chairman and CEO of Commonwealth National Bank. Attendees also participated in a town meeting titled "How Will We Maintain Unity as a Race in the New Millennium?"
Six panel discussions took on issues that ranged from global capitalism to emerging high-tech opportunities to balancing work, home, and community responsibilities. In addition, workshops were held on financing a business and on managing personal wealth. Alumni were invited to an informal breakfast with Dean Kim B. Clark and to various faculty-led advanced management seminars. Current students attended a career fair and reception, while those interested in possibly attending HBS were able to learn more about the School by participating in their first case discussion.
In addition to the academic and career-centered events, a Friday night party featured actor-comedian Cedric "The Entertainer," and a Saturday night banquet was topped off with a dance party. The conference ended on Sunday with a brunch followed by an alumni and student basketball tournament.
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Africa Business Club Discusses Continent's Opportunities
The Africa Business Club hosted its first-ever conference at the School on January 30. The relatively new club, founded in 1997 to help increase awareness at HBS of business and career opportunities on the African continent, chose "Reversing the Brain Drain" as the conference theme.
Some five hundred students, professionals, and alumni with business interests in Africa attended the event, which served as a forum for understanding the reasons behind Africa's continuing loss of intellectual capital. Kwesi Botchwey, Ghana's former finance minister and the director of Africa research and programs at the Harvard Institute for International Development, gave the keynote address. He noted that between 1986 and 1990 alone, some sixty thousand middle and high-level African managers left their countries of origin. To remedy this "hemorrhaging," Botchwey said, African nations will need to maintain "a growth-enhancing and stable macroeconomic framework that rewards productivity and creativity."
Susan E. Rice, U.S. assistant secretary for African Affairs, was the distinguished luncheon speaker. Citing indicators of Africa's "improved economic performance and investment environment," Rice described President Clinton's Partnership for Economic Growth and Opportunity in Africa, a plan to stimulate trade with the continent, spur greater private-sector investment, and provide debt relief and technical assistance to speed economic development.
A series of panel discussions considered solutions for reversing the brain-drain phenomenon, highlighting career opportunities on the continent in areas such as commercial and investment banking; manufacturing; consumer services; oil, gas, and mining; agribusiness; and entrepreneurial development. Panelists included successful businesspeople and organizational leaders of more than thirty companies now operating in Africa, including Colgate-Palmolive and Merrill Lynch. The day concluded with a reception that allowed HBS students and alumni with professional aspirations or activities in Africa to exchange ideas.
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