The MBA Student Voice

Riordan Gala: Celebrating Success

Last Saturday, the Riordan Programs hosted the 6th Annual Riordan Gala. Drawing over 400 guests and raising over $30,000 for scholarships, the event was a huge success. The Gala was held at the Beverly Hills Country Club and included wine tasting, a silent auction, and an awards ceremony. The honorees were Patrice Eitner, a Riordan Scholar and a Riordan Fellow, and Stephen Torres. Thank you Ms. Eitner and Mr. Torres for over 20 years of service!

Challenge 4 Charity Weekend = Not Overrated

This past weekend I experienced one of the perks of going to an MBA program on the west coast - Challenge 4 Charity weekend in Palo Alto, CA!  Stanford GSB hosted the incredible event - quite a logistical feat in and of itself.

The two-day event features a comprehensive athletic competition involving students from 9 west coast MBA programs.  Over 1,000 MBAs descended upon Stanford's campus to partake in 26 different events, from more traditional sports like football, basketball, tennis and soccer to less traditional events like dodgeball, dance/cheer, and bocce ball.  C4C weekend has a tradition of being an all-around fun and social event.  Everyone's in a great mood and school spirit is high.  There was lots of good-spirited cheering and a copious amount of high fives to go around. 

One of the features of the event was Battle of the Bands.  The display of talent was incredible and each of the bands brought some serious fire power.  My jaw dropped when I heard one of my classmates do a bang up job singing "Billie Jean".  He definitely brought the house down!

I know you all are wondering about results...yes, UCLA Anderson came in 1st in the sports competition!   (and USC won in the overall contest which included fundraising and volunteer hours)  I personally had a blast participating in the tennis and dodgeball contests.  3 days of full-body muscle soreness was definitely worth it.

Random side note: former LA Laker Mark "Mad Dog" Madsen is a 2nd year student at Stanford GSB.  Not surprisingly, their basketball team won the whole thing.  My guess is that he was probably playing at 30% effort too.  Definitely a nice guy - he had several opportunities to dunk, and chose not to.  If I were 6'9" and athletic, it would take a lot of self control to pass up on a dunking opportunity!

I am definitely looking forward to C4C weekend 2012 and hope to see a lot of you there next year...see below for some of our team pictures.

- Jesse Ferlianto '12

 


UCLA Anderson Dodgeball - 3rd place

 

UCLA Tennis - 2nd place

Diversity Outreach – Graduate School Panel

 For the fourth consecutive year, the Latino Management Students Association (LMSA) is partnering with several graduate and undergraduate student groups to put together the annual “Graduate School Student Panel” (Thursday, April 14, 2011). The primary goal of the event is to increase the "pipeline" for Latino and African-American graduate school applicants by giving them greater exposure to graduate school, particularly business school and law school.

This year, on the graduate student end, we have panelists from LMSA, African-American Students in Management, and La Raza Law Students Association. Our undergraduate co-sponsors include the Latino Business Student Association and Future Business Leaders of America–Phi Beta Lambda. Linda Baldwin, Assistant Dean of Diversity Initiatives, will also be on-hand to answer questions for those attendees who are considering applying soon to business school.

For further details, please feel free to contact me.

Conference Season at UCLA Anderson

Today is the Conference edition of the blog - because there's lots of news on all of them! Contact me if you want details any of the events happening on campus!

* The International Food Festival is on Thursday, April 7, starting at 17:00 (that's 5pm) at Alumni Plaza here on campus.  This is where the International Business Association turns Alumni Plaza into a street market atmosphere with food stalls representing 15 different nationalities, music and dance performances from around the world, and a global selection of beverages -- all run by UCLA Anderson students!  Last year, over 500 people were in attendance.

Entry is just $20 which includes five free food tickets (additional food tickets can be purchased for $1 each).  All UCLA graduate students are welcome - from any school, not just Anderson - as are all UCLA faculty and staff.  And yes, you can bring your family!  Children's entry is just $10.

* UCLA Anderson is putting on the PULSE Conference on Friday, April 8. This is UCLA Anderson's first-ever Sports and Entertainment Conference!  The conference is a collaborative effort between the Sports Business Association, Entertainment Management Association, and UCLA Anderson's Center for Managing Enterprises in Media, Entertainment, and Sports (MEMES).

Ann Sweeney, President of Disney / ABC Television Group is the keynote speaker.  Other speakers include AEG CMO Sean Dee, WME's Head of Digital Media Chris Jacquemin, and Yahoo! Sports's Director of Product Strategy Dana McGraw, plus many more!  Check out the PULSE Conference website for more details!

* The International Business Association is working with the African-American Students Association to put on UCLA Anderson's first-ever conference about Africa!  The day will highlight opportunities to invest and grow on the continent, with a fantastic array of speakers including MobileXL CEO Guy Kamgaing-Kouam, Sterling Energy Partners CEO Clyde Sotomey, and the Consul-General of South Africa's Los Angeles consulate, Cyril Sibusiso Ndaba. The conference will be on Thursday, April 21 here on campus, starting at 14:00. 

So to recap, you could expand your business mindset around the world, learn about different cultures, and become a more global citizen, all from within the confines of our beloved university in two weeks.  Not a bad deal!

-- Sreesha

Project ECHO @ UCLA

This past month, The UCLA Anderson School of Management hosted the 7th annual Project ECHO Business Plan competition.  If you're not familiar, Project ECHO is a program that engages high school students to teach them relevant business and entrepreneurial skills as well as creates additional career opportunities for them.  Project ECHO partners MBA students from UCLA Anderson with high schools in the LA area to mentor and guide them through the creation of a business plan.  This all culminates in a business plan competition, where student have the opportunity to present their plans to local businessmen and women as well as entrepreneurs.  

I was fortunate enough to be a mentor for the South Pasadena Coast team, whose Coast team took home 3rd place for their Zephyr powered bikes.  I use the word mentor lightly though, because I was incredibly impressed by what these aspiring entrepreneurs had accomplished the first time I met them.  They had already put together an incredibly thorough and innovative business plan and I felt lucky just to have a chance to work with them.

Project ECHO is just one of the many ways that current student can get involved with the community as well as earn hours for the annual Challenge for Charity (C4C) competition.  I highly encourage anyone thinking of coming to UCLA Anderson to get involved with Project ECHO.  It's an extremely rewarding experience you won't soon forget!

Existing On Campus
1^st – Snack Shack, Animo Locke Tech
2^nd – Vikes Enterprises, Santa Monia High School
3^rd – Seflora, Santa Monica High School

New On Campus
1^st – Gift Givers, Ivy Academia Middle School
2^nd – Rams Café, South Gate Senior HS
3^rd – E Lounge, Ivy Academia HS

Off Campus
1^st – Stacked, Santa Monica High School
2^nd – Simply Sweet, Charter Oaks
3^rd – Coast, South Pasadena HS

Overall: 
Fashion with Passion, Santa Barbara HS (Check out a picture of the overall winners below!)

Craton Green Award: 
Paper SOS, Hamilton HS

Emily Chan Most Inspirational Team: 
Compassion Fashion, Boys & Girls Club Port Hueneme

Project ECHO 2011 Overall Winners - Fashion with Passion, Santa Barbara HS