Of Note
Big Turnout for Business Plan Contest
The dream of starting their own business inspired 110 teams of students to enter the 2010 HBS Business Plan Contest, which awarded $170,000 in cash and in-kind services to winners and runners-up in separate business venture and social venture tracks. The final round of judging took place on April 27.
The winner of the business venture track, OsComp Systems, is commercializing an innovative technology that forces natural gas through pipelines at lower cost and with greater efficiency. The social venture track winner, Urban Water Partners, will lease water filters to vendors in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to improve access to clean drinking water for the city’s 2.8 million residents. Learn more about the winners and runners-up at www.hbs.edu/news/releases/businessplancontest2010.html.
Kenneth Feinberg, Special Master
In an April appearance at HBS, Kenneth Feinberg, the special master for TARP executive compensation, denied that he was an autonomous “pay czar,” explaining that within parameters decreed by congressional legislation, he viewed himself mainly as a negotiator. Thus, his goal was not to be “vindictive” but to settle on compensation for top executives at bailed-out companies that would be competitive without promoting excessive risk-taking. (Feinberg’s definition of “excessive”: “I know it when I see it.”) He noted that 85 percent of the people whose compensation he had decided had not moved on to other companies. In June, Feinberg was tapped to administer BP’s compensation fund for the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.
Dean’s Award Winners
At Commencement, eight members of the MBA Class of 2010 were recognized as recipients of the Dean’s Award, established in 1997 to honor graduating students who have made a positive impact on Harvard, HBS, and the broader community. The students were variously recognized for their contributions to improving health-care research and policy; enhancing the HBS learning experience for their fellow students; creating a program that uses market-based approaches to address global poverty; and promoting leadership and values issues.
Read profiles of each award recipient.
Portrait Project’s 2010 Edition
For the past nine years, scores of graduating MBAs have taken the challenge to write 200-word essays in response to one simple question: “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” The students’ revealing essays are paired with black-and-white portraits by Tony Deifell (MBA ’02). The Class of 2010 Portrait Project includes photos and essays by 32 recent MBA graduates and can be viewed at www.hbs.edu/mba/perspectives/PortraitProject/2010portrait/.
HBS Wins Green Business Award
HBS Operations has received a 2010 City of Boston Green Business Award in recognition of the numerous green technologies used at Shad Hall, the School’s fitness and recreation facility and its showcase for sustainability. Energy-saving initiatives at Shad include a living green roof that required 64 cubic yards of growing medium spread over 5,000 square feet and planted with 9,000 perennials, photovoltaic panels, a cogeneration unit, and a full lighting retrofit.
Since 2003, HBS has enacted more than 100 energy conservation measures. These measures, coupled with efforts to promote recycling, have reduced the School’s greenhouse gas emissions by 29 percent over the past three years.
