Immersion Round Up #7 - Sustainable Global Enterprise

We're back from Spring Break! Destination Johnson is just around the corner and we can't wait for you to get here. To resume our set of posts on our immersion, today's note comes from Elicia Carmichael (you'll also get to hear her speak at the opening session on Friday night!)

An interviewer recently asked me, “Why did you leave your incredible life in Costa Rica to get an MBA?” It’s a question I hear frequently. And my answer is Johnson’s Sustainable Global Enterprise immersion.

Eight months ago I was reforesting a cattle farm in Costa Rica while consulting remotely on strategy and innovation for a firm in Boston. I had a lucrative job with a company I loved, and had finagled a way to work remotely from a tropical climate. By many standards, I had found success. Even so, I knew I would only feel truly successful once I had managed to merge my strategy skills with my passion for environmental protection and social justice.

The funny thing is, it is never my SGE classmates who ask this question. With highly successful professional backgrounds ranging from sustainability consulting and public relations to energy analysis and engineering, and with passions ranging from solar power and microfinance to the greening of the ski industry, we are all here for the same basic reason: to merge our passions with our strengths and make an impact that has real meaning.

The SGE immersion started on January 14, and since then my classmates and I have been consulting on sustainability for companies including GE, Yingli Solar, Johnson and Johnson, Ocean Spray, and the World Bank. We’ve bussed to New York and DC to visit a diverse array of CEOs, white house officials, and game-changing NGOs. We’ve customized our elective coursework to build upon our knowledge in marketing, operations, consulting, and finance. We’ve formed lifelong relationships with each other, our incredible faculty, and alumni in our fields of interest.

Beyond the incredible faculty, corporate connections, and world-class resources at Cornell, I believe that what makes the SGE immersion so powerful is the cohort of highly intelligent, passionate, and inspired students it convenes and develops. Together, we will be the leaders who green the energy industry, design triple bottom line startups, and revolutionize private sector norms.

And so, potential SGE-ers, I advise you to connect with each other and with us while you’re visiting Ithaca over DJ weekend. Make a few SGE friends this weekend, and I think you’ll quickly see why immersing yourself in this community may be the best professional choice you’ll ever make.

Immersion Round Up #6: Semester in Strategic Operations (SSO)

To kick off the week, Alex Woodcock, Class of 2011, shares his experience in the Semester in Strategic Operations Immersion -


Greetings and congrats on your acceptance to the Johnson School!

My name is Alex Woodcock and I’m a first year currently taking the Semester in Strategic Operations immersion. Prior to business school I worked for John Hancock in Boston in Long Term Care insurance and portfolio management. One of the main reasons I came to Johnson was the opportunity to take the SSO immersion. I wanted to make the transition from financial services into consulting and thought I should address one of my shortcomings by focusing on operations. Needless to say it’s been a great learning opportunity and an intense semester. Unlike many of the immersions we have two faculty members and a PhD student who are fully committed to teaching class: Jan Suwinski, who seems to have several hundred years of industry experience and sits on the board of many of the companies we visit, Nagesh Gavirneni, who has been taking a larger and larger role in the class and who previously worked for Schlumberger, and Mike Dixon, who is our service operation specialist and is finishing his PhD at Cornell. Also we typically have students from the ILR school and the engineering school who take classes with us and make up about 15% of our class. It’s great to get their experience and contrast their knowledge with our education from the Johnson school.

However, the highlight of the immersion is the 4 immersion treks we take to various companies. So far this year I’ve been on treks to 11 companies: Kionix (a maker of accelerometers – they go in Nintendo Wii’s and airbags), Kane is Able (a logistics company), Cigna (we saw their claims and call center), Amazon (we went to one of their distribution centers), ABB Instrumentation, Trane (furnaces and air conditioners), Sikorsky (commercial helicopters), Guardian Glass, SentrySafe, General Mills, and Moog. Typically a site visit consists of an introduction, a site tour, and then a Q&A session with the senior leadership. While we learn a lot in the classroom it’s a more valuable experience to see how these companies run their operations and get that real world perspective. The level of access that we gain is amazing – the faculty does a great job getting us access to such a broad range of companies. On Thursday I was in Guardian Glass and got to walk through a float glass manufacturing facility. Watching the process of turning sand into glass was pretty crazy – the furnace is 4 stories tall and never turns off since it takes 30 days to get up to temperature. Then on Friday we went to a General Mills plant in Buffalo. Who knew that Cheerios are processed one O at a time through a gun that shoots them at over 300 mph. Yeah, you get to see a lot of cool things.

Feel free to reach out to me with any questions about the immersion and I look forward to meeting you at Destination Johnson.

-Alex Woodcock
Class of 2011

Immersion Round Up #5 - Managerial Finance (MFI)

Today on the blog: First-year student Song Kim shares her experience in the Managerial Finance Immersion (MFI)

I have always had a passion for finance and have been intrigued by the role that financial analysts play in the corporate world. Thus, upon graduation from my undergraduate studies, I joined a finance rotational program within a global automotive manufacturing firm. While my time as a financial analyst afforded me an excellent opportunity to see how the company managed its risk through the turbulent economy, I felt that I needed to pursue an MBA in order to further develop and expand my understanding of corporate finance, financial management and financial markets.

One of the many reasons I came to the Johnson School was because of my interest in the Managerial Finance Immersion (MFI). The immersion, which began this semester, has thus far provided the necessary tools I need in order to gain additional financial analysis and decision making skills. We started out the immersion through a week-long course in Corporate Financial Policy where we focused on corporate financing decisions and the interaction between financing and investing decisions. During the 4-day MFI Trek that immediately followed, we visited the offices of Merck, Air Products & Chemicals, American Express, JPMorgan Chase and IBM. Through the trek, we not only had a unique opportunity to meet and listen to the CFO, Treasurer, and other senior financial officer’s personal insights on the firm and the economy but it was also a great time to bond with fellow MFI classmates.

We are now just wrapping up a half-semester course in Financial Statement Analysis. The comprehensive team project for this course was a terrific way to apply what we learned in class to an actual equity valuation of a company. Additionally, the weekly MFI practicum, led by Steve Calk (who has worked in Investment Banking as well as held Investor Relations and M&A advisor roles in various sectors), has also been exceptional as it connects all the finance concepts we learn in our classes through real-life examples and case studies. Many of the sessions and case studies are facilitated by guest speakers. One of my favorite practicum sessions thus far has been with Jon Moeller, CFO of Proctor & Gamble, where we discussed the financial analysis and decisions behind the 2008 Folgers divestiture to Smucker’s.

We will be starting our second half-semester classes in a week – Valuation Principles and Corporate Governance – and I look forward to both these courses!

- Song Kim
MBA Class of 2011

Immersion Round Up #5: Entrepreneurship & Private Equity

Good morning! Today, Adam Conderman talks about his unique background and his semester in the Entrepreneurship and Private Equity Immersion (EPE).

I worked on political campaigns before coming to business school. I really enjoyed all the aspects (and the excitement) around beginning a new organization, raising money, and turning an idea into a living and breathing campaign. I came to Johnson to learn how I could do this in the business world.

I am part of the Entrepreneurship and Private Equity Immersion (EPE). So far, I couldn’t be happier. Our coursework focuses around Prof. David BenDaniel and Prof. Steve Gal’s Business Plan class where you are asked to create either: a) a business plan for a new company or b) a buyout plan for a current company. So far in the class we have discussed how to create a start-up, distressed companies, and leveraged buyouts. Our other coursework is a mix of finance and strategy classes – including “Strategic Alliances” and “Financial Modeling.” I’m taking a brand new course also taught by Prof. Gal titled “Entrepreneurial Marketing.” And I am also taking a class called “Entrepreneurial Executives” with former Johnson alum, Jason Hogg, who recently sold his business to American Express for $300 million.

There is a wealth of opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship at Johnson. Entrepreneurship@Cornell is a campus-wide initiative that in many ways is headquartered in Sage Hall and at the Johnson School. Prof. Zach Shulman is leading a series of 10 lectures this spring focused on how to start a business -- “The Start-up Series” – that breaks down the different components of beginning a business into smaller lectures. Some of the lectures are focused on Idea Generation and Validation or on Intellectual Property issues or on "10 Things That Kill A New Company. It is a practical and hands-on series of classes. Beyond coursework there is: Big Red Ventures (a venture capital fund run by Johnson students), Big Red Incubator (a small business consulting shop run by Johnson students), the Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club, trips to local start-ups including Kionix, CCTEC mixers (Cornell Center for Technology, Enterprise, and Commercialization), and the Entrepreneurship@Johnson symposium in April. Whatever you are looking for, you can find it at Johnson and at Cornell. I look forward to meeting you at Destination Johnson!

-Adam Conderman
Class of 2011

Immersion Round Up #4: Investment Banking Immersion

Today's blog post comes from Trista Miller, a 1st year student in the Investment Banking Immersion!

Having worked only in the non-profit and public sectors in real estate and economic development, I’ve always loved my jobs. However, I have also been very cognizant that I could make a greater impact with a private sector skill set. I came to business school very eager to broaden my horizons, challenge my quantitative abilities, and acquire a skill set that would enable me to make a successful transition to the private sector. I had a strong desire to learn more about the financial services industry, but at the time had very little understanding of the financial markets, corporate finance, and investment banking.

I immediately began increasing my existing knowledge and interest in finance exponentially through attending the finance passport sessions (weekly workshops exploring careers in finance and regulatory reform of the financial services industry, as well as providing primers in macroeconomics and valuation) and attending regular meetings of Old Ezra Finance Club (run by 2nd year students who had recently completed summer internships in investment banking). I gained practical knowledge through listening to senior investment bankers walk us through recent deals during our “Week on Wall Street,” while the core curriculum provided me with a solid base in accounting and corporate finance. My classmates who had worked as asset managers, buy-side analysts, and bankers prior to business school were also excellent resources to me. I even had the opportunity to compete in the finals of the National IPO Challenge in Chicago, which was an incredibly fun and educational experience. Before I knew it, the recruiting process for summer internships in banking was in full swing. As I gained a much better understanding of what a career in investment banking might look like, I became inspired by the sheer excitement and magnitude of investment banking’s impact, the endless learning potential afforded by the job, and the exceptional level of intelligence, professionalism, and work ethic displayed by everyone I met. Johnson has an incredibly tight-knit and diverse alumni network on Wall Street, and I was blown away with the willingness of everyone from Associates to Managing Directors to share their candid experiences, insight, and advice with me.

I’m now halfway through the Investment Banking immersion, and loving every aspect of it – from the interesting cases we review each week in the practicum (led by Dr. Biloski, a practitioner who brings a wealth of knowledge and experience) to the extremely practical skills I’m gaining in my Valuation and Financial Modeling classes. I also recently became an officer of the Old Ezra Finance Club and am busy putting together next year’s schedule of events for first years.

While I’m still the same non-traditional MBA student I was when I came to Johnson six months ago, I’m surprised at the professional and academic strides I’ve made and the confidence I’ve gained during my time here. I’m proud of pursuing a concentration at Johnson that challenged me to the very core and thankful for the incredible amount of encouragement and academic preparation I’ve received from classmates, professors, and alums. I look forward to meeting you at Destination Johnson!

-Trista Miller
Class of 2011

MBA/MILR – Lots of letters, lots of resources

Interested in HR? Today's post comes from Nicole Johnson, an MBA / MILR (Masters of Industrial and Labor Relations) in the Semester in Strategic Operations Immersion


A year ago I was working as a Recruiting Consultant for a banking company in San Francisco and was still trying to figure out where I would be in the fall. I knew that I wanted to continue working in a Human Capital related function but that I needed to expand my business skills and knowledge in order to move into a more strategic management role. I had narrowed things down to just a few MBA programs that had concentrations in this area. What really stood out about The Johnson School were the additional resources that the greater Cornell community had to offer. For me, this made my final decision easy. I had the opportunity to complete a second Masters degree through Cornell’s Industrial Labor Relations School in just one additional semester.
It didn’t take long for me to arrive on campus and realize just how valuable this collaboration among schools really is. Within two weeks of orientation, I found myself at a CAHRS (link below) sponsored networking event, getting to know CHROs and SVPs of HR at several very reputable Fortune 500 companies. By early October, we were full-swing into the HR recruitment season, and while at first it was intimidating to go through interviews before I felt like I had really learned anything new, having two separate career centers to turn to for advice definitely eased the process. Even though I haven’t actually started my coursework at the ILR School (this will happen next fall), I have had the opportunity to get to know many other students in the MILR and dual degree programs, and I am very grateful to be in a place that has such a strong community of people who have similar interests. This sense of cross-collaboration is common among the entire Cornell community. In my current classes (through the SSO practicum), I am partnering with Masters of Engineering students on group projects and learning about service operations from a PhD student in the Hotel School.
In addition to taking advantage of the unparalleled career and academic resources that this place has to offer, I have had the opportunity to take on a leadership role within SHRLOE, a cross-school club focused on Strategic Human Resources, Leadership, and Organizational Effectiveness, competed in the National MBA Human Capital Case Competition sponsored by Deloitte in Nashville, and am currently working with a local non-profit organization on a consulting engagement. Oh yeah, and I’ve managed to find some time to have fun during my short time in Ithaca too!

http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/gradDegreePrograms/ps/degrees/mba.html

http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/CAHRS/

-Nicole Johnson
MBA / MILR Class of 2011

Immersion Round Up #2: Capital Markets and Asset Management

For today, Sean Meakim talks about the Capital Markets and Asset Management Immersion.


“We can’t afford to subsidize your education. Go to business school.” After hearing this advice enough times from investment managers from whom I had sought employment, I acted on it and began the b-school application process. At the time, I was a Wealth Management Advisor, advising individuals and small businesses on how to achieve their financial goals as well as invest their savings. Though I loved the relationships I had developed with my clients, I had the bug for equity research. I was working my way through the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) curriculum and felt that if I was going to take on the expenses of business school (and forego two years of income), I needed to get more than just theory. I needed an ‘experiential’ learning program, one where I could spend two years doing real equity research, learning and acquiring the skills of a research analyst. Based upon this criterion, the Johnson School became the obvious choice, and it has not disappointed.

This fall, my classmates and I were immediately thrown into the fire, whether pitching stocks to the Investment Management Club, taking job Treks to New York and Boston or debating investment ideas in the Parker Center. But honestly, the Cayuga Fund (the only MBA-run, market-neutral hedge fund) has been has been the most influential experience for me here at Cornell. I was fortunate enough to be one of seven first-years selected (after a rigorous interview process) to be a Sector Analyst and I am assisting a second-year Portfolio Manager covering the Telecom sector.

In the Capital Markets & Asset Management Immersion or CMAM (pronounced “see-ma’am”) this spring, I am surrounded by smart and driven people passionate about the markets and investing, whether they are pursuing careers in research, investment management, sales & trading or private wealth. CMAM is kicked off in January with our Week on Wall Street, where we got to spend several days meeting with hedge fund managers, buy side PMs, sell-side analysts, traders, etc., gleaning advice from Johnson alumni on both our careers and the markets. Now back in Ithaca, CMAM has allowed us some customization in our classes to fill in our specific knowledge gaps. While I am taking Intermediate Accounting (surprisingly a student favorite), many friends are taking Financial Statement Analysis or Financial Modeling. In addition, the CMAM Practicum is run by a practitioner turned academic, Bob Andolina, and the curriculum’s focus on real-world applications reflects this. Guest lecturers are coming in nearly weekly, and many sessions have turned into hour-long debates about whatever may be driving the market that day. It has been a tremendously rewarding experience for me thus far, and I look forward to sharing it with many of you next year!

Sean Meakim, CFA
Class of 2011

Immersion Round Up #1 - Strategic Marketing Immersion

To get us started, Alex Tsakeres, Class of 2011 gives us her insight into the Strategic Marketing Immersion ~

When I first started talking about applying to business school, people inevitably asked what I was going to “major” in. When I replied that I was planning to focus on marketing, I often got the response, “Do you really need an MBA for that?”

It’s an important question to consider, and one that felt especially important for me at the time. I had recently started a new role in marketing and felt as though my professional stars had finally aligned. Here was the function where I felt challenged creatively and strategically, where the overarching marketing decisions made would shape the direction of our business.

However, there was one tiny problem. I wasn’t making those overarching decisions. I wasn’t even in the room with the people who were making them. Furthermore, I didn’t have the critical thinking or analytical skills to figure out what we needed to do. Finally, I saw the direct impact these decisions were having on our organization. Some of them I agreed with, and some of them I didn’t. But the bottom line was that I didn’t have the hard skills to develop and evaluate those decisions myself. That was when I knew I needed an MBA.

Fast forward to this semester, and I am in the midst of the Strategic Brand Immersion here at the Johnson School. I knew I had made the right decision from day one, when Professor Thomas proclaimed, “Whoever thinks that marketing is a non-quantitative immersion, think again.” In the depths of market share, break-even analysis, Nielsen data, and pages and pages of marketing cases, I have finally started to see personal progress in analyzing data to make informed decisions. The Immersion focuses on critical thinking and problem solving primarily through case analysis and intense class discussion. While fast paced and highly quantitative, I can’t imagine a better way to build the skills I will need in both my summer internship and eventually my career. Looking back, the decision whether or not to pursue a MBA for a marketing career was a tough one. Given my experience in the Strategic Brand immersion, I can’t imagine it any other way.

-Alex Tsakeres
Class of 2011

The Immersion Round Up!

For the next week on the Destination Johnson Blog - The Immersion Round-Up!

Each day we'll we featuring perspectives from students inside each of the immersions - how they made the decision, things going on, and what's yet to come for the rest of the semester. We hope this will give you an inside look at what first-year life is really like. Enjoy!

~Vijay

Reflections

A note from Hannah Dupes, Class of 2011 and Student Council Chair she reflects on the past year.

Hi All!
My name is Hannah Dupes, and as Chair of our Student Council, I wanted to wish you all CONGRATULATIONS on your acceptance to Johnson!!! We can’t wait to meet you at Destination Johnson this spring. It’s an event that promises a chance to see all that Cornell and JGSM have to offer, but more importantly- it’s a chance for you to meet each other and begin the friendships that will last long after your two years in Ithaca!

It is hard to imagine that a year has gone by since I was in your shoes and trying to make a decision that at the time seemed incredibly complicated. I spent many nights discussing my options with family, co-workers and friends, all of whom had differing opinions. The best piece of advice that I received was this: Business School is as much about personal development as it is professional skills and regardless of where you decide to go, you will come out of these two years a different and better person. The choice needs to be made on what type of environment will best enable you to grow… and for me that choice was Cornell.

You’ll hear us talk a lot about community- and DJ is the beginning of that. I decided where I was going to live and who I was going to live with. I met a group of people that have remained some of my closest friends, and more importantly, I realized how amazing all of my peers were and how much I was going to learn from them in the coming years. I am proud of the fact that I know my entire class by name and most of the second years as well- but more than that, I know what they did before school and what they hope to do afterward. Because of these relationships, and our amazing alumni, I have my dream internship this summer. My classmates helped me prepare, the alumni helped me understand the corporate culture and what it took to succeed in the interview process, and I know that I will do the same for those students who need me down the road. That’s just how things work around here.

As I think back to the highlights of my experience here this far, DJ is the first in a long list of memorable things that have made me 100% confident in my decision to attend Johnson. I look forward to meeting each of you in the next few months, and am thrilled to have you as part of our community.

Congrats again,

Hannah

Destination Johnson 2010 - Ready, Set, Go!

Welcome to the Destination Johnson 2010 Blog!

Over the course of the next few months leading up to Destination Johnson Weekend (April 9-11), we'll be giving you an inside view of what life is like at the Johnson School. With posts from students, administrators, faculty, and alumni, this is our opportunity to share with you our lives at the Johnson School in a very personal way. Coming up in the next few weeks: a note from our class president, an Immersion "Round-up," and more! We encourage you to subscribe to the RSS feed with your favorite blog reader such as Google Reader or Bloglines.

Don't Forget:
Registration is now live!

We look forward to seeing you in April and remember to post and comment on the blog! Let us know if there are things you'd like to see on here by commenting or emailing DestinationJohnson@johnson.cornell.edu

Vijay Nathan
Class of 2011
Destination Johnson, Chair

Destination Johnson

Welcome to the Destination Johnson blog! This blog is currently Under Construction. Coming soon!.  This is the first post.