Sunil Golecha - MBA09

Hey All,

My name is Sunil Golecha and I'm a first year student in the full-time 2yr MBA program. I hope you all had a great time during the Welcome Weekend. Unfortunately, I couldn't participate in the weekend events because of a confict but I have been hearing wonderful things about the incoming class from my classmates. I can't wait to meet you all!

Cheers,
Sunil

Courage

What is Courage? Some define it as the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear. At Goizueta, we see courage as a very important part of the development of the business leaders of the future. We do our best here to give students every opportunity to find and develop this area of their character. I had the distinct pleasure of participating in one of these activities recently. Some would say that the act of jumping out of a plane is more insanity than courage. Despite these skeptics, a number of students at the Goizueta Business School dare to take this challenge. I am a firm believer that the bonds formed in an activity like this transcend the ups and downs of business school. I am extremely glad that I participated. While speeding toward the earth at nearly 125 mph, a sense of clarity is gained and the stresses of daily life melt away. Nature is truly beautiful from an elevation of 14,000 feet, especially outside the safe confines of a plane.
I encourage the class of 2010 to embrace this tradition with open arms and take hold of these precious few opportunities available to improve our character.
Greetings from 14,000 feet.

Jake Hite

Introductions + Here comes Welcome Weekend

Hello everyone,
My name is Akerho Oghoghomeh or AK for short and I'm a first year student here at Goizueta. I'm focusing my studies on Brand Management and my background is in Operations and Production. That seems to serve me pretty well in some of my classes. I'm originally from NJ and am loving it here in Atlanta, the weather is much more mild in the winter and stays pretty nice all year round.

This week has been pretty good so far. I've got a couple of projects due in Market Intelligence, Product and Brand Mgmt, and IT/OPs so I plan to be pretty busy over the next few days.

Welcome weekend seems to have arrived earlier than anticipated, but I'm really looking forward to meeting the new students for this coming fall. I've been on the Welcome Weekend Committee and have been working hard to get everything in order. I hope it all goes the way its planned.

Well that's enough of an entry for today. Check back tomorrow when I add another chapter to my exciting life.
AK

Alok Tandon - MBA 2009

Today the Class of 2009 began its GBA elections.  I'm pretty excited to be about being a part of the student government as the VP of Student Activities, which is essentially the social chair.  I'm also pretty proud of being a member of the class of 2009, especially after hearing some incredible candidate speeches from my classmates.

Our class has been extremely proactive and entrepreneurial since the beginning of the year - always questioning what is going on around us and finding better ways and solutions.  With a new dean joining soon and a new curriculum being implemented this is critical period of transition for our school.  I'm glad we are at the helm.  Not only will the class of 2010 be the direct beneficiaries, we eventual alumni will get to enjoy the prospects of legacy and pride.

Till then I can't wait to set up some amazing social events.  Besides Kegs and Late Night (no classes on Fridays) on Thursdays, I have a lot of cool plans to foster and maintain a strong community.  Today I also won the VP of Social Activities for Emory's Grad Senate, a body that represents all of the universities graduate programs.  With both positions, I hope to integrate the business school with the other programs through mixers, joint community service projects, and an occasional speed dating event.  I hope we can incorporate a few sporting events and trips in the mix as well.

Alright, as usual, I hardly sleep and its 4am.  Need to catch some shut eye for about 4hrs and head back to school.  Can't wait to take a breather during spring break (starting Thursday)...

-alok

Alok Tandon - MBA 2009

This is my first time ever blogging, believe it or not.  So far so good...

My name is Alok Tandon, and I am a first year Full-Time MBA student at Goizueta.  If you are actually reading this, you must be deciding whether Goizueta is right for you.  All I can say to you is come visit the school and get to know us, especially on a Thursday when we have kegs in the courtyard.

I'll start this first blog of the week with a bit of my background.  Tomorrow, I will have more to talk about in terms of student life - (we have student government elections, and I am running for "social chair").

I graduated from Emory College in 2001 with a BA in Computer Science.  I was recruited to join the UN's Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) which stationed me in three major missions involving - Kosovo, Iraq and Burundi.  In all, I've had the amazing opportunity to work in 16 countries, gaining important IT and Operations experience.  

In 2005, I decided to move on from war-torn environments and invested in a small startup media company in Bangalore, India.Using those skills as a base, I learned key accounting, finance knowledge while serving as both the COO and CFO for Soul City Publications in India.  Soul City is a start-up music and lifestyle media company, which produces high end fashion and music magazines, most notably, RAVE Magazine and KARMIC.

I directed and managed a turnaround strategy for the company by working with and restructuring each department, instituting critical business processes, and leading team efforts to innovatively expand visibility and increase profitability.

Together, my team and I analyzed financial and operational factors that were contributing to negative cash flow and implemented a targeted distribution and circulation strategy that expanded the company’s subscriber base by 40%.  Completing my objectives and having set the framework for expansion, I decided to return to Emory to further my education in finance and accounting in order to compliment my strong general management skill set as I try to enter the Venture Capital world.

I'm really happy I came back to Emory for my MBA, because I felt like it was coming full circle in terms of my academic education leading into my work experience half a world away, and coming back home to collect my bearings as I make the transition into a new career path.

Tomorrow, I will write about student life at school and in Atlanta.

-alok

Goizueta - Yaniv Yaakubovich

Hello,
My name is Yaniv and I would like to welcome you to the blog of the Goizueta Business School's students.
I am a student in the Full Time MBA program, class of 2009.

• I spend most of my day there - Maybe that's why it is called Full Time MBA
  My busy schedule does not allow me to update my blog http://theyanec.com/
• I hardly find time to take pictures. But I did take some nice ones when school started. The one hereunder was shot back in July

And I love it!

Enjoy Coke Originally uploaded by yanec

• It's only the second semester and I have already learned a few new languages: Economics, Accounting, Leading People, and I can even say some more words in (broken) Spanish
• I am among a great community. Students are competing for grades, but are still willing to study together and share informational study guides.
• Our Career Management Center has provided me with opportunities to combine my technology background and my business aspirations.
• I am fulfilling a childhood dream of mine by participating in a real world project with The Coca-Cola Company.

In this blog, we will be sharing many of our experiences as well as some aspects of Goizueta that are unique to the school. So, here is an interesting experience I had last week:

Goizueta Plus (or G+) class - building presentation and inter-personal skills. Our Dean, Prof. Steve Walton, just tought us how to communicate a story and I was about to tell one about a random subject in front of 180 students. Usually, I have no problems speaking, but I had great difficulty with this situation. I took a deep breath as my face turned red and my heart started pounding. Hopefully my classmates couldn't tell that I hadn't read the directions before class. Now, Go! Three minutes and it's over. Feedback - I think they liked it. It really appears to be a great way to practice for future presentations.