alumni beat 6 final

8/2/2019 Alumni Beat 6 Final

1/8

AlumniBeat Issue#6March201

#6

HAR

VARD

|BUSINESS

|SCHOOL

SUMMERVE

NTUREINMANAGEMENTPROGRAM

ALUMNIASSOCIATION

AL

UMNIBEA

T

Welcome1

Ourstatementofmission

andpurpose,andthe

introductionofthe6th

issueofAlumniBeat

AlumCorner3

Thisissuebringsthoughts

ontechnologyinthe

modernworld,reflections

ofaconsultant,and

updatesonrecentalumni

TheClosing7

Thankyoufromthe

editors,andinformation

onanalumnisnon-profit

endeavor

OurMissionandPurpose

The Summer Venture in Management

ProgramAlumniAssociation(SVMPAA)is

a network of talented professionals who

are the global leaders of

tomorrow. These individuals attended

the Harvard Business School Summer

Venture inManagement Program,which

is a highly competitive program the

Harvard Business School hosts each

summer. In this program,students from

across the country simulate the

experience of a typical HBS student byreviewing case studies with world-

renowned HBS professors. The students

graduatetherigorousprogramattheend

of the week and then become official

SVMPAlumniAssociationmembers.

The SVMP AA organizations purpose is

facilitate the continued success an

development of the leaders of tomorro

We strive to promote graduate lev

education, career and profession

development and community service. O

networkofprofessionalsconsistsofover6

memberswhoaspireto pursueprofession

degrees and enhance society throug

value-based leadership. Companies a

recruiters can access our strong talente

network of individuals via a resume bathat allows them to pursue our leadersh

talent.


2/8


GreetingsDistinguishedSVMPAlumniMembers,

Iamhappytointroducethe6thEditionoftheAlumniBeatNewsletter.First,IdliketogiveaspecialshoutouttoKevinKoandMike

Finn for the amazingwork they have done in getting our alumni involved inthe articles. Thankyou KevinandMike for you

dedicationtoournewsletter.

ThisJunewillmarkthe3othanniversaryoftheSummerVentureinManagementProgramatHarvardBusinessSchool.TheAlumni

AssociationiscurrentlyworkingwithHBStoorganizeaspecialeventhonoringthreedecadesofaccomplishedalumni.Ifyouare

interestedinworkingwithustomakethiseventasuccess,pleasefeelfreetoreachouttoanymemberoftheboard.Additionally,

wehopetoseeyouinCambridgeforsomeSVMPalumnireunionactivitiesduringKickoffWeekendJune15-17.Additionaldetails

willbeforthcoming.LookforwardtoseeingyouallinJune!

Sincerely,

BridgetteAdams

President,SVMPAlumniAssociation

SVMPClassof2007

[email protected]

*SVMP2012willbeJune16-22.Pleasehelpspreadtheword

about SVMP to high-potential college juniors in your

network. The online application is now available at

www.hbs.edu/svmp

LetterFrom

ThePresident


3/8


A priest, a rabbi and a consultant were

traveling on an airplane. There was a

crisis,anditwasclearthattheplanewas

going to crash, and they would all be

killed.Thepriestbegantoprayandfinger

hisrosarybeads,therabbibegantoread

the Torah, and the consultant began to

organizeacommitteeonairtrafficsafety.

Jokes about consultants are a dime a

dozen.Apopularquipisthatconsultants

steal your watch and then tell you the

time a stereotype reinforced by

Showtimes recent portrayal of the

profession inHouse of Lies. Even people

closetomedontunderstandwhatIdoas

a consultant.Myparents are set on the

idea that Im a financial advisor. Friends

imaginemeasGeorgeClooneyfromUpin

theAir,spendingmylifeontheroadfiring

people.WhileI havespent200+nightsinhotelsoverthepastyear,Iamhappyto

saythatIhaveneverbeenresponsiblefor

anyonelosingtheirjob.

So what does a consultant actually do? A

50,000-foot view of consulting can be

summed up as supporting organizational

leaders to solve their most critical issues.

While accurate, this description is so high-

levelthatitrisksbeingdevoidofmeaning.At

theveryleast,itraisesmorequestionsthan

answers. The best way I can describeconsultingwithanylevelofgranularityisby

providing anecdotes from my own

experience. Since joining Deloitte in July

2010,Ihaveworkedonnineprojectsateight

clientsinoveradozencities.Ihelpedamajor

insurance plan comply with Health Care

Reform. I devised a global reference data

strategyatabulgebracketinvestmentbank.I

supportedacquisitionsinthecoalandsuper

metals industries. I developeda healthplan

imaging solution at a major

telecommunications client. I enabled a

technology transformation at one of theworlds largesthedge funds. Currently, I am

advising a largepharmaceuticalcompanyon

devising clinical trial quality standards. For

thesakeofbrevityandclientconfidentiality,

these examples are hardly robust, but

hopefully they provide some flavor of the

types of clients and nature ofproblems for

whichconsultantsareleveraged.

AlumniSpotlight

KevinKo

AnSVMP09alumnusreflectsonhis

experiencesintheenigmaticworld

ofmanagementconsulting.

For readers with a healthy sense o

skepticism, my experience should raise

another question: How does a recen

college graduate advise clients on such

high profile, complex issues? Ill be th

firsttoadmitthatImnosavantinanyof

theaforementionedindustries,butthat

the beauty of joining a consulting firmstraightfromundergrad:Nooneexpects

youtobeanexpert.Infact,Ihaveneve

beenafraidtoadmit,Idontknowso

long as I can follow up it with an

enthusiastic but Iwill find out. One

ofthemostvaluableassetsafresh-faced

consultant can bring to the table is th

abilitytomanagechangeandambiguity.

Overtime,thiscompetencyenablesnew

consultants to develop expertise by


4/8


teamingwithothers.Ihaveworkedwith

andlearnedfromseniorpractitionerswho

have deep industry and technical

knowledge.WhileImaynotbeasubject

matterexpert,Iamabletocontributeto

discussions with these specialists by

offering a fresh perspective, challenging

assumptionsandsynthesizingfindingsina

manner that is relevantto the client.By

amalgamating a cornucopia of

complementaryviewsandskillsetsinthis

way, consultants are able to support

clients in solving their most difficult

problems.

Andnow,againfortheskepticsoutthere,

the million-dollar question: Do

consultantsactuallycreatevalue?Withall

the jokesmade at consultants expense,

onewould beaptto ponder their ability

to have a meaningful impact. The short

(and admittedly biased) answer is yes.

Consultingis somewhatof amisnomer

as it implies that consultants are in the

business of telling clients what to do.

WhileIhavespent200+nights

inhotelsoverthepastyear,I

amhappytosaythatIhave

neverbeenresponsiblefor

anyonelosingtheirjob.

Oftentimes, clients know their own

businesses and organizations better than

consultants ever will. As such, effective

consultants work with their clients to

developasolutionintandemframingthe

issue, transforming data into insights,

weighingpotentialsolutionsandproviding

a final recommendation. A former senior

managerofminereferredtothisastaking

the client along for the ride. Ultimately,

combining the clients understanding of

their organizational dynamics with

consultants fresh perspective leads to a

truly impactful solution one that is not

onlyelegantandcomprehensive,but,more

importantly,onewiththeclientsbuy-in.

Given the nature of this publication, a

discourseonconsultingwouldseemoutof

place (or at least incomplete) without

mention of how this all relates to SVMP.

Fortunately, the linkages between

consulting and SVMP are plentiful. The

goalsofconsultingparallelthoseofSVMP

todevelopabroaderunderstandingofthechallenges business leaders face and the

many dimensions of the business world.

Each consulting project represents an

extended live case study, requiring the

same skills that were employed in

preparation for and during SVMP class

discussions.Clientstapconsultantstosolve

their most complex, top-of-mind

management issues.Therightansweris

rarely clear, and arriving at a workable

solutionrequirestheabilitytoexamine

and debate ideas through lively

interaction. Sound familiar? Check out

the About the Program section of the

SVMPsite.Inmanyways,ourexperience

with SVMPwas an inadvertent venture

intomanagement consulting.While this

connectionmay not have been evident

previously, hopefully this exposition has

lifted some of the enigma around

consulting, revealed its meaningfu

relationship to SVMP and, at the veryleast,taughtreadersanewjoke.

KevinKoiscurrentlyabusinessanalyst

withDeloitteConsulting.He

participatedinSVMPduringthe

summerof2009,andhegraduated

fromTheWhartonSchoolinMay

2010.Hecanbereachedforquestions

[email protected]


5/8


Toprefacethischargedarticle,Iwilllistoffa

succinct-yet-substantial personal history to

verifytheveracityofmyviciousdeclarations.

IwonanationalscholarshipfortheSouthby

Southwestconference, thesameconference

thatTwitterandFoursquareusedtobecome

mainstream entities and the premiere

conference for tech entrepreneurship. In

addition, I havewon aHackathon in NYC, a

tech competition during NYCs Internet

Weekthecityholdsannually,andplacedas

an International Finalist for DaveMcClures

VentureCapitalcompetition. Ihave interned

at Sonar.me, which placed 2nd in

Techcrunchs Disrupt Competition. I have

launchedafailedstartup.

MemberInsights

RonaldAngSiy

SVMP11alumnusandIndiana

UniversityGraduate,Ronaldshares

hisoutlookontechnology

Of that list of accomplishments, guess

which one was the most reputable? This

question serves as a litmus test for a

businessperson. Correct answer? The last

one.

Ihearthisquestionallthetime:Ineeda

program or, I need a technical co-

founder.Everyoneintheworldneedsone,

because everyone in the world can comeupwith anidea.However,only a few can

executesuchanidea.

Asabusinesspersonwithaspecializationin

consumerinsights,I realizehowdifficult it

is to understand other people. As such, I

spent this pastsummerattending over 45

tech-related events meant for

programmers. I have intensively bonded

myselfwith developer friendsat Stanford,

UC Berkeley, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, and

Caltech.WhatIhavewitnessedcannotbe

quantifiedby anythingother thanhearsay,

which can become misconstrued as hasty

generalization. However, considering the

failuresofmypeers,friends,andstrangers

alikeinexecutingasuccessfultechstartup,

I amwilling to risk reputation inexchange

forinsightdelivery.

You should never refer to yourself as a

businessperson unless youhave direct tie-

ins with investors that can give

substantial amountson the spot(6

digit figures). You should refer to

yourselfasaproductperson.Produc

people understand the end

consumer and his or her unique

needs,whetherin businessanalytic

or in the interface of an online

gaming site. Business people are

cluelessnon-technicalpeoplewhodnot understand fundamenta

capabilitiesofdifferentprogramming

languages, who underestimate the

amountoftimeittakestoconstruc

and bug-proof a project, and who

drown such projects with shady

offers every day. As an analogy


6/8


RonaldiscurrentlyaStrategy

ConsultantwithIBMConsultingin

Philadelphia,PA.Hecanbereached

[email protected]

imagineifyouareamedicalstudentand

someone asks you to perform a heart

transplantfor$1000.Heiscluelessasto

the general difficulty of finding a heart,

the technical difficulty of inserting it

without it failing due to a thousand

compatibility reasons, the time itwould

take toperform the procedure, and the

costofsuchaprocedure(hecitesaBBC

storyonillegalMexicantransplantstories

ashispricepointreference).Thatswhat

developers feel likewhen you ask them

todosomethingimpossiblewithaslightly

higher budget than you would pay anIndianprogrammer.

You should neveroffer to pay someone

to program your site. Consider this:

Facebookpays itsentry level employees

up to$250K;Google pays itsentry level

engineers over$130K; eBay pays$150K

asastartingsalary;thestartupIinterned

forofferedover$100Kinsalary,benefits,

and mid-single digit stock percentages.

Can you compete with those numbers?

Onlyafractionofdeveloperscanactually

take a concept and build the site from

scratch.Theyaresuperstars,andtheyare

not exclusive to Ivy Leagues. In fact,

programming is one of the most

meritocratic fields out there, where skill

level is completely independent to the

individual and not specific to a school

curriculum.NewYorkCity justended an

immensecollegiatecompetitionthisyear

to create a new computer science-

focuseduniversityin thecity;thatshow

starved the city and this industry has

become. If you want to get true talent,

youneedtogetdeveloperstobelievein

theideaandownit.Youcantbuyit;youdonthaveenoughmoney.

Finally,your previousexperiencesdo not

matter unless it is an industry-specific

site,suchasBiotechnology.Noonecares

about your nice titles at nice sounding

companies. Business people flaunt

accoladesallthetimeasengravedinthe

resumeculture.Venturecapitalfundingis

even nice, but it means nothing if your

startupburnsthroughmillionsinamatter

of moments (Color.com, Im looking at

you).Nothingintechnologymattersother

thanuser adoption. Speak todevelopers

persuasively, not as a showcase to

yourself but as a showcase to the

concept.

Technology has reached a point where

anything you can dream, you can build.

However, in orderto build, you need to

have the right tools. And when dealing

withadeveloper,youarethetoolandt

developeristheonehammeringyou.

Yourpreviousexperiencesdo

notmatterunlessitisan

industry-specificsite,suchas

Biotechnology.Noonecares

aboutyournicetitlesatnice

soundingcompanies.


7/8


Welcome1

Ourstatementofmission

andpurpose,andthe

introductionofthe6th

issueofAlumniBeat

AlumCorner3 TheClosing8

Thankyoufromthe

editors,andinformation

onanalumnisnon-profit

endeavor

AboutJesikaClerge:

IcompletedmyundergraduatedegreeinEconomicsandEnglishatMount

Holyoke College. Afterwards, I completed my graduate degree at

NortheasternUniversity,earninganMSinNonprofitManagementwitha

concentrationinAccounting.Currently,IamworkingastheCFOforasmall

nonprofitnamedTogetherAgainstMalaria(TAMTAM).

TAMTAMisa501(c)(3)non-profitorganizationengagedintheprotection

of pregnant women and small children from malaria. TAMTAM solves

urgent malaria challenges by distributing free bed nets to underserved

areas through innovative, cost-effective and scientifically founded

methods. TAMTAM facilitates operational evaluations with researchers

andpolicymakerstoincreasetheimpactofmalarianetdistribution.

TAMTAM also distributes free bed nets to prevent malaria in a cost-

effective, targeted, innovative and evidence-based manner. The

organizationconductsoperationalresearchonbed-netdistributiontohelp

improvetheuseofbednetsworldwide.Weareavolunteerorganization

withzeropersonnelcosts.

Withbednets,a little goesa longway toward saving lives. TAMTAM is

supported bymany individualswhose generousmonetary support goes

directlytopurchasinganddeliveringbednetstoindividualsinneed.

FormoreinformationonTAMTAM,pleasevisitourwebsite:

http://www.tamtamafrica.org/index.html

AlumniConnect

JessikaClerge

AlumniConnect

JessikaClerge


8/8


BridgetteAdams

President

HaythamZohny

VicePresident

JoeSeydl

Treasurer

ChelseaSeabron

DirectorofEvents

KevinKo

DirectorofCorporateRelations

AlumniBeatEditor

AshleyDaniels

DeputyDirectorofCorporateRelations

MichaelFinn

AlumniBeatEditor

AshtaneJordan

DirectorofRecruitment

LoriManning

TechnologyDirector&Webmaster

VicCollins

ExecutiveBoardChairman

JamesGutierrez

GabrielMagaa-Gonzalez

GasparStinfil

ExecutiveBoardMembers

TheExecutiveBoard

SVMPAA2012

ThankYou

FromtheEditors

ToOurEsteemedColleagues,

Wewouldliketothankyouallfortakingthetimetoreadthis

issueoftheAlumniBeataswellasextendaspecialthanksto

thealumniwhocontributed.Wearenowonoursixthedition

thesecondwithusat thehelm.Sincethisisstillrelativelynew

tous, wewould love your input and suggestions onwhat to

include moving forward. We also want to encourage you to

continue tosubmitcontentfor futureeditions.Afterall,thisis

OURnewsletter,and,asalumni,youguide thedirectionof no

onlythenewsletter,butalsotheorganizationmovingforward.

Itscertainlybeenafunexperienceforus,andwecherishallof

the lasting friendships and connections weve made with al

SVMPclasses.

Aswenearthe30thanniversaryoftheprogram,keepalookou

forsomethingBIGcomingthisJune.Wehavetokeepitgoing

and keep it going strong. After all, the SVMP AA is nothing

withoutthealumnitokeepitgoing.Withthat,webidyouall

adieu,andwelookforwardtonextissueoftheAlumniBeat.

-Kevin&Mike

alumni beat 6 final

Documents