Director's message: Calling All Alumni Entrepreneurs!
BR Ventures (BRV), the Johnson School's student-run venture capital fund, is sponsoring the fourth annual "Big Idea Competition," a contest designed to foster entrepreneurship throughout the Cornell community and to reward excellent business ideas that are in need of seed capital funding. Unlike many entrepreneur competitions, the Big Idea Competition has no entry fee for Johnson alumni, and requires only a two-page submission outlining your business idea.

In 2002, a Johnson alum, Vishal Mehta, MBA '00, won first prize for an idea he co-developed, Contata Health, Inc./Second Reader Service. This business "offers a unique approach to screening mammograms using mathematical formulas to analyze mammography data, and helps radiologists provide more accurate readings and facilitate early detection of breast cancer."

Johnson alumni, including Rich Marin, MBA '76, CEO of Bear Stearns Asset Management, and Jennifer Tegan, MBA '01, executive manager of the Cayuga Venture Fund, have also served as competition judges.

This year's first-place winner will receive a prize of $10,000, plus 20 hours of legal services from Entrepreneurship Legal Services Program (ELS). (ELS is a joint venture of the Johnson School and Cornell Law School designed to provide low-cost legal services to entrepreneurs.) The second-place winner will receive $2,500, and the third-place winner $1,000.

What are you waiting for? To enter, please visit the Big Idea Competition website. Although the general entry deadline for contestants is December 1, the BRV has graciously agreed to accept submissions from Johnson alumni until December 10, 2003. Good luck, and may the best idea win!

With thanks for your support, Risa M. Mish '85, JD '88 Director, Alumni Relations

Their enthusiasm and initiative paid off, as the Johnson School came in second overall, after Kellogg (note Columbia has the largest number of Italian students and alumni). The Johnson School was also rated first on: availability of faculty outside class, quality and solidity of the school network, inclusion in the local community, and quality of support and infrastructure. In addition, Italian Johnson School respondents indicated that their earnings increased 100-200 percent after they received their MBA degree. Finally, one out of every five Italian Johnson School students return to Italy during normal market conditions, but one out of three is returning under current market conditions.

The Johnson School has also been named one of the top 25 business schools for Hispanics, by Hispanic Business magazine. The school clocked in at #17; top positions went to University of Texas at Austin, Yale, Stanford, University of New Mexico, and University of Stanford. The listing is available online (survey methodology is not discussed).

This year's Durland lecture kicked off November 21 symposium: Strategic Alliances in the Healthcare and Biotechnology Industry, presented by the Johnson School's Healthcare and Biotechnology Club and the Center for Advanced Technology (www.HBCsymposium.com). Keynote speakers were Dr. William Rastetter, chairman and CEO, IDEC Pharmaceuticals, and Dr. Fred Telling, VP of Corporate Policy and Strategic Management, Pfizer. Sponsors of the event are Wyeth and Pfizer, with additional funding provided by NYS Biotech and GPSAFC.

Additional symposium speakers and panelists included:
Mike Leonetti, Head of Health Care Partnerships, Boehringer Ingelheim
Josh Salisbury, Executive Director of Business Development, Eli Lilly
Dr. Mike Kamarck, Senior Vice President, Wyeth BioPharma
Dr. Amir Nashat, Principal, Polaris Venture Partners
Dr. Randy Rupp, Senior Vice President, Regeneron
Dr. Tim Cooke, CEO, Mojave Therapeutics

	Dr. Pearl Chin, MBA '00, is managing general partner of Seraphima Ventures, a New York City-based venture capital firm that is raising $100 million to invest in nanotechology companies. Before joining Seraphima Ventures, Dr. Chin was Managing Director of the U.S. offices of Cientifica, a global nanotechnology consultancy providing business information, marketing analysis and business strategy consulting to Fortune 500 companies and investment firms. She was also CEO of Red Seraphim Consulting, where she advised investment firms on technology investments, and was a Management Consultant with Pittiglio Rabin Todd & McGrath, optimizing Supply Chain Management operations for the firm's Engineer Materials and Packaged Goods Group. Dr. Chin, who has a PhD in Materials Sciences and Engineering from the University of Delaware Center for Composite Materials, is a Senior Associate of The Foresight Institute and was formerly U.S. Representative to the Institute of Nanotechnology in the U.K.
	Arup Datta, MBA '92, portfolio manager of the N/I Numeric Investors Small Cap Value Fund, was selected as the Three-Year Winner in the Wall Street Journal's October 2003 Mutual Fund Quarterly Review. For the past three years, Datta's fund has returned an average of 23.82 percent annually, compared with the average small-cap value fund's return of 11.01 percent over the same period. Datta told the Journal that discipline is a key to the fund's success. "We are very disciplined in the sense that everything we do is based on valuation models. Quant style is a lot of looking at the numbers and trying to be unemotional in your decision-making."
	Peter Nolan, MBA '82, is a managing partner of Leonard Green & Partners, a $3.5 billion private equity fund headquartered in Los Angeles, and the largest private equity firm in Southern California. Before joining LGP, Mr. Nolan was a Managing Director and Co-Head of Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette's Los Angeles Investment Banking Division. Mr. Nolan is Chairman and Director of Rand McNally, Inc., is on the Board of Directors of AsianMedia Group LLC, Liberty Group Publishing, Inc., VCA Antech, Inc., White Cap Industries, Inc., and Werner Holding Co. (PA), Inc., and is a Trustee of the Children's Bureau of Southern California. On November 20, he served as the featured speaker at a Cornell Entrepreneurship Network presentation in Los Angeles on "Wealth Creation through Private Equity."
	Philip Shearer, MBA '79, was profiled in the business section of the New York Times as part of a regular series called "The Boss." Shearer, who is group president (Clinique) at Estee Lauder, spoke about being reared in Morocco, where he "caught the driving bug." Said Shearer, "I wanted to go to racing school but my father said he would pay only for college, so that's where I went. I later went to racing school in Britain. My claim to fame is that I was the North American Ferrari Challenge champion in 2001." Shearer attended college in France before coming to Cornell for his MBA, and he is thankful for the opportunity to have worked in France, Mexico, Britain, and the United States. "You learn common themes when you live all over the world. Most important: You have to remain yourself. People will trust you and relate to you whatever your culture is, provided you are trustworthy and credible." Shearer now lives in New York City with his wife, Alix Adam Shearer, MBA '79.

Vanne S. Cowie '57 and Robert A. Cowie '55, BME '56, MBA '57			Imogene Powers Johnson '52		Samuel Curtis Johnson '50

Alumni hockey players pictured: back row (l-r): Angela Moster '03, Trish Murison '03; Erin McMahon '03; Laura Chulak '03; middle row (l-r): Meg John-Testa '85: Kim Yeoh '93; Diane Muka Duthie '88; front row: Jo-Ann Wall '03.				Visiting during the game with deans Swieringa and Dick Shafer are Marvin Chang '98 and Erin McMahon '03.

Professor Stuart Hart was interviewed by local Ithaca television in relation to The Johnson School’s "significant activity" in the areas of environmental and social-impact stewardship in the 2003 Beyond Grey Pinstripes survey.

This month’s release of “The Intrinsic Value of the Dow”, which found that the Dow is appropriately valued at this time and featured comments from Parker Center Director Lakshmi Bhojraj, received a great deal of attention at on-line media sites including cbs.marketwatch.com, DallasNews.com, finance.canada.com, NBC6.com, The National Hispanic Corporate Council website, newsalert.com, theEagle.com and biz.yahoo.com.

Alumnus Brad Treat, CEO of Sightspeed, was featured on Yahoo! Finance for working with ClubDeaf.com to launch the first on-line community for the Deaf.

Beta Mannix, professor of management and organization and director of the Center for Leadership at the Johnson School, was recently featured in a T&D (a publication for those persons involved in employee training) two-part series regarding follow-through management.

Johnson School’s Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Natalie Grinblatt discusses the Johnson School admission process, student recruitment, interviews, wait listing, costs and many other issues related to her position in an extensive interview with Business Week Online.

At careerjournal.com, Angela Noble-Grange, the director of the Office for Women and Minorities in Business, is quoted in an article that identifies how b-schools are getting creative to increase minority student enrollments. In addition, the Johnson School’s participation in the MBA Diversity Alliance was highlighted in the article.

For these and more media hits for Johnson School members, visit Johnson School in the News.

December 5
Fairfield County, CT
Wine Tasting at the Norwalk Inn (99 East Avenue). Come meet and mix with your Cornell friends. Enjoy and learn about ten interesting wines from around theworld with Rick Eadie, Wine Consultant at Castle Wine and sprints in Westport. Lots of hors d'oeuvres to complement the wines. Welcome champagne for you and door prizes too. Time: 7:00 p.m. Cost: $25/person for CC members if paid in advance and $30/person at the door; $30/person for non-members if paid in advance and $35/person at the door. RSVP by 11/29 to Dotty Kesten at 203.222.7830.

December 17
Dallas, TX
C.R. Smith Museum event with guest speaker, Dan Garton, MBA '84, Executive vice president of marketing at American Airlines. Time: 7:00 p.m.: Tour the museum, use a flight simulator and see a short film on the Spirit of American! Garton will speak on the state of the airline industry and American Airline's Turn-Around Plan. RSVP to Glenn Squire, CU '99. Cost: $15 CCD members; $20 non-members.

Johnson School specific events appear in red.