Enstitute Co-Founder Kane Sarhan to Keynote Tenth Annual Pace Pitch Contest
Pace University’s Lubin School of Business will hold its tenth annual Pitch Contest on Thursday, April 17 at the University’s lower Manhattan campus. The event is presented by Lubin’s state-of-the-art Entrepreneurship Lab.
Kane Sarhan, co-founder of Enstitute, the first national apprenticeship program for 21st century careers in business, technology, design, and entrepreneurship, will be the keynote speaker. Before co-founding Enstitute, Sarhan launched and ran his own magazine, The College Gossip Chronicles, raised over $100k for hackNY, a nonprofit in New York City, and was the creative director at LocalResponse, a top New York City tech startup.
The Pace Pitch Contest is based on the “elevator pitch” concept popular in the venture capital community. Contestants prepare an extremely concise presentation of an entrepreneurial idea, business model, marketing strategy, competitive analysis, and financial plan, which is delivered to potential investors. The premise is that it could be made in a few minutes should the entrepreneur spot a potential investor on an elevator and have the opportunity to pitch his or her idea during the brief ride.
Learn More about Pace’s MBA Programs here.
Boston University School of Management MBA Team Heads to Final Round of the Aspen Institute MBA Case Competition
An MBA team from Boston University’s School of Management was selected to compete in the final round of the Aspen Institute’s 2014 Business and Society International MBA Case Competition.
Ji Chong (MBA ’14), David Cushman (MBA’14), Chris Kluesener (MBA’14), and Jonathan Sobin (MBA’14) are one of five teams chosen to compete in the third and final round in New York City.
“Being among the top five teams selected is a great honor for us and speaks to the strength of BU’s MBA program, which has given us the tools needed to compete at this level,” says Cushman. “Competitions are a worthwhile experience as part of an MBA as they allow you to apply what you’ve learned and explore current business challenges faced by real companies.” The Boston University team’s case subject is focused on marketing strategy and social impact revolving around a Mexican grain-processing company seeking to scale its operation in order to raise the standard of living and improve health in the rural Mexican town where it is based.
On April 4th the team presented their case to a panel judges, including senior corporate executives, in order to vie for a first place cash award of $15,000 with an additional $1,000 to donate to charity of the team’s choice. The competition’s prize pool is $35,000, unmatched in the MBA case competition circuit.
“If we won the competition we would likely choose a charity that has a sustainability-focused mission and a history of successfully realizing that mission, such as the Environmental Defense Fund,” says Cushman.
Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business to Host Panel Discussion on Income Inequality
In partnership with the Zicklin Center for Corporate Integrity, the Baruch College Zicklin School of Business will host a panel discussion entitled “The Tale of Two Cities: Turning Rhetoric into Reality” on April 16th at 6 pm.
Income inequality is the topic of the day globally, throughout the nation and in New York City.
Moderated by Nicole Gelinas, Searle Freedom Trust Fellow, Manhattan Institute and a Contributing Editor to City Journal, the panel will address and seek to answer pressing questions raised by an increasing gap between the richest and poorest citizens. Here in New York City, Mayor de Blasio was elected in large-part due to his criticism of “the two New Yorks” and his promises to work to combat the increasing income disparity in this city.
What will it take to turn de Blasio’s rhetoric into reality? Can he substantially improve life in New York City for the nearly 2 million residents living below the poverty line? Can he protect and restore the disappearing middle class? Can the Mayor accomplish all of this without alienating Wall Street and other industries crucial to the city’s economy? Can he keep the city solvent and avoid a repeat of the catastrophic budget failures that have plagued the city’s past? On April 16th the Sustainability Practice Network and Baruch College’s Robert Zicklin Center for Corporate Integrity will convene a panel to address these questions and more.
The event is free, but pre-registration is required: Registration / More information about this event
Wall Street’s Allure Dims for New York MBA Grads
Traditionally, MBA programs have been known for sending many graduates into the world of finance, and in New York City this means Wall Street; however, recent trends indicate that New York MBA graduates are opting out of the Wall Street track for other industries.
The luxury goods industry is one example. Known as an industry where newcomers typically have to “work their way up,” luxury goods hasn’t historically been a magnet for recent MBA graduates. Yet in recent years, the student interest in this industry has risen, whereas interest in the financial sector has fallen. In 2012, according to Crain’s New York, only 22% of NYU Stern’s MBA graduates went into investment banking, as opposed to 28% the year before. At Columbia Business School, well known for a finance program that has been home to investing legends like Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett, the number of graduates entering the finance industry dropped from 50% to 42% between 2011 and 2012.
Meanwhile, the number of CBS students getting jobs in luxury retail upon graduation has doubled between 2011 and 2012, and the retail and luxury goods student club now has 200 members and counting. In addition to gaining recognition as a “hot new industry,” luxury retail offers stability that a career in finance may not.
Not only is interest in luxury retail growing on the East Coast, but also interest in the arts and entertainment business; Pace University’s new major in this area drew applicants in record numbers this past year, resulting in an increase in enrollment of 180%.
While finance remains one of the most popular industries for MBAs, these trends may augur a move towards a more even industry distribution of MBA graduates.
Pace Center for Corporate Governance Welcomes Former CFO of Fidelity Investments
On July 30, the Center for Global Governance, Reporting, and Regulation at Pace University’s Lubin School of Business named Robert J. Chersi as Advisor to the Executive Director. He will play a significant role in expanding the Center’s offerings, from sponsored conferences to special programming. His expertise will also help to expand the Center’s course coverage to non-banking financial institutions.
Chersi, a Pace University alumnus, began his career as a CPA and ultimately moved up to become the CFO and a Member of the Executive Committee of Fidelity Investments. Over the course of his thirty year career, he gained wide experience with finance and risk management, which he will now bring to the Lubin community.
The Center for Global Governance, Reporting, and Regulation was originally called the Center for the Study of International Accounting, but gradually shifted its academic focus and evolved into its current form. It focuses on global financing standards, funding research and offering programs and courses devoted to this area of study. One such program is the Certified Compliance Regulatory Professional (CCRP), the curriculum of which covers all the latest aspects of both U.S. and foreign regulation, with two new modules covering securities law and regulations as a result of the new Consumer Protection Act. In the past, the Center has also hosted yearly forums on contemporary accounting issues.
Lubin’s Professional MBA program offers concentrations in both Accounting and Taxation which draw from the expertise of the Center.
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