The successful Virtual Learning Series returns on November 9th for members and non-members of alumni Clubs around the world.  Thousands of alumni have been on previous calls, enjoying one of the key benefits of Club membership.  The December VLS call with Kash Rangan will again only be open to members, so we encourage you to join us on the call in November and then join the HBSWANY!

The Financial Crisis: One Year Later - In November 2008, this panel discussed the global financial crisis from the financial markets, leadership and real estate perspectives in the wake of the presidential election.  The expert panel includes Professors Jay Lorsch, Arthur Segel, Rob Kaplan, and Bill George. Join us as they discuss the developments of the past year and their thoughts on the current economic landscape.

Registration Information:

To register for this limited capacity event, please call 1.800.925.8000 (inside US) or 1.334.260.9999 (outside US) and request registration for "Harvard University conference call on November 9, 2009 at 11:30am EST." Dial in information for the call will be provided by the operator once registration is complete.

 
Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 11:30 a.m.

*Location: Your Office or Home
*Time: 11:30 a.m.
* Cost: No Charge.  This VLS is open exceptionally to all HBS Alumni regardless of club membership status

William W. George

Bill George is Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School, where he is teaching leadership and leadership development along with several executive education programs. He is the author of a new best-selling leadership book, Finding Your True North: A Personal Guide.  His previous two books, True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership and Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value, were also best-sellers.

Mr. George is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Medtronic. He joined Medtronic in 1989 as President and Chief Operating Officer, and was elected Chief Executive Officer in 1991, serving in that capacity through 2001. He was Chairman of the Board from 1996 to 2002. Under his leadership, Medtronic's market capitalization grew from $1.1 billion to $60 billion, averaging 35% a year.

Mr. George currently serves as a director of ExxonMobil and Goldman Sachs, as well as Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, World Economic Forum USA, and Guthrie Theater.

During 2002-2003, Mr. George was Professor of Leadership and Governance at IMD International in Lausanne, Switzerland and Executive-in-Residence at Yale University’s School of Management. Prior to joining Medtronic, he spent ten years as a senior executive with Honeywell and ten years with Litton Industries, primarily as president of Litton Microwave Cooking.

Mr. George received his BSIE with high honors from Georgia Tech, and his MBA with high distinction from Harvard University, where he was a Baker Scholar. He has received a honorary PhD from Georgia Tech and a honorary Doctorate of Business Administration from Bryant University. Mr. George was named Executive-of-the-Year by the Academy of Management (2001) and Director-of-the-Year by NACD (2001-02). In 2002 George was selected as one of "The 25 Most Influential Business People of the Last 25 Years" by PBS Nightly News. 

Robert Steven Kaplan

Robert S. Kaplan is a Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School.  Rob is a Senior Director of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and a Senior Advisor to Berkshire Partners LLC.

Prior to joining Harvard Business School in September 2005, Rob served as Vice Chairman of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. with oversight

responsibility for the Investment Banking and Investment Management Divisions.  He was also a member of the firm’s Management Committee and served as Co-Chairman of the firm’s Partnership Committee and Chairman of the Goldman Sachs Pine Street Leadership Program.  During his career at the firm, he also served in various other capacities including Global Co-Head of the Investment Banking Division (1999 to 2002), Head of the Corporate Finance Department (1994 to 1999) and Head of Asia-Pacific Investment Banking (1990 to 1994).  Rob became a partner in 1990.

Rob is the founding Co-Chair of the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center Advisory Board.  He is also Co-Chairman of the Board of Project A.L.S., Co-Chairman of the Board of the TEAK Fellowship, and is a member of the Boards of the Harvard Medical School, Harvard Management Company, the Ford Foundation, State Street Corporation and the Jewish Theological Seminary.  Rob has been appointed by the Governor of Kansas as a member of the Kansas Healthcare Policy Authority Board and is a member of the Investors Advisory Committee on Financial Markets of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Rob received an M.B.A. from Harvard in 1983 and a B.S. from the University of Kansas in 1979.

Prior to attending business school, Rob was a certified public accountant at Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co.  

Jay W. Lorsch

Jay W. Lorsch is the Louis Kirstein Professor of Human Relations at the Harvard Business School. He is the author of over a dozen books, the most recent of which are Back to the Drawing Board: Designing Boards for a Complex World (with Colin B. Carter, 2003), Aligning the Stars: How to Succeed When Professionals Drive Results (with Thomas J. Tierney, 2002), and Pawns or Potentates: The Reality of America's Corporate Boards (1989). Organization and Environment (with Paul R. Lawrence) won the Academy of Management's Best Management Book of the Year Award and the James A. Hamilton Book Award of the College of Hospital Administrators in 1969.

Having taught in all of Harvard Business School's educational programs, he was Chairman of the Doctoral Programs, Senior Associate Dean and Chair of the Executive Education Programs from 1991-1995, Senior Associate Dean and Director of Research from 1986-1991, Chairman of the Advanced Management Programs from 1980-1985, and prior to that was Chairman of the Organizational Behavior Unit. He is currently Chairman of the Harvard Business School Global Corporate Governance Initiative and Faculty Chairman of the Executive Education Corporate Governance Series. As a consultant, he has had as clients such diverse companies as Applied Materials, Berkshire Partners, Biogen Idec, Citicorp, Cleary Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP, Deloitte Touche, DLA Piper Rudnick, Goldman Sachs, Kellwood Company, MassMutual Financial Group, Tyco International, Shire Pharmaceuticals and Sullivan & Cromwell LLC. He is a Director of Computer Associates International, Inc. and a member of The Antioch Review National Advisory Board. He formerly served on the boards of Benckiser (now Reckitt Benckiser), Blasland Bouck & Lee Inc., Brunswick Corporation and Sandy Corporation; he also served on the Advisory Board of U.S. Foodservice.

He is a graduate of Antioch College (1955) with a M.S. degree in Business from Columbia University (1956) and a Doctor of Business Administration from Harvard Business School (1964). At Columbia, he was a Samuel Bronfman Fellow in Democratic Business Administration. From 1956-59, he served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Finance Corp.

Professor Lorsch is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Arthur I. Segel

Arthur Segel is the Poorvu Family Professor of Management Practice in the Finance Department at Harvard Business School where he has been writing cases and teaching the Real Property Asset Management course since 1996. He is an honors graduate of Harvard College (1973) and Stanford University, Graduate School of Business (1975).

Mr. Segel was a co-founder and co-owner (1982-2001) of TA Associates Realty, a large private equity real estate development and investment advisory firm specializing in commercial and multi-family real estate in over thirty markets in the United States and Canada. Prior to TA Associates Realty, he worked as a Vice President at Boston Properties and as Deputy for Finance and Administration at Massport. He is the founder and Advisory Committee Chair of Xander Funds, a real estate investment company in India; a co-founder of The Tobin Project, a non-profit that encourages policy-relevant academic research; and the 21st Century Fund, a non-profit for public education.  He serves on the Advisory Committees of High Vista, a Boston-based multi-asset fund; Portland Capital, a London-based public real estate hedge fund; and SRB Corporation, a Boston-based insurance company.  He is also on the Board of Trexa, a Mumbai-based retail development and investment firm.  He is a member of the Urban Land Institute, NAIOP, a trustee and member of the Executive Committee of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the 2009 Boston co-chair of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies. In 2006, Private Equity Real Estate Journal awarded him one of the 30 most influential players in real estate in the world.