Friday, June 02, 2006

MBAs ROCKIN EVERYWHERE!!!

Update: This event is on Thursday, July 26th, 2007.
Check event details - Getting Into Top MBA Programs!

As I reflect back on my career endeavors in the past 6 months, while simultaneously humming that Bubba Sparks song in my head.."Booty, booty,.. booty, booty rockin everywhere..", I remembered that the MBA Panel session is quickly approaching us. Everything I wanted to know about MBA options in Boston as well as real-life stories from former students and admissions reps..all at one info session on June 22nd, 2006.

So, this morning I figured I would do a little research of my own. How successful are these "MBA holders"??, there must be great achievers that exist now in society that hold MBAs. I personally admire individuals that stem from both higher education, as well as those that succeed thru determination, drive and perseverance. After a 2 minute search..this is what I found. In my case, I am particularly interested in Harvard, however also found a few things on MIT as well....

FYI: all Harvard Grads from only 1 class, the class of 1979. Try to imagine what some of the MBAs from the past 10 years may strive to become over the next 15 years.

1. US Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, Chao jumped off the corporate track years ago to run the Peace Corps and, later, the United Way of America.
2. Computer technology produced the first famous member of the class well before graduation. Dan Bricklin developed Visicalc, the first electronic spreadsheet for personal computers (this was when he was a student!)
3. In 1978 Clay Christensen became a leading academic voice on managing the stress companies faced from developing technologies.
4. '79 alum and billionaire Meg Whitman runs the world's most successful Internet company as chief executive of eBay Inc. Today, Whitman is probably the most successful self-made woman in American business history.
5. Classmate George McMillan runs CMGI Inc. in Charlestown.
6. Jeff Skilling, the former Enron Corp. president
7. John Thain, who gave up his job as president of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to become chief executive of the New York Stock Exchange
8. Ron Sargent, the chief executive of Staples Inc., came from a blue-collar Kentucky family and went to work as a manager for Kroger Co., the supermarket firm that had paid him to bag groceries as a teenager.
9. Jim Bender, the former chief executive of Aware Inc. of Bedford;
10. Charlie Cuneo, the head of a small New Hampshire manufacturing company;
11. Lisa Churchville, the general manager of WJAR-TV in Providence
12. Corning's Wendell Weeks, earned a Harvard MBA.

MIT MBAs hit headlines:

A former MIT student and computer-publishing magnate, Patrick J. McGovern Jr., and his entrepreneur wife, Lore Harp McGovern, recently presented MIT with a $350 million gift. The donation - trumpeted by newspapers, including the Harvard Crimson, as the biggest in US academic history - occurred mere months after an MIT student-turned-entrepreneur, Kenan E. Sahin, dropped $100 million on his alma mater.

Local news compares Harvard vs. MBA:
"These days, MIT's apples seem to shine just as brightly as Harvard's oranges.

In technology, Harvard is behind in a race led by MIT. Harvard is forging more links with private industry and teaching undergraduates how to be entrepreneurs. It has become cliche, in business circles, to note that William H. Gates dropped out of Harvard to devote himself to Microsoft Corp.
Would Gates have dropped out if he had gone to MIT instead?"

So there you go! If these over-achievers all came from only one class, meaning 26 additional classes have graduated since, then MBAs are truly rockin everywhere!!

Come to our MBA Panel Info Session on June 22nd to find out how you can make your mark in history!

Tuhin