ESSEC alumni living and working abroad have been actively involved in celebrating the Centenary these past few months. The magnitude and quality of each event bear testimony to the alumni’s obvious affection for their former School.

A dual centenary celebration

ESSEC Day China was held on June 23 at Tongji University in Shanghai. One of ESSEC’s longest-standing Asian partners, Tongji is also celebrating 100 years in existence this year. Pierre Tapie was present to address alumni on the latest news and strategy of the School, followed by a conference on the theme of “Human Resources Management in China: immediate and future challenges”. The discussion panel featured Celine Wang (DRH, Leroy Merlin), Thierry Laurent (General Manager, Roquette), François Bernard (Partner, KPMG), Dr. Carl Liang (CEO and Founder, China Leadership Committee), and Hugo Zhang (Associate Director, Bole).

Swiss and Brazilian alumni celebrate their school

Over 100 guests were present for ESSEC Day Switzerland in Geneva on September 22, an event that received official sponsorship from UBS. 8 months of tireless work by the organizing committee resulted in a top-quality gathering attended by, amongst others, Mr. Tobias Mahr (DRH EMEA, Procter & Gamble), Laurent Bibard (Dean of ESSEC MBA programs), and Daniel Chenain (President, ESSEC Alumni). Entertainments included a cruise, with an especially welcome contribution from one guest in particular, Jean-Rémy Chandon-Moët.

October was also a busy month on the international alumni front, with Centenary celebrations held in Sao Paulo on October 4 and then in New York two days later. The event in Brazil was centered initially around a lunchtime conference featuring Denis Morisset, Executive Manager of the ESSEC MBA in International Luxury Brand Management. This was followed in the evening by a symposium, “Standardization or diversity of the management of education in the world : Why do an MBA ?”. In addition to the many alumni present, ESSEC was also represented by Laurent Bibard (Dean of ESSEC MBA programs) and Jean-Luc Decornoy (Chairman of KPMG France and ESSEC Alumni).

A look at Asian business with ESSEC USA alumni

Alumni from all across the United States gathered for a two-day event also attended by President and Dean of ESSEC Pierre Tapie and Jean-Luc Decornoy (Chairman, ESSEC Alumni). Proceedings began with a convivial brunch organized to thank the various sponsors of the event (Calyon, Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking, Pernod Ricard, Van Cleef & Arpels, and LVMH) and the alumni instrumental in organization of the weekend.
This was followed by the focal point of the day, a panel discussion on “Educating tomorrow’s business leaders: Reaching out to China and India" with panellists: Joel Podolny (Dean, Yale School of Management), Jean Luc Decornoy and Pierre Tapie. The ensuing evening cocktail included the decoration of François Pagès (E79) with the Alumni medal and Exception Club certificate for his longstanding dedication to ESSEC and its alumni association.

Alumni celebrations continue unabated in the coming weeks, with Centenary events in South Korea and Canada (October 29), Japan (October 30), China (November 2), Singapore (December 10), Hong Kong (December 11), and finally New Delhi (December 12). Reports on these will follow in the first International Newsletter of 2008.