W H A R TO N A LU M N I C L U B O F N E W YO R K | W I N T E R 2 0 1 4
PIONEERING WHARTON ALUM
HONORED
FOR BUILDING WORLD’S FIRST SOCIAL STOCK EXCHANGE
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LEGENDARY CEO WHO TURNED THE WORLD INTO FREQUENT FLYERS
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE President Kenneth Beck, WG’87, P’16 CEO Connection kbeck@ceoconnection.com Executive Vice President George Bradt, WG’85 PrimeGenesis Executive Onboarding gbradt@primegenesis.com Vice President, Finance Rosemarie Bonelli, WG’99 Rabonelli@aol.com Vice President, Marketing & Communications Jeff Greenhouse, WG’99 Scripps Networks Interactive jeff@jeffgreenhouse.com Vice President, General Counsel Blair Duncan, WG’85 Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone duncanbmd@gmail.com Vice President, Career Development Charles S. Forgang, W’78, P’11 Law Offices of Charles S. Forgang cforgang@forganglaw.com Vice President, Business Development Regina Jaslow, W’97 Penn Club of New York rjaslow@pennclubny.org Vice President, Volunteer Services Diana Davenport, WG’87 The Commonwealth Fund dd@cmwf.org
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
W Winter 2014
harton is forever. Getting a degree from the top business school in the world is only the beginning. If you do not take full advantage of this amazing community for the rest of your lives, you’re not maximizing the return on the investment you made, to get that degree. Wharton stays in our bios forever and as such we have a responsibly to each other and to the school to protect the brand... it is in our enlightened self-interest to do so. I was reminded of all this at our recent Joseph Wharton Awards Dinner, which continues to amaze me. Terry McGraw, WG’76, the Joseph Wharton Leadership Award recipient in 2006, and this year’s Event Chair, spoke about the passion that Wharton alumni possess. The new dean, Geoffrey Garrett, marveled at the two anvils in his office, which belonged to Joseph Wharton. He said they reminded him that Wharton alumni “do not rest on their laurels”. Our five honored alumni honored this year, never gave resting a thought. Robert Crandall, WG’60, Former Chairman, American Airlines, who received the Joseph Wharton Award for Lifetime Achievement, encouraged all to get involved and join the public dialogue by which we settle the great issues of our time. Alex Gorsky, WG’96, Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, received the Joseph Wharton Award for Leadership. He spoke about Joseph Wharton’s values based charter when creating the school, and J&J”s charter as well. Our Joseph Wharton Award for Social Impact honoree, Durreen Shahnaz, WG’95, Founder and Chairperson of Impact Investment Exchange Asia (IIX) and Shujog, implored those gathered to help her grow the first social stock exchange. Neil Blumenthal, WG’10, and David Gilboa, WG’10, GEN’10, Co-Founders and Co-CEOs of Warby Parker, who were covered extensively in our Spring 2014, issue, received Joseph Wharton Award for Young Leadership. They spoke about the energy and dynamism of what is being built at Wharton today. Our volunteers don’t rest on their laurels either. Hundreds of events are being created by other volunteers. Two recent highly regarded events showcased Professor David Bell and Professor Stewart Friedman.
Vice President, Programming Jennifer Gregoriou, W’78 Jennifer Gregoriou, Management Consulting jennifergregoriou@gmail.com
A key member of the club featured in this issue is Vishal Gupta, WG’08, our Affinity Groups Chair. He explains how you can get involved in an affinity group, or possibly create a new one.
Vice President, University Relations Udayan Chattopadhyay, WG’01 Ergo udayan@alumni.upenn.edu
Kenneth Beck, WG’87 Chief Executive Officer | CEO Connection President | Wharton Club of New York T 646.416.6991 | F 646.292.5129 kbeck@ceoconnection.com www.ceoconnection.com
The Wharton Business School Club of New York 485 Madison Avenue, Suite 747, New York, NY 10173 Phone: (212) 463-5559 Club website: www.WhartonNY.com
Durreen Shahnaz, WG’95, Founder and Chair of Impact Investment Exchange Asia (IIX) and Shujog FRONT COVER:
Be inspired by these alumni and do not forget: “Take the Call”!
WHARTON CLUB OF NEW YORK MAGAZINE PUBLISHER Kenneth Beck, WG’87 kbeck@ceoconnection.com
EDITOR Kent Trabing, WG’01 ktrabing@optonline.net
MANAGING EDITOR Peter Hildick-Smith, C’76, WG’81, P’13 peter@codex-group.com
DESIGN DIRECTOR Joyce Chan, W’06, C’06, joycechan@alumni.upenn.edu
READ THE MAGAZINE ONLINE www.readwny.com
SOCIAL MEDIA Umang Malhotra, WG’11 umang@ideasteaminc.com
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WHARTON DINNER
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JW AWARDS DINNER ROBERT CRANDALL, WG’60 DURREEN SHAHNAZ, WG’95 ALEX GORSKY, WG’96
EVENTS 12 18 21
WCNY AFFINITY GROUPS LOCATION IS (STILL) EVERYTHING
LEADING THE LIFE YOU WANT
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JOSEPH WHARTON AWARDS
Think of growth, purpose, passion. Growth is everything that we are about. If you're not growing, you're not making an impact. In order to grow, you have to have a sense of purpose—you have to know where you're going. But the energy that makes it all happen is passion. What I've always noticed about Wharton is that you have that attitude and a special notion of what passion means, which drives you when things go well, or don't go well. Our honorees tonight have the growth, the purpose and the passion embodied in what they do." With these words, Harold W. McGraw III, WG'76, Chairman of the Board of McGraw Hill Financial, and Event Chair, opened the glittering evening to attendees. The WCNY's marquee event brought together over 200 alumni, and was held at the Metropolitan Club on 1 East 60th Street in New York City, on October 2.
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| WHARTON CLUB OF NEW YORK | WHARTONNY.COM | WINTER 2014
PHOTO: Alumni listen to
Bob Crandall, WG’60
JOSEPH WHARTON AWARDS DINNER Honoring Lifetime Achievers, Leaders and Innovators
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THE JOSEPH WHARTON AWARDEES FOR 2014 ARE: ROBERT CRANDALL, WG'60 Former Chairman, American Airlines Joseph Wharton Award for Lifetime Achievement ALEX GORSKY, WG'96 Chairman, Johnson & Johnson Joseph Wharton Award for Leadership DURREEN SHAHNAZ, WG'95 Founder and Chairperson, Impact Investment Exchange Asia (IIX) and Shujog Joseph Wharton Award for Social Impact NEIL BLUMENTHAL, WG'10, and DAVID GILBOA, WG'10, GEN'10 Co-Founders and Co-CEOs, Warby Parker Joseph Wharton Award for Young Leadership
PHOTOS: (Top) Alex Gorsky, WG’96, Neil Blumenthal, WG’10, Durreen Shahnaz, WG’95, David Gilboa, WG’10, GEN’10, Bob
Crandall, WG’60. (Middle) Kenny Beck, WG’87, Club President; (Bottom) Geoffrey Garrett, Wharton Dean, Reliance Professor of Management and Private Enterprise, and Professor of Management. More photos of the JW Dinner at www.readwny.com! 6
| WHARTON CLUB OF NEW YORK | WHARTONNY.COM | WINTER 2014
We connect all kinds of alumni—from alumni who are looking for capital, to alumni looking to invest, alumni looking for jobs and alumni looking to buy things. Whatever you want to find, you should be able to find in your community." — KENNY BECK, WG'87, CLUB PRESIDENT Kenny Beck, WG'87, shared the Club's purpose and accomplishments, "We in New York have the largest Wharton School alumni club, with 250 volunteers, servicing 30,000 alumni in the NY metro area, creating 200 to 300 events per year! The Club provides access from early in your career, through death — although I have come to realize that Wharton alumni don't die — they just yield to maturity. WCNY's principles that we embody are: Enlightened self-interest — You need to give to get. Tangible results — These are networking and events. Small, interactive events are more powerful than large, passive events. Most importantly, when a fellow alumnus calls, you should take the call. This Winter 2014 issue profiles three of this year's awardees: Robert Crandall, Durreen Shahnaz, and Alex Gorsky. Our Spring 2014 issue headlined the founders of Warby Parker. ♦
( Clockwise from above) Charles (Chuck) Forgang, W’78,
Allen Levinson, W’77, WG’78, Lisa Forgang, Carl Rosen, WG’77; David Gilboa, WG’10, GEN’10, Brett Hurt, WG’99, Neil Blumenthal, WG’10; WCNY High School Volunteer Summer Internship Program; Robert Kraybill, Penn Law’95, Matthew Greene, W’89, Kota Global Securities, Randy Weisenburger, WG’87, Omnicon EVENT SPONSORS: MAJOR SPONSORS
PLATINUM SPONSORS
GOLD SPONSORS
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JOSEPH WHARTON AWARDS
Harold W. (Terry) McGraw III, WG’76, Event Chair, and Bob Crandall, WG’60
JOSEPH WHARTON AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT, 2014 Robert Crandall, WG’60 Former Chairman, American Airlines 8
| WHARTON CLUB OF NEW YORK | WHARTONNY.COM | WINTER 2014
JOSEPH WHARTON AWARDS
Bob Crandall laughs a lot. He is genuinely mirthful. A source of that mirth may be that he passionately cares about the airline he led for 25 years, the industry he influenced and the country he loves. Maybe it’s because he thinks, speaks and acts directly. Or maybe it’s because he’s a lucky guy with three healthy kids, seven grandkids and a wonderful wife of 57 years. What attracted you to the aviation industry? Nothing particular attracted me to the aviation industry, except my wife’s desire to go to Rome for dinner! Which is really a true story! Coming out of graduate school, I went to work for Eastman Kodak, and then for Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, which was the headquarters for TWA. I was at Hallmark for four years, was making good progress in my career … and I liked it — Hallmark was a good company! TWA wanted to recruit me to do a similar job to what I was doing at Hallmark. My wife said to me one night, “I don’t understand why you keep saying, ‘No,’ to these people. The girls who babysit for us periodically go to Rome or Paris for dinner. TWA wants to give you a raise and let you travel — and I’d like to go to Rome for dinner.” So I took the job, and we did go to Rome and lots of other places for dinner and other things. I found the industry to be complex, competitive and fascinating, and I spent the rest of my career in it. It turned out to be a good move, one of many pieces of good advice that my wife has given me. How did you transition from TWA to American Airlines? While I was at Hallmark, I got an opportunity to learn something about computers, ending up as a manager of computer programming. After I joined TWA in the treasury department, I ended up running its data-processing department — what we would call IT today. The industry was in the throes of transitioning to computerized reservations systems — known as CRSs. TWA tried to invent a system using Burroughs equipment. United Airlines was doing the same using Univac equipment. Eastern Air Lines successfully adopted a system
called PARS (Programmed Airline Reservation System) created by IBM. The Burroughs effort failed, so I brought in an IBM system, and we successfully transitioned TWA into that system. Later, while I was serving as Controller of TWA, the company made a promotional choice I disagreed with, and I left and took a job as Treasurer for Bloomingdale’s. The retail business bored me, and a year later, when the CFO of American Airlines left in April 1973, I jumped at the company’s invitation to take on that position. I remained with American until my retirement in 1998.
We did create the first frequent-flyer program, and we pioneered the development of yield management.
You are widely credited with introducing the Sabre reservations system, the first frequent-flyer program and yield management. Accomplishments like those are always team efforts, requiring the participation of lots of committed, highly skilled people. Let’s take Sabre as an example. The original Sabre was cobbled together, years before I was involved, by C. R. Smith of American and Tom Watson of IBM. However, by the early 1970s, Sabre was far out of date, and American was lagging behind TWA, United, Eastern and others in the area of computerized reservations. When I came to American, I came with a background in IT and enough knowledge of the industry and CRSs to know we had to move quickly. So, we put a system in place that utilized part of PARS and some of the updates that Eastern had incorporated into it, added some tweaks of our own, and came up with the new Sabre. We did create the first frequentflyer program, and we pioneered the development of yield management. Both efforts were the consequence of putting together a powerful team of operations research people and mathematicians, who worked with our data-processing teams to develop very sophisticated modes of everyday problems. We built aircraft scheduling systems, manpower management models to match very complicated pilot and flight attendant schedules with particular aircraft requirements, and to determine how many baggage handlers we needed at any one time, and we devised solution
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JOSEPH WHARTON AWARDS kits for lots of other airline problems. Our competitive success during the 1980s and 1990s was largely based on using technology more successfully than other airlines. Airlines, as you have said, are highly complex organizations with many stakeholders. How did you have the confidence to aspire to take on that role? Anyone who has had the good luck to have a good undergraduate education and then attend a great grad school, like Wharton, has been well-prepared to do any job that presents itself. Assuming appropriate background and training, and a willingness to work hard and keep learning, I don’t know why any individual would lack the self-confidence to take on any opportunity that presents itself! Most people in the world aspire to do more than they ever get a chance to do. My great good fortune was that I had a chance to do a lot of things that others never had a chance to do, and I certainly wasn’t about to deny myself those opportunities. You may have been one of the first CEOs to enter an industry as a computer programmer. Can you talk about the nature of programming at that time? Well, the most I ever learned about programming was rudimentary. What I learned while at Hallmark was how powerful computers and mathematical modeling can be. My contribution was knowing what needed to be done and hiring the right people to do it. While leading American Airlines, you were renowned to be a pragmatist. Frankly, I don’t see any alternative for anyone who wants to contribute to solving the world’s problems. Pragmatism is nothing more than taking a problem and finding a doable solution. I don’t see much point in looking at a problem, and concluding either that the problem is insoluble, or that the only thing you can do about it is what’s been done before or that a possible solution cannot be implemented. If you see a problem, think, “What can I do that might possibly solve this problem?” If you come up with an idea that might work, go try it. If it doesn’t work, go back to
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thinking and try again. You’ve been outspoken about airline deregulation from the beginning. How would the airline industry be different today if deregulation had been implemented differently? I believe that comprehensive economic deregulation was a public policy mistake. It was done with the objective of increasing competition and bringing down fares, and for a while, it seemed to work. However, competition in an industry as structured as the airlines are is destructive, and over the years, a large number of airlines have failed. Today, the remaining airlines have consolidated away much of the competition; the public has far fewer transportation choices than it has had in times past; and far fewer cities are on the national network than was the case years ago. The airlines are now very profitable, and the public is paying many billions of dollars in ancillary fees in addition to fares that are rising steadily. The fruits of deregulation appear to be in the airline industry much like the cable television industry in which there is no real competition, and we all have to pay for a lot of stuff that we wish we didn’t have to buy. Is there a story of how you came to attend Wharton? It’s a good luck story. After graduating from college in 1957, I got married and joined the military as an infantry officer. When I got out, my wife was working part-time as a nurse, and I was selling group insurance in Philadelphia. I wanted to go to law school, and took both the law exam and the graduate school exam. However, I had absolutely no money, and needed a full scholarship to go anywhere. I had pretty well resigned myself to working for a couple of years to save money when Wharton called. The voice on the line announced that the school had just received a scholarship from Arthur Young & Co.; that the sponsor wanted to award the scholarship immediately; and that, if I could start school in two weeks, I could have it. We found a three-story walk-up in West Philadelphia for $65 per month, and I started at Wharton. Jan continued
| WHARTON CLUB OF NEW YORK | WHARTONNY.COM | WINTER 2014
The Wall Street Journal has called Robert L. Crandall, former Chairman and CEO of AMR and American Airlines, “the man who changed the way the world flies.” During his 25-year tenure at American Airlines, Mr. Crandall was instrumental in introducing several changes that revolutionized the travel industry. In 1973, Mr. Crandall sponsored a project to modernize American’s Sabre computer reservation system, thus laying the groundwork for what eventually became Sabre Corp., now a leading provider of computing and communications services for airlines throughout the world. In 1975, Mr. Crandall created Super Saver fares, which introduced the concept of deep discounts for advance-purchase tickets. Subsequently, he led the development of the industry’s first yield management system, a revenue-maximizing approach now used throughout the airline industry. In 1980, he created AAdvantage, the industry’s first frequent-flyer program, and in 1983, launched an expansion program that more than tripled American’s size and transformed it from a midsize domestic carrier to one of the world’s leading international airlines with revenues of more than $20 billion. Mr. Crandall is currently a Director of, or a consultant to, several nonpublic companies, including Gogo and Hipmunk. Among the many national and trade publications that have honored Mr. Crandall for his achievements and executive leadership are Businessweek, IndustryWeek, Aviation Week & Space Technology, Financial World and Air Transport World. In April 1997, Mr. Crandall received the Horatio Alger Award, which honors individuals who have achieved success despite challenging life circumstances. A native of Westerly, R.I., he is a 1957 graduate of the University of Rhode Island and received a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 1960. Mr. Crandall and his wife, Jan, live in Florida and Massachusetts. They have three adult children and seven grandchildren, and enjoy bridge, sailing and gardening.
JOSEPH WHARTON AWARDS
Bob Crandall, WG’60, exhorts alumni to “participate in the public dialogue by which we settle the great issues of our time.”
to work part-time, and I got a job as a night manager at WFIL, a television station in Philadelphia. Tough, but doable. What advice do you have for Wharton students and alumni? Work as hard as you can. Be the first person in the office, and the last person to leave. I was never smart enough to differentiate myself based on pure brainpower, so I decided to work harder than anyone else and to be better prepared than anybody else. I also think that everyone should take every opportunity to tackle a different job. Every time you get an opportunity to learn something new, grab it. The fact that you don’t know anything about something, is a circumstance you can change. The more you know about more subjects, the more valuable you will be. What concerns you about America? I am horrified by the steadily worsening level of income and wealth inequality and by the erosion of opportunity for people who start out without family resources. In the years after World War II, we led the world in education, and as a consequence, Americans had more upward mobility — better opportunities to improve themselves — than people in other countries. Today, we are way down in comparative rankings on both the depth and excellence of our education system and on the amount of social mobility in our society. In most other
Howie Kaufold, W’75, Vice Dean of the MBA Program, Jan Crandall and Bob Crandall, WG’60
The best cure for an ailing system is an active, wellinformed, impatient and demanding public. advanced countries, 70% or more of young children are in preschool by age 3; in the U.S., only 30% get that opportunity. Unless we fix these problems, I am very pessimistic about the long-term success of our country. You have spoken twice at the Wharton Emeritus Society about the “Geezers’ Crusade.” As I have just said, I think we need to change the direction of our society, and I therefore encourage people to be more politically active. I write letters to politicians, participate in local events and periodically write a blog. I think there are lots of geezers — people like myself who are no longer working full-time but have good educations — who ought to be spending time pushing politicians and government toward better outcomes. In the most recent national elections, only 37% of eligible voters went to the polls. That’s disgraceful — and it’s an open invitation to ideologues.
Many years ago, I lived in Charlotte, North Carolina, and had an early morning paper route. I remember unwrapping some newspapers I was about to deliver, and reading on the front page that Eisenhower had done something in Korea. I don’t recall the details, but I remember thinking that, if Ike did it, it must be OK. Time has banished my naiveté, but I continue to long for public policies and actions that will make us all proud to be Americans. We ought to be at the top of the league tables in infrastructure, education, research and development, and all the other things by which we can contribute to the betterment of mankind. The best cure for an ailing system is an active, wellinformed, impatient and demanding public. We can all do better, and we should be part of a geezers’ crusade to make America a better place. You are full of mirth. What is your secret? Well, it’s interesting that you say that. I think of myself as angry most of the time — angry about oversights and outrages in public policy, angry about our collective shortcomings, angry about the fact that we aren’t the America I remember from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. But on a personal level, I have lots to be thankful about, and when I get the opportunity to share an evening like this, I enjoy myself. I’m glad it’s clear that I’m doing so. ♦ – KT
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WCNY AFFINITY GROUPS
WCNY AFFINITY GROUPS ARE CONNECTING THE DOTS! Vishal Gupta, WG’08 Affinity Groups Chair
The Wharton Club of New York’s affinity groups create a platform for New York area Wharton alumni to connect with others who share a common interest around an industry or have similar professional goals. The affinity groups provide a sense of community, enable small group networking, build lasting contacts, offer a venue to share industry insights, and provide career, job and investing opportunities. Through the affinity groups, the WCNY fosters the drive and creativity in alumni who want to take up leadership positions as volunteers and give back to the Wharton community.
What are some of the affinity groups? We now have over 12 active affinity groups. The more established groups are: Wharton Entrepreneurs-Education and Resource Network (WEEARN) led by Ross Klenoff, C’94, W’94 Wharton Hedge Fund Network (WHFN) co-chaired by Jewel Huijnen, WG’03, along with Charles Koblith, W’05, Vic Bonilla, W’05, and Matthew Barbas, WG’12 Wharton Private Equity Group (WPEG) headed by Thomas Nugent, WG’84 Wharton Association of Marketers (WhAM) co-chaired by Peter Hildick-Smith, WG’81, and Judy Hoffstein, WG’81 Wharton Media and Entertainment Network (WMEN) co-chaired by Chuck Forgang, WG’78, and Peter Hildick-Smith Career Opportunity Group, headed by Marina Segal, W’00 Wharton Real Estate Investment Group (WREI) chaired by Celina Kuoch, W’98, Eric Bashford, WG’88, and Nick Petkoff, WG’02 Wharton Investment Management Group (WIMG) led by Dushyant Pandit, WG’79 Among the more recent affinity groups are: Wharton Education Network (WhEN), which was “relaunched” with Jay Bakhru, WG’04, coming in as the Chair Wharton Recruiters Affinity Group (WRAG) led by Antony Sandrick, W’04 Wharton Legal Affinity Group (WhLN), which was launched this November under the leadership of Lew Tesser, WG’74, to serve as a platform for alumni with legal and judicial backgrounds.
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| WHARTON CLUB OF NEW YORK | WHARTONNY.COM | WINTER 2014
WCNY AFFINITY GROUPS Another area where we are trying to make a foray is to give a geographic focus to the affinity groups. One case in point is the interest in international business, crossborder investing, and public policy in the U.S.-China context, or investment and growth opportunities in Africa. We have had initial successes and are trying to build on that. What is your role as the Chair of Affinity Groups? I focus on the organizational aspects of the affinity groups — namely, to help set up, establish and run the affinity groups. Then, there are various Club-level policy issues that are handled. Based on what we learn from the various groups, we have created a playbook to launch and establish an affinity group. In my experience, the leadership team’s creativity and initiative are key drivers of the affinity group’s success. What have you learned? The various affinity groups are in different stages in their organizational life cycles; to me, this provides a great experience to cross-pollinate ideas, share best practices, and leverage learnings among and across the various affinity groups. Let’s take a fourstage view on how this enables building a community around an affinity group: Generating interest: WhEN was relaunched earlier this spring when Jay Bakhru took over as the Chair. An outreach campaign, followed by a survey to gauge the topics of interest, helped kick-start the group. This got alumni engaged and involved early in the decision-making process. Events are being planned, with folks having the option to volunteer for one of these events to get involved. We feel ideas can flow from every member, as when Kent Trabing, WG’01, asked the Club to form a legal affinity group, the WhLN, and nominated Lew Tesser to lead it. WhLN had its first meeting last month, with an attendance of over 20 members to draft a mission statement, set a meeting schedule for the coming year, and form subcommittees to further the professional cause of alumni with legal and judicial backgrounds. Building a core team: By driving educational and networking events linked to tangible outcomes, Ross Klenoff, Chair of WE-EARN, has done a tremendous job of making WE-EARN entrepreneurial in every sense of the word. This has led to the members forging long-standing bonds and building a core community of leaders who have been
instrumental in taking the affinity group to the next level. Sustaining the community: The WHFN is one of the oldest affinity groups, and since its inception in 2005, has done 47 events under the leadership of Jewel, Matthew, Vic and Charles. Their secret sauce has been providing a trusted source of industry information and driving attendance in events by inviting world-class speakers. This has had a drumbeat effect in sustaining the community around what may perhaps be the largest hedge-fundfocused alumni group worldwide! Collaboration among affinity groups and in the club: In some cases, there are opportunities for affinity groups to collaborate with each other or within the Club on an event or guest speaker. For example, this summer, the WhEN cohosted an event with the Government Relations Committee on public-private partnerships. Also, the Non-Profit Affinity Group is partnering with Career Development Committee to promote an event on Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Tune in to the WCNY website for this upcoming event in early 2015. Another area we would like to explore is a partnership between the WRAG and the Career Development Committee in reaching out to executive recruiters and providing them access to the Wharton alumni talent pool in the New York City metro area. How can one participate? I’d be happy to take a phone call or respond to emails from folks interested in
volunteering with the affinity groups. We also have open positions listed on the WCNY volunteer page, and I’d like to give a shout-out for the Volunteer Orientation Night on January 20, 2015. This is a great way to meet the Club’s leadership and explore areas of “enlightened selfinterest.” Vishal Gupta contributed to this article, and can be reached at vishalgupta.ifs@gmail. com. VISHAL finds himself at the trijuncture of a corporate career, nonprofit work and international development. He has led initiatives in information services and the IT industry working at Reed Elsevier and now at Speridian Technologies. He has also worked with education nonprofits in New York City to help them with their growth strategy and operations to increase college access for high-potential, lowincome students. Vishal started his career in international development, where he worked on public-private partnerships, community-based development and environmental policy, and co-authored a World Bank working paper. Vishal earned his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He also earned a master’s degree in environmental studies and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Delhi University. ♦
Nick Petkoff, WG’02 (L), Vice Chair of WREI, with speaker Mike Fascitelli, (R) past Chairman of the Wharton Real Estate Center, at recent WREI event. Photo Credit: Celina Kuoch READ ARTICLES ONLINE AT READWNY.COM
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JOSEPH WHARTON AWARDS
JOSEPH WHARTON AWARD FOR SOCIAL IMPACT, 2014 Durreen Shahnaz, WG’95
Founder and Chairperson, Impact Investment Exchange Asia and Shujog
WE-EARN
Durreen Shahnaz has led a lucky life, as many of us have. Her greatest luck may be in knowing how to ask the right people the right questions, and to keep at it. She learned by asking for help to make her own way in the world. Today, she is asking on behalf of others, in Asia. To solve Asia’s pressing problems, Durreen seeks to harness the power and scale of capital markets, 14
with the social consciousness of philanthropy. Based in Singapore, her company Impact Investment Exchange Asia (IIX) seeks to accomplish these goals by running a social impact stock exchange and private placement platform. Her second company, Shujog, helps social enterprises to become more professional and, thereby, more attractive to investors.
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What was your path to Wharton? It was a long path! Until the age of 14, my language of instruction was Bengali. Then I attended school in the Philippines, where I switched to English. I memorized the Reader’s Digest Word Power exercises every morning. In the evening, I would test myself. I set out to improve my English to the degree that I could become editor of the school newspaper, which I did in my senior year.
JOSEPH WHARTON AWARDS For college, no woman from my family had come out from the subcontinent — it was always the men. I had three older sisters, and they were not allowed to leave outside India or Bangladesh. I wanted to go to school in the U.S. My parents and I fought and fought. Finally, they consented that I could go if I promised to attend a women’s college, cover my tuition with financial aid and not bring home an American. My father had life savings of $50,000. He gave me and my siblings each $10,000, and said, “That’s it.” The $10,000 I handed
over to Smith College, which offered me a scholarship for the balance of the $60,000 tuition. From the time my plane arrived in New York, I was on my own. It was not only being in a new country, culture and university, but also being responsible for myself. It cost over $5 a minute to call home. I used to call home for 10 minutes once every six weeks when I had enough money saved up. I worked 20 hours a week washing dishes, babysitting and working in the library
— but I had that freedom. This was a country that allowed me to be myself and to speak freely, and that allowed me to focus on my capabilities. And I kept my promises to my parents, except for bringing home an American. What did you do after college? I started my career in Morgan Stanley in 1989. This week, I walked by the Morgan Stanley building, and I was thinking of my many all-nighters there. Although I formed wonderful friendships that I have
DURREEN SHAHNAZ, an investment banker and media executive, now social entrepreneur from Bangladesh, is the founder of Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), the home of the world’s first social stock exchange and the world’s largest private placement platform for impact investing. Ms. Shahnaz also founded Shujog, the impact accelerator for social enterprises in Asia and Africa. Ms. Shahnaz began her career at Morgan Stanley in New York City and worked at Grameen Bank, World Bank, Merrill Lynch, Hearst Magazines and Reader’s Digest. She also taught at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. In addition, she founded, ran and sold OneNest, a social enterprise and global marketplace for handmade goods. Ms. Shahnaz holds a B.A. from Smith College, and a joint degree — MBA from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania and M.A. from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Ms. Shahnaz is an appointed member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Social Innovation and on the advisory board for CASE i3 at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. She is the Social Entrepreneur in Residence for INSEAD’s Social Impact Catalyst Program. Shahnaz is also a TED speaker and a regular guest on Channel NewsAsia’s program Views on the News and the BBC. Ms. Shahnaz lives in Singapore with her husband Robert Kraybill (Penn Law’95) and their two daughters — Diya and Aliya.
Katherine Klein, Vice-Dean, Wharton Social Impact Initiative, Durreen Shahnaz, WG’95 to this day, Morgan Stanley was very intense. There were so few women and only two South Asian women bankers in the whole place. I was surprised that, while people were very smart and intense, they were also quite rude. And that sadly, rudeness was applauded! There was a huge attrition rate, especially among women. But coming from the other side of the world, I felt I had to finish my
two years there. It was an incredible opportunity, for which I’m grateful, to learn finance — the most powerful force in the world. At the end of my two years, the HR person called and said, “You were the only one who didn’t ask for recommendations to business school. Do you want to continue here for a third
year? What are you going to do?” I told her that I was going to go back home to Bangladesh. She responded, “Where is that?” I thought, “That’s the problem. This is the reason why I need to go back.” My associates were happily anticipating business school, but I felt that, after 10 years away, it was time to go home and give back my learnings to my country.
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JOSEPH WHARTON AWARDS eclectic man. Since then, my life has straddled the developed world and developing world, and my studies and career straddled finance and development finance. It is one world, and to be able to pull it together is important to me.
Robert Kraybill, Penn Law’95, Durreen Shahnaz, WG’95 You did not proceed to business school? No. I returned to Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, and began looking for some place where I could put my finance training to use. Dhaka had a Standard Chartered and Citibank, global players; however, I decided to work with a small bank, a development bank that was giving loans to women. This was Grameen Bank, which would later receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Among other tasks, I worked on Grameen’s first big financing round, which was $5 million. It was fascinating to me that I could use my finance skills for development. How did you end up at Wharton? I would have stayed at Grameen; however, my future husband, who I had met my first day at Morgan Stanley, was writing me letters every day. He was American, and he was the big reason for me to come back to the States. I applied to public policy schools. The School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins gave me the most money, so I went there. It sounds horrible, but for me, money was the deciding factor as I had only assistance from the university and my savings. Hopkins was a great school, but I realized the degree was very focused on global issues, rather than practical solutions. Fortunately, Hopkins had a joint program with Wharton. I applied for the joint program, was accepted, and did a year and a half at Wharton. For the last semester, I was 16
supposed to return to Hopkins to finish up there, but the school’s administration told me that they didn’t have the promised financial assistance for me. They just said, “Sorry, we don’t have any more money. Why don’t you work and come back next year?” But I couldn’t work because of my visa. So I went back to Wharton and asked them, “Can I finish up my final semester at Wharton, because I don’t have the funding to complete my degree at Hopkins?” Wharton authorities explained that they couldn’t have me finish at Wharton, because it was a joint program. I remember that I then broke down in their office, saying, “What can I do? I am one semester from two degrees, and I can’t complete it for just a few thousand dollars.” So they said, “We don’t think we can do anything, but come back tomorrow.” The next day, I came back. They told me, “Well, we had an internal discussion, and we’re going to pay your tuition at Hopkins.” Wharton paid your tuition to Johns Hopkins? What an amazing school, right? To this day, I can’t believe it. Fast-forward years later when I started IIX, Dr. Judith Rodin was in Singapore. So, after all these years, I meet this woman who was the President of the University when I was at Wharton. I had the privilege of introducing her for this big talk she was giving, and related this story. I said that I had never had the chance to say, “Thank you.” Because of your leadership, the folks at Wharton could make a decision like this. She started crying — she couldn’t talk. Wharton has been incredible. I just wanted to learn everything about finance. I was always that pesky, irritating student asking questions on how this can be linked to development. The professor who could pull all this learning together for me was Professor Jamshed Gandhi, a very interesting,
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What is it like being back in New York? I love New York, but I could not have done what I am doing, here. There is a lot more noise here in the city and culture, which arise from good things: competition, movement, interaction. But the downside is that it does not allow for more than a few to rise up. I feel a lot of things I do, with our business opening, is to get other people to be a part of it. For example, the impact assessment — this is something that I researched in the university, but I have opened it up to more people. I can train people and can say, “You can do this.” Recently, I spoke In New York, at the Clinton Global Initiative. My area, social impact, is a hot topic. You cannot imagine how endlessly people were coming up to me who knew about me and were giving their pitch. They are so excited about getting into the space, but don’t have the experience. There is nothing wrong with competition, but the intensity of so many efficient and aggressive people kind of hits you. It must say something about Wharton that you and D. Wayne Silby, W’70, attended (Silby received the 2013 Joseph Wharton Award for Social Impact). Wayne, as you know, was inherently geared toward finance, gained the tools at Wharton to build a hugely profitable money market fund, and then pursued his dream in creating Calvert Investments. Yes! Exactly! The University probably allowed him and me, and people like us, to retain what made us us, and be able to take the best parts and enhance that. The administration looked at the role of the school in a holistic way. Having people like me, with eclectic backgrounds, helps to maximize the business world’s output and outcomes. I feel, though, that the school’s messaging does not position itself as a holistic school that cares as much about the outcomes of this world,
JOSEPH WHARTON AWARDS as the output of the world. I think it would be a huge benefit for the University to say that boldly. I hope the new dean can do that. Combining efficiency with effectiveness and output with outcomes — I think there is a vacuum for Wharton to fill. Tell us about Impact Investment Exchange Asia. What is the difference between it and philanthropy? The difference between this and just giving money to charity is that this enables you to have a more sustainable effect. For example, my goal is to bring electricity to the world’s poor, but I am going to do this in a financially sustainable way. Whoever is providing capital, it is in the form of an actual investment, not a donation, and they will expect a financial return. Impact investing allows you to work toward financial stability. We are the intermediaries of making this happen. In any kind of a structure, you need the intermediaries, platform and financial structure for it to work. In terms of impact assessments, which are done by Shujog, my other company, there is now a mechanism in place to calculate the social impact. That social impact allows you as an investor to see the financial returns. How do private placements fit into IIX’s strategy? A private placement platform allows accredited investors to directly invest into these organizations. For example, Suneee, an organization that was on Impact Partners, our private placement platform, was supporting independent power plants in Cambodia to convert diesel usage into biofuel and take the electricity to off-the-grid rural areas. Over 80% of Cambodia does not have electricity. The company is for-profit, but is making a social impact. We raised over $2 million for Sun-eee and worked closely with Suneee. Now Sun-eee is bringing electricity to 20,000 households. Impact Partners, the private placement platform, has no liquidity, so in the near future, it needs the exchange. This is where Impact Exchange, our social stock exchange, comes in. Why does capitalism work so well in America? Because you have capital available at every stage of growth. We don’t have that in Asia. If you don’t have
the connection to powerful families in Asia, then forget it. So how do we use capital markets for doing social good and, in the process, democratize capital markets? We start by creating these accelerators (Impact Accelerators) that nurture at the early stage of the social enterprises, with the hope that they can then graduate to the private placement platform. We have an accelerator in the Philippines and are in the process of creating one in every country we operate in Asia. To date, Impact Partners has raised almost $12 million. You cannot have the exchange if you do not have this earlierstage capital coming into the system. We did not have it in Asia or Africa. Over the past five years, we had to create the infrastructure, as well as the financial products — for example, interesting structures and bonds — similar to what Wayne Silby did with Calvert. How did IIX get funded? After Wharton, I stayed in the U.S. and worked at the World Bank, and then at Hearst Magazines. Later, I started a company, OneNest, which was to provide a market for women making ethical and handmade goods all over the globe. I ran it for five years and eventually sold it, because the investors did not have patience for the social mission. When I sold the company, it was with a lot of relief and reflection. I moved back to Asia and began writing. I wrote about how this space should be looked at, and how difficult it is to survive in a world that is so myopic about being driven just by profit, instead of asking if we can make profit and do good at the same time. My writing got picked up by the Rockefeller Foundation. It invited me to a gathering in Bellagio, Italy, to look at how it could change the financial system in a more holistic way. This was in 2009 and in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis. It was after this gathering that Rockefeller Foundation Managing Director, Antony Bugg-Levine, encouraged me to start IIX and funded me to do so. It is worth noting that, in 2008 when the financial markets were melting, microfinance as an asset class continued to give 14% returns
in interest. This is a very important piece of information. Impact investing is happening on the shoulder of microfinance. Microfinance could happen, because a lot of support went behind it from both the donor side and the privatesector side. We are beginning to see similar patterns for impact investing in general. This is good news. What are the steps of setting up a social stock exchange? We established Impact Exchange in 2013. The first step in setting up the world’s first social stock exchange was an enormous amount of regulatory work, approaching bodies like the SEC in various countries. We managed to get the government of Mauritius to accommodate the exchange. Mauritius, east of Madagascar, has business in Asia and close ties with India — the population is mostly Indian, and they speak French. The process was not only setting up the exchange but also everything leading up to the exchange. We needed the infrastructure and capital for growthstage organizations, and capital for the startup. So, for me, as I was doing the exchange, I knew it would take a while. It was an enormous amount of work to create a separate board that looks at the social side. All of that work is done; Impact Exchange is live. What we need to do, now, is to start populating the exchange, and for people to come and use the exchange. The message is that there is an exchange for organizations to raise capital and achieve social impact. We are also now in the process of structuring some financial products and putting it up on the exchange for people to buy and sell. For example, we are now creating a women’s impact bond, which is a brilliant way for the Wharton community to get involved. Already, a number of global investment banks and law firms are getting involved with it. The bond will be ready soon, but in the meantime, you can sign up on Impact Exchange (www.impactexchange.asiaiix. com) to express your interest in the bond, or you can sign up on Impact Partners as an investor and start investing directly into smaller growth companies that are impacting the lives of millions in Asia and Africa. ♦ – KT
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SPEAKER SERIES
THE ONLINE WORLD DOES
NOT EXIST WITHOUT THE PHYSICAL WORLD Wharton Professor David Bell at a WCNY Speaker Series Event
David Bell’s latest book
Professor David Bell, speaking to alumni.
What you do in the virtual world — how you search for information, what you shop for, what you read — is influenced by where you live. This is one of the interesting take-aways from Wharton Marketing Professor David Bell’s new book, Location Is (Still) Everything. As part of the Wharton Club of New York Speaker Series, on September 18, David Bell, discussed his book with about 40 alumni. “It’s not about the location of your physical store, but the location of your customers relative to the options they have,” Bell said. “There are still three things that matter in retail: ‘location, location and location.’ You can’t treat online and real worlds separately.” Bell asked audience members if they knew why Jeff Bezos chose books for his online launch of Amazon in 1994. What did they think is the No. 1 category sold in catalogs? It was
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apparel. One might think that catalogs are like the Internet, so why not take what does well there and throw it online? Books as a category was No. 25 in catalog sales. The reason that Bezos didn’t choose clothes was that he realized that clothes have nondigital attributes, meaning customers have to touch, feel and sample them. Bezos wanted to sell things that had only digital attributes, meaning everything about the items can be communicated in this new medium. So if one buys a book online, it won’t be a different topic; it won’t be by a different author; and it won’t be shorter or longer. Bell spoke a lot about how the Internet removes friction, which he defined as impediments to getting what is wanted. Bell who hails from New Zealand explained, “Imagine it is 1987, and you want to watch the Rugby World Cup finals. What is the process by which I search for the best price for a big-screen television? You get in your car, drive across town and discover the store’s price is $1,000. What is the next decision now that you have sunk costs? You might think, if I drive 10 minutes to a second store, I might get it for $900. So you do this kind of expected costs versus benefit. There’s a fellow named George Joseph Stigler who won the Nobel Prize for computing the mathematical formula for the optimal
Geography isn’t something random — it has a specific structure. How cities develop and how people with similar demographic information and interests share the same geography is a matter of importance. amount of search. The Internet comes along, and removes that friction with applications like Milo.com developed by Wharton undergrad, Jack Abraham. Not only search friction, but also the frictions of standing in line, the store being open only 12 hours per day and others.” Tom Molar, husband of Kea Molnar, WG’11, asked, “Has anyone calculated the consumer waste of irrational purchasing, encouraged by the lack of friction? If there is a certain amount of friction, you have to think before you buy. Now you don’t have to think. So has anyone looked at the waste to you or consumers in general from taking too many Uber rides, because you don’t see the price, or grab that product online because it’s so easy to buy?” Bell responded, “That’s a great question. A fellow professor wrote an essay, Always Leave Home Without It — the idea is that if you don’t have a credit card with you, then you’ll be less likely to order dessert, or purchase a larger model of any item. “Another professor at UPenn goes on CNN at Christmas, saying, ‘Don’t buy anybody gifts.’ His theory is that, when Uncle John pays $500 for an iPad for his nephew who values it only at $400, dead weight is created. So he extrapolated that several billion dollars are wasted each year. Then he asks, ‘Who in the family gives the optimal Christmas present?’ Yes, the grandmother who gives a little envelope with cash.” Nora Ostrovskaya, WG’99, asked about friction created online, when customers can’t obtain their purchases immediately, they might have to return it, or it may not work properly. Bell agreed, saying that’s why e-commerce is only 8% of commerce in the U.S. and 10% in the U.K. Bell’s insights about the influence of location on online purchasing decisions are encapsulated in an acronym GRAVITY. “You need to have an acronym for a popular book,” he explained. Each letter here denotes a factor that relates the online and offline worlds, and influences customers’ online behavior: Geography: Where your customers live is crucial in understanding their online behavior. Geography isn’t something random — it has a specific structure. How cities develop and how people with similar demographic information and interests share the same geography is a matter of importance. Understanding this helps in establishing a good foundation toward predicting customers’ online decisions. Resistance: This notion talks about how the Internet has helped consumers overcome certain frictions, such as
SPEAKER SERIES
geographical friction (there exists a physical distance between the consumer and the product). For e-commerce companies, geographical friction is more than just prolonged shipping time or delayed delivery. It is possible that customers want to buy online products originating only from neighboring countries, as adjusting to their language and demography is easier, and their tastes are also somewhat similar. Adjacency: Word of mouth is the best marketing medium. Consumer base grows in pockets, and what people are saying about your product impacts this growth. When a friend talks about a product, this is more likely to influence your customer than any online search. And if an influential customer is talking about your offerings, the adjacency effect gets doubled. Vicinity: The Internet brings together people from diverse locations but similar interests into the same online vicinity. Bell explained this through the “spatial long tail” concept. Initially, 80% of product acceptance comes from geographically proximate places, while the remaining 20% comes from the vicinity. Later, this ratio changes to 50-50. So, e-commerce may start in any location, but gradually, it will gain traction from people with shared preferences, even if they are spatially diverse. Isolation: Isolation occurs in geographies with limited offline stores or with stores that are underserving. This encourages people to shop online. For example, Jeff Bezos’ first Amazon customer lived 50 miles away from a physical bookstore. Topography: Here, Bell highlighted the coexistence of the online and offline worlds. Thanks to this ever-evolving landscape, the two worlds are merging together. The tremendous success of social media is an apt example that explains how we are sharing our real-world experiences with the virtual world — and so are smartphones. Today, if we own a smartphone, we can carry the virtual anywhere with us. It is this connection between the online and offline worlds that e-commerce brands can leverage. You: Here, Bell dropped the ball in his readers’ court and let them decide how they will leverage the above principles to grow their e-commerce brands. Bell concluded, “When you go into the online space, you have to remember that people still live and make choices in the real world. Randy Rayess, W’13, GEN’13, contributed to this article. Randy is co-founder at VenturePact. You can reach out to him on Linkedin and Twitter @RandyRayess ♦
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JOSEPH WHARTON AWARDS
JOSEPH WHARTON AWARD FOR LEADERSHIP, 2014 Alex Gorsky, WG’96
Chairman of the Board and CEO, Johnson & Johnson Alex Gorsky, proud of being from a big family in a small town, is the dynamic leader of Johnson & Johnson. He received the Leadership award at the Joseph Wharton Awards Dinner in October, with a large contingent of his company present to honor him. Following are excerpts from Mr. Gorsky’s speech I doubt Joseph Wharton could have imagined 133 years ago when he created the charter — actually a values-based charter — that Dave [Gilboa] and Neil [Blumenthal] would start a company the way they have, that we would be doing social financing, that so many of you are making a difference in your industries. It’s remarkable what Wharton alumni have accomplished. Ultimately, the values of the school are what would be most important to him — and what we will be remembered for — years down the road.
Some of my Wharton professors are here tonight. I want to say, “Thank you,” to Professor Howie Kaufold, W’75, who was running WEMBA (Wharton Executive MBA) at the time, who smoothed over the damage done by my study group behind the scenes … to Professor David Reibstein, who told me that, if I didn’t get this last class right, I might not graduate … and to Professor Mike Useem, HOM’91, who taught that it is important to graduate knowing not only IRR, NPV and WACC, but also what it means to have values as a leader, and how to make difficult decisions.
best to help patients live longer, happier, healthier lives. Without them, there is no way that we can do what we do.
My J&J family, about 140,000 of them — nothing motivates me more than getting up every morning knowing how many of them are up early, up late, giving their
J&J is the largest medical device company in the world. We have scientists who are, right now, working on a solution for the Ebola virus.
ALEX GORSKY, WG’96, is Chairman of the Board and CEO of Johnson & Johnson and Chairman of the Executive Committee, the company’s senior leadership team. He is the seventh person to serve as Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson since it became a publicly traded company in 1944. Mr. Gorsky began his career at Johnson & Johnson as a sales representative with Janssen Pharmaceutica in 1988. Over the next 15 years, he advanced through positions of increasing responsibility in sales, marketing and management. In 2001, he was appointed President of Janssen, and in 2003, he was named Company Group Chairman of Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceuticals business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In early 2009, he was appointed Worldwide Chairman of the Surgical Care Group. In September 2009, he was appointed Worldwide Chairman of the Medical Devices & Diagnostics segment. In January 2011, Mr. Gorsky was named Vice Chairman of Johnson & Johnson’s Executive Committee. As Vice Chairman,
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he was responsible for Johnson & Johnson’s Medical Devices and Diagnostics segment, the largest business of its kind in the world; the Johnson & Johnson Supply Chain, which includes a global network of 140 manufacturing facilities; the Company’s Government Affairs and Policy Group; the Company’s Health Care Compliance and Privacy Group; and the Johnson & Johnson Development Corp., the company’s venture capital subsidiary. He became CEO on April 26, 2012 and Chairman of the Board on December 28, 2013. Mr. Gorsky was named the 2009 Mentor of the Year by the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association. He is the Executive Sponsor of two Johnson & Johnson employee resource groups, the Women’s Leadership Initiative and the Veteran’s Leadership Council. After earning a B.S. from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, he spent six years in the U.S. Army, finishing his military career with the rank of Captain. He and his wife, Pat, have a son, Nicholas Gorsky W11. You may read Mr. Gorsky’s full bio here. ♦
CAREER SPEAKER SERIES
LEADING
THE LIFE YOU WANT Skills for Integrating Work and Life – Wharton Professor Stewart Friedman at a WCNY Career Speaker Series Event him in 2008 and 2009, I became very interested in his work in the work-life integration space. Total Leadership helped me begin to articulate my definition of success. Leading the Life You Want offers extensions on these ideas, which I wanted to share with the Wharton alumni community. Stew jumped at the opportunity to address this influential group.” (above) Hanna Kamaric, W’14, Greg Fraser, WG’03, Professor Friedman, and Umang Malhotra, WG’11. (left) Stew Friedman, Andrew Stern, W’10, Wendy De La Rosa, W’11, and Hanna Kamaric, W’14
A thought-provoking event on life skills was held on October 20, organized by members of the WCNY Career Series team, Charles Forgang, W’78, and Andrew Stern, W’10. The venue was one of those 37th-floor wood-paneled conference rooms with artwork and a mammoth conference table that easily accommodated the 35 attendees. Everyone took a moment to introduce himself or herself, a nice tradition. Professor of Management Stewart Friedman’s presentation started with a simple challenge: “Are you leading the life you want?” While many of us feel our lives are “full,” Stew pushed attendees on if they are merely stretched too thin. He shared stories of remarkable people who act with authenticity and creativity in integrating the various domains of life. Attendees completed a brief self-assessment to identify which of these leaders they most resemble. Participants then partnered up to share one action they could take to improve their performance. I asked Andrew Stern how he brought this event to fruition. “While studying under Stew Friedman in 2007 and TAing for
Andrew found, overall, this evening had two significant take-aways. “First, accomplishment in one’s career comes not at the expense of the rest of life, but because of commitments at home, in the community, and to the private realm of mind, body and spirit. Second, leading the life you want requires striving to help others.” Umang Malhotra, WG’11, founder of The Ideas Team, said, “I enjoyed his perspective on the 3 core dimensions for integrating work and life. The talk was relevant, informative and grounded in research. I especially valued his curated action steps and suggested exercises to practice skills associated with each dimension.” Gregory T. Fraser, WG’03, Chief Marketing Officer at Vertana Group, shared, “What resonated most with me was the paradox of slowing down to speed up — the idea that taking time away from your immediate needs to reflect and gain balance can actually make you more productive in each area of your life. I ended up connecting with two people as partners. We’re each checking in to discuss how we’re proceeding with our personal action step from the session, and we are finding that the continued dialogue is a valuable part of a process that requires rumination and action.” Andrew Stern contributed to this article. Andrew works on the Leadership, Learning and Organizational Development team at Bloomberg, and is actively involved with the WCNY’s career development committee, where he organizes panels and other events that support members’ career transitions and growth. You can reach Andrew at andrew.u.stern@gmail.com. ♦
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THE WHARTON CLUB OF NEW YORK APPRECIATES THE ENTHUSIASTIC SUPPORT OF THE FOLLOWING PREMIUM MEMBERS: BENEFACTOR MEMBERS: Ramkrishan Hinduja, BSE, WG’91 Hinduja Group of Companies Regional Chairman, Americas (212) 355-0755 www.hindujagroup.com Daniel Lowy, WG’13 LFG America Investment Manager, Private Transactions (646) 681-2225 www.nyscq.com Christopher Stavrou, WG’67 Stavrou Partners, LP General Partner (212) 297-6110
GOLD MEMBERS: Michael Graves, W’95 SAC Capital Advisors Portfolio Manager Daniel Katz, W’87 PSK Supermarkets Vice President (914) 667-6400 Allen Levinson, W’77, WG’78 Credit Risk Advisors, LP Principal (201) 934-7768 Alan Vanderborght, WEV’05 Torreya Emerging Markets CEO (609) 970-4398 www.torreya-em.com Janice Stanton, W’81 Contrarian Capital Management President and Portfolio Manager (203) 862-8204 www.contrariancapital.com Karl O’Farrell, WG’89 Centrifugal Associates Group, LLC Founding Member, Chief Operating Officer
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TAKE THE CALL! THE WHARTON ALUMNI COMMUNITY IS ONE OF THE MOST EXCLUSIVE AND POWERFUL NETWORKS IN THE WORLD. A KEY ELEMENT TO OUR SUCCESS IS THE WILLINGNESS OF ALUMNI TO HELP OTHER ALUMNI. TAKE THE CALL IS A SIMPLE CONCEPT: WHARTON ALUMNI SHOULD BUY FROM, HIRE AND HELP WHARTON ALUMNI. AND IF A FELLOW WHARTON ALUM CALLS US FOR ANY REASON, WE TAKE THE CALL. THE TAKE THE CALL FORUM ALLOWS YOU TO DIRECTLY REACH 30,000 WHARTON ALUMNI IN THE NEW YORK CITY METROPOLITAN AREA.
Promote yourself! Find opportunities offered by your fellow Wharton alumni! Help alumni get answers! Gain ideas and useful information! Just submit www. whartonny.com/forum.html. Here are some excerpts from the latest Take the Call Forum. Looking to Hire Management Consultants! We are a growing boutique management consulting firm to Fortune 1000 companies. If you have a management consulting background and are interested in working in a dynamic environment, then please contact ned@ covehill.com. Ned Schoenfeld, W’83. Seeking Entry-Level Analyst for Top NYC Late-Stage Startup! Payoneer, one of the fastest growing global companies in the financial technology space, is seeking a Finance and Corporate Development Analyst within the office of the CFO to join the team at the company’s New York City
headquarters. Please contact ericle@ payoneer.com. Eric Lesser, W’07. In-Home Music Lessons — Manhattan! Varta Academy of Musical Arts offers in-home lessons in Manhattan for piano, violin, guitar and voice. Please contact milen@vartamusic.com, 347-229-2458. Milen Petkov, GEX’05. Fashion iPhone App Needs PR, Marketing Advice! We built an iPhone app that helps young women quickly decide what to wear. We would be thrilled if anyone could offer advice on publicity, marketing, connections to Apple, etc. Thank you!! Please contact mattmaroone@gmail. com, (213) 440-1333. George Schultz, WG’13, Matt Maroone, WG’13.
YES, I want to be a Contributing Member of the Wharton Club of New York, giving me benefits including:
y More access to fellow alumni y Eligibility for leadership positions
y 1/2 price on most WCNY events y Special, members-only discounts on special services, and health insurance.
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Supporting Membership - $95/year Silver Membership - $500/year
Gold Membership - $1,000/year
Benefactor Membership - $4,000/year – includes membership in the Penn Club To complete your application online, please visit http://www.whartonny.com/memsub.html
Or please complete and mail to: Wharton Business School Club of New York, 485 Madison Avenue, Suite 747, New York, NY 10173 Questions? Contact Gabriela Sanchez at gsanchez@whartonny.com
WCNY–CALENDAR Check website for full details on exceptional upcoming events!
Whartonny.com/events.html Getting More for Executives in Work and Life Author Speaker Series Wednesday, January 14, 2015 at 6:00 p.m. Location: Midtown (the address will be emailed to all registered guests prior to the event) Professor Stuart Diamond presents his new model (the most sought-after course at Wharton) based on his book Getting More: How You Can Negotiate to Succeed in Work and Life.
Don Giovanni at The Met Special & Social Events Committee Wednesday, February 11, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. Location: The Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center, New York, NY 10023 Join the Wharton Club of New York at Lincoln Center on February 11th for the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s brilliant Don Giovanni.
Wharton Club of New York Volunteer Orientation Tuesday, January 20, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. Location: Midtown (the address will be emailed to all registered guests prior to the event) Do you know how the Wharton Club operates? Would you like to be involved? Here’s your chance to find out.
Business for the Arts Special Interest Speaker Series Monday, March 16, 2015 at 6:00 p.m. Location: Midtown (the address will be emailed to all registered guests prior to the event) Claudia Moscovici will describe what art can do for business and what business can do for art by introducing the notion of a modern day salon.
The Wharton Global Conversations Tour featuring Dean Geoffrey Garrett Tuesday, February 10, 2015 at 6:30 p.m. Location: Grand Hyatt Grand Central. 109 E. 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 Wharton Dean and Reliance Professor of Management and Private Enterprise; Professor of Management; will share his core priorities for the Wharton School and lead engagement with alumni.