Archive for October/2011

Business Women series: “Recession or Renaissance: Thriving in the new Era” will focus on how the crisis has changed our world and how individuals and businesses can respond to make the most of this time of change. The need for growing talent and diversity in the workplace, including gender diversity, will be especially discussed and analyzed.

Speakers include Gayle Allard from IE business school, Siobhan Martin from Mercer, Christine Nielsen from University of Baltimore and Marijo Bos and Rieke Smakman from EuropeanPWN.

The conference will be closed by H.E. President of the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal, Assunção Esteves.

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Name: Alessandro Procaccini
Home country: Italy
Program and intake at IE: IMBA, November 2010 Intake
Previous job: Consultant

Why did you choose IE?
I was searching for a 1-year program and targeting only European schools. I ended up choosing IE for several reasons: first of all for its innovative program as well as for its focus on entrepreneurship. Rankings were also an important element in my decision. Finally, another important element that made me choose IE, was Madrid: I’ve lived in several European countries, but never in Spain and the opportunity of living in Madrid really excited me.

What´s your favorite thing about IE?
I expected some degree of diversity at IE, but the diversity of nationalities, background and mindsets I found here was impressive! In the beginning, after my experience in consulting, I had to work a lot to adapt my way to work and my language to those of my peers, but I found this challenge extremely important in terms of personal and professional growth. It helped me to understand the limitations as well as the strengths of my background: if you never challenge yourself and what you think you know well, you never really learn and improve.

How easy was it to adjust to living in Madrid?
Being an European who speaks Italian and French, I didn’t encounter many difficulties when moving in Madrid; in the beginning I practiced my Itanol, but after a while my Spanish became less “Italian”. The main challenge was to find a flat: a good way to find a flat in Madrid is walking in the street searching for “Se Alquila” signs, but the Student Office also helped a lot. Besides that all the rest (utilities, bank account, mobile, internet etc.) is quite straightforward, or, at least, not impossible.

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On Thursday, October 6th, the IE France Alumni Club organized a conference in Paris focusing on the Main Trends in the Internet for 2012. The conference was lead by Cyril Mazeau, one of our IE alums, and CFO of AT Internet, the leading company in web analysis. He was assisted by two other internet specialists, Jean Baptiste Leroy, and Rémi Rivière enriching the debate with their respective experiences. Over thirty IE Alumni attended the conference which was followed by a networking cocktail. We would like to extend a special thanks to Cyril, Jean Baptiste and Rémi for their insightful presentations and to the Presidents of the IE France Club, Bastien Seignolles and Joseph Freiha, for making this event possible!

On October 5th, a Russian Alumni gathering took place in Moscow in the venue of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce. The participants attended a virtual master class of Gayle Allard (the professors of country analysis) where they were able to discuss the future of the global economy.

Networking cocktail followed during which IE graduates were able to catch up with the old friends, meet the new members of the group and connect with several recruiters that represented international companies interested in the professionals with the top international education.

The food was provided by the newly launched company Coté Catering that belongs to IE International MBA Alumna Inga Korchagina. Entrepreneurial spirit of IE Business School can be felt not only on campus in Madrid while students are learning, but also in every city where 40 000 alumni live afterwards.

Deise Loebet, IE’s International Development Director for Europe and CIS

With the economic crisis in the Euro zone reaching its climax, women should be twice as concerned about their professional future than their male counterparts. Research has shown that in times of economic depression women are the first to lose their jobs and, when macroeconomic recover takes place again, they are the last ones to be hired by companies. Furthermore, the crisis also puts a halt to women’s goals to reduce barriers to their way to the top.

Internationally renowned as one of top leading management institutions and a think-tank for innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainability, IE is aware of the problem and is launching several projects and initiatives to help professional women to make it to the boardroom.

“To foster women in business has been one of IE’s main goals for the past 20 years, therefore we have accumulated a great deal of knowledge to help women in this period of great concern”, says Deise Leobet, IE’s International Development Director for Europe and CIS. Mrs. Leobet will be coordinating the discussions of the European Professional Women (EPWN) and IE Conference that will take place in Lisbon, Portugal, next November 3rd.

Among the pro-women initiatives being carried on by IE, is the creation of special funding/financial opportunities for young and high-potential female professionals, the creation of mentoring programs to help them to pursue opportunities in different areas and industries, especially in times of crisis when innovation and entrepreneurial spirit is a must, as well as a research center focus on women issues to reduce the so-called gender gap.