Back to Business School: 2007 Reunion Weekend draws hundreds

More than 300 alumni came from around the United States and as far away as Switzerland to attend the third-annual Back to Business School & Reunion Weekend, September 14-15. The honored MBA and Executive MBA classes of 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997 and 2002 were well-represented, and presented class gifts to the Foster School of Business that totaled more than $87,000.

Friday kicked off with a networking lunch in the Balmer Hall Undergraduate Commons with Dean James Jiambalvo, followed by a chance to explore business topics with two of the Foster School’s top faculty: “India vs. China: Who Will Come Out on Top?” by Suresh Kotha, the Oleson/Battelle Excellence Chair in Entrepreneurship and faculty director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship; and “Triggering the Unconscious: Implicit Cognition in Advertising,” by Mark Forehand, associate professor of marketing and a Marguerite Reimers Endowed Research Fellow. The afternoon ended with “From the Playing Fields to Organizational Leadership,” a panel discussion moderated by Tom Porter (MBA 1959), retired executive vice president of Bank of America and author of “A Football Band of Brothers: Forging Washington’s First National Championship.”

The evening featured a gala MBA reunion party at the Husky Union Building (HUB). Saturday began bright and early with a bountiful brunch tailgater at the Waterfront Activities Center prior to the Huskies’ clash with the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Next year’s Back to Business School & Reunion Weekend, scheduled for September 19-20, 2008, will honor the MBA classes of 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998 and 2003.