Cleveland

The Kellogg Alumni Club of Cleveland conducted two breakfast events — in November and February — featuring Kellogg alumni who have attained corporate officer status. We are gaining momentum with increasing attendance at events and greater diversity of alums. We are developing a collaborative relationship with the Northwestern University Alumni Club of Cleveland. We continue to welcome participation and organizational help from our members in the NE Ohio area, particularly with upcoming transitions for the current co-chair group. Currently we are holding our events at David’s restaurant in the Marriott Downtown Key Tower.

Don Bullock ’94, CIO of Eaton Corporation, spoke to the group during the Nov. 6 breakfast event. Jeff Paliwoda ’95, Justin Roger ’91, Keith Kerver ’96, Sudhanshu Chhabra ’00, Suresh Krishna ’99, John Ford ’00 and Rajesh Radhakrishnan ’99 had a cozy conversation with Don on subjects such as success factors for senior executives; managing with differing talent-levels at different companies; transitioning from consulting to industry; and maintaining flexibility and focus in managing one’s career. As the first speaker in this series, Don set a very high standard for establishing Kellogg camaraderie and mentoring for the other speakers to follow.

Vinod “Vinnie” Dasari ’92 corporate VP of manufacturing restructuring at Timken Corporation spoke at the Feb. 1 breakfast event which had increased attendance with John LeMay ’94, Jim Evans ’00, Cory Fischer ’01, former alumni chair Mike Summers ’78, and others joining. Vinnie provided a non-consultant perspective to managing career growth. He stressed the need for Kellogg MBAs to think creatively and question the norms in traditional manufacturing companies. He emphasized that the same approach will be helpful in other industries as well. Vinnie mentioned the need for a support network for Kellogg alums in the area and the need for more senior Kellogg alums to provide mentoring.

It is great to have more senior alumni coming to events and sharing their stories about successful values and practices. We also enjoy the support of the larger Northwestern community through the NU Club of Cleveland. Thanks to Justin Rogers for offering the alumni club with some administrative and organizational help.

With the breakfasts event off to a good start, we will continue them and probably experiment with evening mixers and more structured events. There is always room for ideas and involvement from interested members. With the transfer of a couple of our co-chairs, we need new leaders to build upon our successful start. There is also an opening for a Kellogg representative on the Board of Trustees of the NU Club of Cleveland. Please contact one of the current chairs if you are interested.

Co-chairs: Sudhanshu Chhabra (sudhanshuchhabra@eaton.com), John Ford (johneford@eaton.com), Suresh Krishna (skrishna1999@kellogg.northwestern.edu), Rajesh Radhakrishnan (rradhakrishnan1999@kellogg.northwestern.edu)