Stern DC

Stern DC Newsletter - The Capital News

November, 2003

In This Issue:

Volunteer
Glances at the Past and Future
Message from the President of Stern DC Alumni
Alumni Profile
SWAP

Volunteer

We are looking for volunteers for the 2004 Kick-off Dinner Jan 10th as well as for a Spring Golf tournament. If you'd like to get involved please email Tim Condon, Events Coordinator, at events@sterndc.org

Glances at the Past and Future

Greetings,
For those of you keeping track, we have recently celebrated SternDC's first anniversary. It was October 2002 when we held our inaugural event at Georgetown's Harbour Club, and we haven't looked back. This past year has been one of tremendous change and growth. During this period, SternDC has:

Instituted a monthly networking happy hour, now combined with NYUDC's happy hour for even greater reach
Organized a volunteer event with Hands on DC . Put together a group outing to a Washington Wizards game
Held the first annual SternDC Summer Picnic . Established the website www.SternDC.org for local alumni
Andy Heifetz, MBA '99, has recently reworked the entire site, and has been kind enough to have his company, Avollution, host it for us. (Our thinking was to design the site only as a local extension of SWAP, not as a replacement, so make sure to keep your contact information current in SWAP)
Worked directly with Stern's Office of Alumni Affairs to bring DC area alumni a career resource seminar on November 20th. Similar to those currently taking place in Manhattan, this event is the first of its kind outside of OAA's New York City home turf, and a genuine coup for local alumni.

Also on the horizon is our January dinner. Watch your email inboxes and check our website's calendar for additional information about this and other upcoming events.

SternDC is continuing to grow, and with that growth comes change. As some of you might already know, I am stepping down as Chair of SternDC and turning the reigns over to the very capable Richard Johnson-Firth, MBA '01, who has up to now been our Vice Chair. I will continue supporting the SternDC Exec Group on a regular basis, but now in more of a background role.

In closing, I'd like to thank each of the SternDC Executive Board members, both official and inofficial, for their guidance, support, and patience over the past year. Each of you contributed in your own unique fashion to keeping me, and by proxy, the organization, on the straight-and-narrow and ensuring our success. My appreciation goes to everyone. Keep up the good work!

All the best,
Seth Balsam
MBA '97
Chair Emeritus

Message from the President of Stern DC Alumni

Hi, As Seth pointed out above, I have taken over as Chair of the SternDC Alumni Group. First, I want to thank Seth for his amazing dedication to drive this Group from very humble beginnings. His persistence and belief in the Group really is the primary reason that it exists at all.

Seth has offered to stay on the Executive Committee to enable us to have a solid continuation of the Group. In fact, all but one of our current Executive Committee members has agreed to continue in the coming year. I believe that this continuity will allow us to build on the past year.

While we have a core team in place, we are also looking for new blood to help invigorate this community and help us reach the next level. We are looking for individuals who may want to join our Executive Committee or who may be willing to help organize one specific event that they have a keen interest in.

We have learned a great deal over the past year as to what obstacles we have to overcome. The top three obstacles can be classified as follows:

Resources - Financial constraints are a reality in most businesses, it is no different for SternDC. We are also constrained by the lack of physical space to host events. We have learned a great deal in the past year and continue to look for any help that anyone can provide. A third resource constraint is the personnel needed to organize events. We need help to research and organize events. If you have an interest in helping, please contact us.

Geography - SternDC covers a large metropolitan area which creates difficulties in organizing events that can reach most people within our community. We are still learning what events will be successful and where we should host them. The more events we put on, the better data we have as to where our core members are. If you want more events in your area, help drive the attendance up at events in your area.

Credibility - Previous individuals have tried and failed to create a robust Group that could continue after the founder lost interest. Hopefully, we are beginning to overcome this perception as we move into our second year. We have already seen a significant increase in support from Stern as we demonstrate that we can deliver quality events. We have a core team that is committed to the long-term viability of this Group.

Now, I want to turn to issue of membership. As a graduate of Stern you are automatically invited to participate in any of our events without any prior financial commitment. We welcome you to come and try us out and pay for each event as you go. We want to put on bigger and better events but these events require large deposits and create the increased risk that we could lose money on an individual event. Without membership dues, it is virtually impossible to organize larger events. We are asking for a $25 contribution for the 2004 calendar year ($20 for those graduating in the past two years). This money will be used to fund deposits and meet minimum reserve requirements for events. Membership will entitle the member to a discount to each of the events put on throughout the year. Come to a couple of events per year and membership will have paid for itself.

So, what are you going to get in return for your contribution? Our goal for 2004 is to put on four premium Stern events in the year. Depending on resources, interest and availability these may include: a dinner cruise on the Potomac; a holiday dinner in DC; a guest speaker series; a summer picnic; a wine tasting event with expert speaker; or whatever suggestions anyone can come up with.

In addition to the major events, we envision two to four additional events based on the interest and passion of the organizer of the event. These may include: a ski trip; a golf outing; a community outreach day; a hiking trip; etc.

In order to anchor our community and provide an opportunity to build closer friendships in the area, we currently hold a monthly happy hour. This is free of charge and we have decided to join forces with the NYU Alumni Group to provide access to a larger group of people. The last happy hour at Saint Ex in DC in October was a great success and it was refreshing to see so many new faces. We have only just begun to tap into the Alumni population in the DC area. Whatever your reason is for interest in the SternDC Alumni Group, we welcome you all. Please help us make this a community to be proud of.

Richard Johnson-Firth MBA Finance '01 (Executive Program) Chair

Alumni Profile

Name: Kris Colby

Education:
BA International Relations, St. Mary's College of California, 1989
MBA in Finance; NYU Stern, 1997

Current Position:
Regional Director for North America, WorldWide Retail Exchange

The WorldWide Retail Exchange is a not-for-profit consortium of the world's leading retailers and consumer products companies, established to build common, open and shared processes and platforms for collaboration between trading partners.

Career Highlights: Have been lucky enough to be present for the good, the bad, and the ugly of the dot.com revolution/bubble, including time with eToys, VerticalNet and others

Family: Edamarie and I have three children (Kiernan, 9, Tolly, 6, and Desmond, 5) and live in Silver Spring, MD

Hobby/Passion: Food and wine

How long have you lived in the DC metro area: Since March 2002 and have loved it so far

Why all the dot.com's and startups?
I love the energy and no-holds-barred atmosphere of these companies, even if the lack of discipline and "adult supervision" can get to you after a while. It's the best place I've seen to work with a group of creative, open-minded people who care less about internal politics and more about getting stuff done. Above all, I'm addicted to the challenge of working to create something that has never existed before. That said, attrition is part of the natural order here. After all, in the 1920's there were 200+ car manufacturers in the US and we all know where that ended up. What's the biggest challenge about working at an industry consortium? All the players want to head in the same direction at a high-level, but they each are convinced that their own detailed requirements should be accepted by everyone. Everybody needs their own special "purple button".

SWAP - Stern Worldwide Alumni Platform

SWAP is the password protected, online directory of Stern alumni. SWAP's advanced search tool allows you to locate other alumni by name, class year, company, industry and/or location. SWAP also provides resume uploading capabilities so that you can securely post your resume online and browse the resumes of other alumni. In addition, SWAP provides you with a permanent e-mail forwarding address so that alumni, friends and potential employers can always contact you. SWAP is only as strong as your commitment to participate, so sign up today to start utilizing this powerful networking tool.

Visit SWAP at http://www.stern.nyu.edu/Alumni

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Previous Issues:
November 2003
September 2003
Summer 2003