School Notes: School of Management
September/October 2008

SOM names Donaldson Fellows

Five SOM alumni have been chosen to be Donaldson Fellows as part of a new program for graduates who embody the school's mission to educate leaders for business and society. The Donaldson Fellows Program, named after the school's founding dean, Bill Donaldson ’53BA, recognizes SOM alumni who exemplify three characteristic themes: leading and managing across boundaries; transforming positive values into personal, professional, and institutional commitments; and bringing creativity and discipline to complex management problems. All five fellows will be on campus on October 2 and 3 for the Donaldson Symposium, which will feature a variety of activities, including a facilitated conversation between the fellows and first-year MBAs. The first class of fellows includes Adam Blumenthal ’89MPPM, managing general partner of Blue Wolf Capital Management; Laszlo Bock ’99MBA, vice president of people operations for Google, Inc.; Andrea Levere ’83MPPM, president of the Corporation for Enterprise Development; James Levitt ’76BA, ’80MPPM, director of the Program on Conservation Innovation at the Harvard Forest, Harvard University, and president of Levitt & Company, Inc.; and Elizabeth Serlemitsos ’93MBA, chief advisor for the National AIDS Council, Zambia.

Pioneering class graduates

The first class of students educated under the Yale integrated MBA curriculum graduated from SOM in May. Two years ago, the 203 students of the Class of 2008 embarked on an unprecedented course of study. The school wholly redesigned how it teaches management, creating a new integrated MBA curriculum aimed at providing students not just with new tools and perspectives for solving the complex problems of modern business, but also with a new model of broadly engaged leadership for organizations in the twenty-first century.

"It is amazing to see how quickly our new approach to management education has increased the school's already strong reputation, and begun to create a brand that represents innovation and leadership, augmenting our historic and strong reputation for excellence in nonprofit and financial management, in multi-sectoral focus, in our school's unquestioned commitment to values and ethics," Dean Joel Podolny told the group at its commencement. Learn more about the Yale integrated MBA curriculum at mba.yale.edu/curriculum.

Global leaders attend Yale Governance Forum

More than 200 global leaders in corporate governance, including corporate executives and directors, regulators, and academics, gathered at Yale University for the third annual Yale Governance Forum on June 9-10. The two-day event, hosted by the Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance, was designed to give practitioners the opportunity to discuss current issues in the field. This year's session had a special focus on the current state of global capital markets. Discussion topics included how boards and shareholders should approach one another, governance issues between private equity and pension funds, and whether boards should treat short-term and long-term shareholders differently. Among the participants were Bill Donaldson ’53BA, former chairman of the SEC and founding dean of SOM, who discussed recent events in corporate governance; and David Jackson ’93MBA, the CEO of Istithmar World Capital, an investment arm of Dubai, who analyzed the state of the global capital markets. Also, the Millstein Center named 56 professionals under the age of 40 as the inaugural group of "Rising Stars of Corporate Governance," an international group of analysts, experts, activists, and managers focused on improving the relationships between corporations and their shareholders.