Middle East

The Middle East is often known to host world leaders, and our club has indeed followed in this tradition. Dean Jacobs visited us in late-October to open the class of KR-05. Our club honored him and his partner, Dean Shmuel Kandel of Tel Aviv University's Recanati School of Business, in the first annual Kellogg-Recanati Dean's Dinner. KR alumni also welcomed the graduating class of KR-03 into its alumni ranks. They were presented with a gift -- 13 bits of wisdom from existing alumni that they wish they had known upon graduation.

In tribute to Dean Jacobs and his retirement, he was pinned by Michal Lev with a dove pin similar to that worn by former Secretary of State Madeline Albright. Lev described Jacobs as a "visionary...in creating an oasis of a program in the Middle East." Erica Kantor also was in town for the event, although she is no longer a guest here, but a member of our Middle Eastern family. Her counterparts, Asher Tischler and Orit Mendelson-Shoham, deserve kudos for organizing the event. Recanati's former esteemed dean, Israel Zang, was also in attendance. Regretfully, our Jordanian and Palestinian classmates could not attend the festivities due to the political situation, which we all hope will soon mirror the positive atmosphere we have created for ourselves at Recanati.

In January, both Kellogg and Kellogg-Recanati alumni warmly welcomed Professor Dipak Jain. He delivered an extracurricular lecture on the cutting edge topic, "Customers as Assets: A Shift from Managing Products/Services to Managing Customer Relationships." Professors Tom Lys, Eitan Zemel, and Brian Uzzi were also in Israel to teach the current KR classes.

Our board also welcomes Allan Barkat (KR-02), Netta Rotman (KR-03) and Ron Tamir '99 to the team. We bid farewell to last year's members, Zachi Weisfeld and Anna Maria Portelli, who have moved out of the country, and wish them much luck.