The Network
Columbia Business School offers access to a worldwide network of more than 36,000 alumni, many at the very highest levels of business.
- Thousands of Columbia’s alumni live and work in New York, meeting with students in their offices or on campus to discuss career opportunities and industry happenings.
- Alumni participate in the life of the School by serving as guest lecturers, working with students on class projects and speaking at student club events throughout the year.
- Some 4,000 alumni in more than 50 countries and 42 states interviewed more than half of the applicant pool in 2007.
- Students can find Columbia Business School graduates in virtually any field. Because they know the value of a Columbia MBA, alumni are often eager to reach out and meet with students.
Global Access to Graduates
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Worldwide Online Reach
The recently enhanced Business Alumni Network Community (BANC) Web site connects the online community of Columbia Business School graduates. The forum offers job and alumni search capabilities, giving students and alumni alike the opportunity to connect with graduates around the world about careers, companies and industries. - Alumni Clubs
Graduates from Toronto to Tokyo stay connected to one another, to the School and to a tradition of scholarship through dozens of alumni clubs worldwide. The clubs, some of which have an online presence, offer alumni myriad opportunities to network, socialize and learn. To see a sampling of club locations and events, visit the Alumni Clubs page of the Alumni Web site.
Influential Business Contacts
Columbia Business School’s New York location and extensive links to the international business community give students an opportunity to learn not only from world-class faculty members but also from cutting-edge practitioners. In fact, the curriculum is expressly designed to bring such leading practitioners directly into the classroom. Recent classroom guest lecturers have included presidents, CEOs and managing directors from Chanel, Flagg Capital Management, The Home Depot, Merrill Lynch and Toys “R” Us.
Students also draw on the resources of the executives in residence, a cadre of senior business leaders who tap into their rich industry experience to advise students on careers and job searches. Led by Donald Waite, MBA ’66, former managing director of McKinsey & Company, the Executives in Residence Program boasts a prestigious membership of senior executives from a range of industries representing consulting, investment banking, media, private equity, real estate and retail.
About 100 adjunct faculty members share knowledge from their own business experiences, often get actively involved in mentoring students and help them to build powerful career networks.
View list of current executives in residence.
Distinguished Speakers
Students have a variety of opportunities outside of the classroom to hear from senior business leaders as hundreds of them visit the School each year as lecturers, teachers and mentors. The School also hosts world leaders and heads of state, such as King Abdullah II of Jordan and Benjamin Netanyahu, former prime minister of Israel. The Silfen Leadership Series attracts speakers from the highest corporate and government levels, including the Honorable Henry M. Paulson, Jr., former director of Goldman Sachs, who gave his first policy speech as secretary of the Treasury at Columbia Business School, and Sanford I. Weill, retired chairman and CEO of Citigroup .
View list of recent speakers.
Board of Overseers
Columbia Business School’s Board of Overseers consists of CEOs, chairmen and directors of multinational organizations and plays an integral role in furthering the School’s national and international reach. Members of the board — nearly all of whom are Business School alumni — work closely with Dean Hubbard on strategic planning, programming and curricular development and make themselves available to Columbia MBAs for advice and mentoring.
View a list of Board of Overseers members and their affiliations.
View a map of U.S. alumni by region.
View a map of international alumni by region.
