Business School celebrates Imperial Centenary with Alumni Reunion

Thursday 19 July 2007
By Naomi Weston

The first ever Tanaka Business School Alumni Reunion took place last weekend to celebrate the College’s Centenary year and bring together over 150 alumni, staff and current students. Alumni travelled from as far away as Russia, Egypt, Brazil and India for the night's introductory networking session, which kicked off the three-day reunion.

The weekend’s events aimed to foster the alumni network and provide an opportunity for alumni to find out about developments at the Business School.

The reunion kicked off with a welcome reception on the evening of Thursday 12 July. On Friday, high-profile business leaders and alumni led debates around the theme of "Global business challenges driving change". The Centenary reunion party on Friday evening was an excellent finale to the day. On the morning of Saturday 14 July alumni had the opportunity to learn specifically about the School's cutting edge research and meet with key academic staff.

Highlights of the reunion included Richard Lambert, Director-General of CBI, giving the keynote speech on business leadership in a changing world. Richard Lambert discussed his own experiences as Editor of the Financial Times, member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee and his current role as Director-General of the premier lobbying organisation for UK business on national and international issues.

In his speech, he warned of the death of managerial capitalism. Lambert cited geopolitical, financial, logistical, innovation and reputation linked risks as the main challenges facing our corporations in this new century. He then focused on both climate change, linked to both geopolitical and reputation issues, and changes in innovation processes, suggesting that companies need to acquire more skills and change their business models in order to meet global challenges head-on. He hailed the culture of innovation at Imperial College London and its Business School, and said that a key way for companies to maintain their competitive advantage is to work with such institutions.

There were also a number of debates during the event on subjects such as the advantages and disadvantages of hedge funds, and how design activities impact the innovation process.

Nicola Pogson, Alumni Manager in the Business School, was delighted to be welcoming alumni back in the College’s Centenary year. She said: "One of our strengths, as a School, is the strong links that tie our alumni together. I'm delighted to get this opportunity, not just to greet our graduates, but also to give something back to them, in the way of cutting edge research and informed debate on the future of business. Above all, I'm looking forward to chatting to our alums, and seeing how their experience at the School has coloured their careers since then!"

View a photo gallery of the event