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HBS Alumni Association Board of Directors: President's Report
After considerable work and enthusiastic anticipation, the seventh annual HBS Global Alumni Conference - The Information Revolution: "Bridging the Gap" - went off flawlessly March 19 - 22, 1996, in San Francisco. It was a fabulous conference! A record-setting nine hundred alumni and guests turned out for the conference's program of seminars, panel discussions, and social events. Harvard President Neil L. Rudenstine and the School's new Dean, Kim B. Clark, also joined us, along with some fifty outstanding speakers from a variety of high-technology firms.
I'm thrilled to see how many alumni are taking advantage of these conferences, which first took shape in their present form at a 1990 HBSAA Board of Directors' meeting hosted by the Paris club. That program was so interesting that other clubs began asking how they might sponsor such events in their regions. Annual conferences in Tokyo, Los Angeles, Frankfurt, Houston, and Sao Paulo followed (every other year the conference site is outside the United States), each of them organized by the local HBS club with the cosponsorship of the HBSAA and the School. Hosting a global alumni conference offers clubs the opportunity to raise the School's and alumni visibility in the community while providing a substantial educational experience to its members.
The amount of preparation that goes into these conferences is staggering - even by HBS measures - and appropriately might be compared with this issue's heroes of Olympic management. Sites are selected two years in advance by the HBSAA, based on proposals submitted by the local clubs. While the HBSAA provides guidelines on running the events, the content of each conference, as well as its organization and implementation, are entirely at the discretion of the club.
In general, the topics chosen for the conferences have been global issues that have had particular relevance for the communities in which the clubs are located - for instance, Sao Paulo's theme was business in Latin America, while Houston's was energy. In my experience (attendance at five global alumni conferences!), the local alumni business network has succeeded in attracting business leaders and experts who are right in the thick of the issues at hand; and, as one might expect from an HBS function, the dialogue and discourse is always superb!
"We were delighted that both President Rudenstine and Dean Clark could be with us to talk about Harvard's information-technology path for the future."
The timing of the San Francisco conference could not have been better. When the HBSA of Northern California first proposed the conference and its technology-related theme in late 1993, no one could have imagined the magnitude of change that would occur in the technology market and at the School in just over two years. As you'll read in the pages that cover the conference, HBS is shaping up as a pioneer in the exploitation of technology in its academic programs and administration. We were delighted that both President Rudenstine and Dean Clark could be with us to talk about Harvard's information-technology path for the future, which is truly a fascinating story. Dean Clark held us spellbound with his account of the School's mission and the use of technology to facilitate the expansion of "Lifelong Learning" activities and the connectedness of the School with alumni, among other issues.
Conference cochairs Robert Hellman (MBA '87) and Lynn Odland (79th AMP) and their team did an excellent job of staging the San Francisco conference. The substantive program and social events flowed seamlessly - and we all know what kind of effort is required to make that happen! On behalf of the HBSAA and everyone who attended the conference, I'd like to thank the San Francisco club for their fine efforts, and I urge you to start thinking now about attending the next global alumni conference - Greater China: Myth, Reality, and Opportunity - which will be in Hong Kong, April 5 - 8, 1997. It's sure to be fascinating. I hope to see you there!
Cathy Connett May 1996
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