When Deborah Buresh Jackson ’80 enrolled in the School, she wanted to learn how to bring business practices to the government sector. She soon got to know Professor Ray Horton, director of the Public and Nonprofit Management Program, the precursor to today’s Social Enterprise Program. “He was a wealth of information and had an open-door policy,” Jackson says. “He always took an interest in students who wanted to work in government.”
While she was still a student, Jackson helped research a chapter of a book Horton was coediting, Setting Municipal Priorities. Their professional relationship continued long after her graduation. Jackson went on to work in municipal finance at Goldman Sachs, where she became involved with the Citizens Budget Commission, which monitors the fiscal affairs of New York City and New York State. Horton, who was appointed the Frank R. Lautenberg Professor of Ethics and Corporate Governance in 2004, was president of the organization, and Jackson helped him recruit new members from the private sector. “It was a delight for me to have the chance to contribute something at that level,” she says.
Jackson worked as an investment banker for 21 years before founding her own boutique firm. She also serves on the boards of five nonprofits. She has regularly sought Horton’s advice throughout her career, and last fall she was able to share some advice in turn when Horton asked her to speak to his class on board and executive management of nonprofits. It was a rewarding experience for Jackson, who notes that there are now many students who are interested in the field.
Jackson’s story is one of many that show the strength of the School’s network, 90 years and 36,000 alumni strong. Professors become mentors and stay in touch with alumni over the decades, helping them find jobs, break into new careers and start their own ventures. Through the Alumni Web Site (BANC) and e-mail groups, alumni make new contacts, exchange advice and act as sounding boards. With so many talented people coming together to share a transformative experience, it is perhaps only natural that the connections made at the School are powerful.
Recently, Colin Johnson ’00 discovered the alumni e-mail lists. He posted a query for assistance with an important business decision and quickly received several responses.“I wouldn’t have connected with these individuals had it not been for these lists,” he says. “They broadened my reach substantially.”
Johnson, who served as GBA president and is now copresident of the Bay Area Alumni Club, calls his former classmates his “kitchen cabinet” and regularly seeks out their advice. He has also maintained close ties with his professors. Ralph Biggadike, professor of professional practice in the Management Division, has helped him solve business problems over the years, and Eric Johnson, the Norman Eig Professor of Business in the Marketing Division, serves on the advisory board of his company, Eyetools, which provides software to advertising and marketing firms.
“The network has provided me with a tremendous amount of richness in my life, both professionally and personally,” Johnson says. In the last few years, he has interviewed many prospective students, which has extended his network even further. He has kept in touch with several of these students throughout their time at the School and even after their graduation. “There’s an enormous amount of potential that’s yet to be unleashed. That’s why I’m still so involved.”
Adam Crocker ’05 made his first connection at the School a few months before he started the program. Through an open house sponsored by the Hermes Society, he met Philip Ruvinsky ’02, who worked at UBS. They discussed Crocker’s interest in investment management, particularly in value investing. Two years later, Crocker saw Ruvinsky at the annual Graham and Dodd Breakfast seminar in New York. Ruvinsky said his firm was looking for an intern, and soon Crocker had a part-time position that he held until graduation.
Crocker now works in investment management at Morgan Stanley. Every few months, he meets up with his former professor and two of his classmates to discuss value-investing ideas. He keeps in touch with alumni through events like the Columbia Investment Management Association conference, the Black Business Students Association auction and value investing reunions. “Without having moved very far geographically, I have a much broader set of peers,” says Crocker, who grew up in South Orange, N.J. “Some of my best friends are from the program.”
Paul Sonkin ’95 was looking for a change when he enrolled in the School. He had experience in compliance at Goldman Sachs and had previously worked at the Securities and Exchange Commission, but he wanted to get into the investment side of the business. “My career was going in one direction, and my interests were going in another,” he says. “The School corrected that.”
Sonkin has worked as a money manager at Humming-bird Value Funds for the last seven years. Through his firm’s internship program, informally known as the Hummingbird Halfway House, he has helped many Columbia students get experience in the field. “It gives them a place between school and their first job to get a name on their résumé and a reference,” he says. His own education has come full circle: he now teaches applied value investing at the School.
When Jaycee Pribulsky ’01 came to the School to study nonprofit management, it was still difficult for a student to make contacts in the field. Now that she’s worked for several years in community affairs and corporate philanthropy, she enjoys sharing what she’s learned with current students. She keeps in touch with Professor Horton and Carolyn Champ, director and associate director, respectively, of the Social Enterprise Program. “When the SEP has an event or has students interested in corporate philanthropy, I’m always happy to chat with them,” Pribulsky says. She has worked with several SEP students on a project basis. “I enjoy helping people who are interested in this field.”
Mori Goto ’84 calls Larry Selden, professor emeritus of business, his “teacher for life.” Goto, who came to the School from Japan, knew little about the debt market when he enrolled in Selden’s class. In the middle of the term, unsure of how he was faring in the class, Goto sought Selden’s advice. Goto was surprised to hear that he wasn’t just doing well but that he had a special appreciation of the topic. Selden urged him to pursue a career as a debt trader after his graduation.
Goto is now a managing director at RBS Greenwich Capital. He has been in the business for 22 years and still keeps in touch with Selden, who has been a lifelong source of advice. “Professor Selden didn’t only teach me what he knew about the subject,” Goto says. “He taught me what I was good at.”
Shortly after graduation, Kimbrough Towles ’97 organized a conference for all the investment professionals at U.S. Trust, where she is now a managing director. She wanted to share what she had learned from Professor Greenwald’s class on the economics of strategic behavior with her colleagues. The theme was competitive advantage, and Greenwald was the keynote speaker. “Bruce and what I learned at Columbia were the inspiration,” says Towles. The class influenced the way she evaluates companies, particularly from a strategic basis. A few years ago, at Greenwald’s suggestion, Towles started teaching a course on applied value investing with Thomas Vail ’00, also a portfolio manager at U.S. Trust. With her professional experience, Towles was able to offer her students an overview of the industry and suggestions on where they might want to work after graduation. “It has been an intellectually challenging and fulfilling experience,” she says.
Since he moved back to London, Carlo Pirzio-Biroli ’95, a managing director at Deutsche Bank, has kept in close contact with alumni and the School. “The farther you are from Columbia Business School, the more you look forward to participating in it,” he says. He became involved with the local London alumni club and is frequently sought out by current students who are interested in working in private equity. “They find my name as they get into the interviewing process, and I help them as much as I can,” he says. “I remember doing the same thing when I was a student. The club is a way to give something back.”
Bill Driscoll ’01 made perhaps the ultimate personal connection at the School. He met his future wife, Anne Bruce Driscoll ’01, in their first term. Her father, Robert Bruce ’70, is also an alumnus, and at their 2003 wedding, there were more than 25 graduates from classes throughout the decades.
The network is a way for alumni to “collectively make sure we repeat what has worked and help each other avoid the pitfalls that may have knocked one of us for a loop,” says Driscoll, who cochaired the Young Alumni Society and founded leveraged-buyout firm IDL Tools International. He adds that “spontaneous mentoring” by alumni and professors has been an invaluable help in his career. “The real benefit of this network is being able to ask people quick questions. The willingness of people to respond to messages is amazing.”