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UW EMBA Alumni Highlights!
Spring Quarter 2006
Executive MBA Alumni Links no longer requires a password
 This
issue includes information on:
Upcoming EMBA Events
Program Updates
Recruiting
  
Bill Alberts passed away on Tuesday, March 28th. Bill was a Professor of Business Economics and Finance at the University of Washington Business School from 1967 to 1995. Prior to joining the Business School Faculty, Bill taught for several years at the University of Chicago (where he completed his undergraduate, MBA and PHD work). Bill Alberts was instrumental in the creation of the UW Executive MBA Program and served as Faculty Director for many years. Bill taught Competitive Analysis in the EMBA program from 1983 until he retired in 1995. During his tenure he was a frequent contributor to academic journals and served as associate editor for both the Journal of Finance and the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. Bill meant a great deal to the Business School and has received several recognitions including four times the EMBA Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award.
“Those of us fortunate enough to have been in Bill’s classroom will fondly recall his iconic eyewear, 3-piece suits, clouds of chalk dust and his delight and infectious enthusiasm for both students and Economics”, says Louise Kapustka, EMBA Director and alum.
In 1978, Bill co-founded Marakon Associates with a former student, James McTaggart, and his colleague, Peter Kontes. He continued to be active in Marakon Associates an international management consulting firm described by The Economist as “a consultancy that has advised some of the world’s most consistently successful companies”. Marakon honored Bill with the creation of the William W. Alberts Endowed Professorship which is held by Avi Kamara.
The Business School will be hosting a reception in memory of Bill Alberts on Monday, May 1, 2006. The reception will be held in the Peterson Room on the 4th floor of the Allen Library from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m. Bill’s wife, Patricia, his daughters and family members will be attending. Rocky Higgins is developing a program for this reception. You are all invited.
“Explore the
Entrepreneurial Frontier”
A
workshop for EMBAs
Friday, June 23, 2006
An All-Day Workshop
8:00 a.m. – 5:15 p.m.
Crystal Ballroom
Washington Athletic Club
As an EMBA alum, you already have the understanding and skill to be successful in any corporate or managerial environment. If you are thinking of making the leap into early-stage entrepreneurship this workshop (offered by a partnership of Executive MBA and the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship) is for you!
Topics will include:
- The Role of the Entrepreneur
- Legal Essentials for the Founding Team
- Entrepreneurial Finance
- How to Raise VC Money
- How to Build a Sales Organization
Invitations to this event will be mailed in May
We have reserved limited number of single and double occupancy rooms at the Washington Athletic Club for those of you who live outside the Puget Sound area and would like to spend the weekend in Seattle. The special rate is $169 per night for both single and double occupancy. To make a reservation call Mike Harkness or Chris Sabaten at 1-800-275-3775. Please make your room reservation by Thursday, May 18.
Save the Date!
Summer Barbecue
for
EMBA Alums and Prospective Students
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
(Undergraduate Commons, lower level of Balmer Hall)
Invitations will be mailed in July
  
Forty-eight second-year Regional and North America students participated in the 2006 International Study Seminar in Beijing and Shanghai, China March 11-19. Also in attendance were EMBA Director, Louise Kapustka, Professors Bob Bowen, Jane Kennedy and Suresh Kotha, Assistant Professor Shuping Chen and Assistant Director Belina Makonnen. This year’s International Study Seminar was a great success. We were impressed with the fast (and accelerating) pace of development, especially in Beijing which will host the 2008 Olympics and the hospitality of the Chinese people. The busy eight-day schedule included guided city tours of Beijing and Shanghai, presentations by the U.S.-China Business Council, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and an ex-pat panel of: Jim Rice, Vice President and Country Manager (China), Tyson Foods Inc., Michael Zhang, Engineering Manager, Intel Corporation (EMBA Alum 2003), and Mike McCollum, Managing Director, Weyerhaeuser China Limited. We also enjoyed interesting company visits at: Schenker Logistics; NetBrain Technologies; Coca Cola; Baoshan Iron & Steel; and General Motors China Investment Co. Ltd.
Marissa Nolen, Class of 2006, kept a travel journal.
Beijing - Monday, March 13, 2006
After 24+ hours of being awake, and a long trip with flights from Seattle to Tokyo and then Tokyo to Beijing, jet lag got the best of me and I was awake with the sun after only 4.5 hours of sleep. Hard to believe that I was just in class all day yesterday—or two days ago, since we’re now on the other side of the international dateline.
Read more of Marissa's posts on the 2006 International Study Seminar
  
As a part of our Corporate Entrepreneurship class, the Third Annual EMBA Business Plan Competition will be held at the HUB on Friday, June 2nd. A capstone event, second year study groups create ideas for new businesses, submit a business plan and competitively present their ideas to a panel of judges (including, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, faculty and EMBA Alumni). During the day long competition the judges assess the quality and viability of each team’s Business Plan, as well as their presentation, select 4 finalists and ultimately an overall winner. Some Alumni have actually launched companies utilizing the lessons they learned from the Corporate Entrepreneurship class and the Business Plan Competition.
In Winter quarter 2005, two EMBA - North America 6 students Brian Johnson and Sol Lipman were doing some late night studying and discussing the use of flash drives to transport their school work. They discussed how useful these small devices were, and that their capacity had become large enough to hold a huge amount of data. Intuitively, they also knew that these were another electronic commodity that would only become cheaper and gain more capacity over time. "Bad business to be in" However, something seemed missing. Both agreed that the use of the devices was a boring experience, and that something so valuable in storing data, so small and durable, and so highly distributed could be better. Then it hit them, the potential for these small devices was not in making the device itself, but by making an operating system for flash drives that would make them much more useful.
Read more on Brian and Sol's Business Plan
  
Former Governor Gary Locke, currently a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, spoke to both first year EMBA classes on Friday, February 17. The Governor highlighted the importance of international trade with China and shared his experiences about going back to his homeland after many years. He also spoke about the challenges and opportunities of leadership during his term as Governor.
Members of the Regional 22 class have created an Executive Excellence Campaign to give back to and continue to improve upon the EMBA Program! Second Year Students will contact EMBA Alums with information about the campaign (which includes EMBA logowear) and how you can help. Look for letters from EMBA Director Louise Kapustka and the Campaign Committee.
Thanks to everyone who has referred prospective Students and assisted us with our 2005/6 recruiting activities! Attendance at our 2005/6 Information Receptions, as well as Program inquiries, requests for class visits and applications are all up! Remaining events include:
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Check Alumni Links for regularly updated news.
www.emba.washington.edu | emba@u.washington.edu | 206.685.1333
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