| Austria
Alumni Club of Austria
In the last half of 2009, the Kellogg Club of Austria started to reactivate its presence in Austria following guidelines proposed during the May leadership seminar held in Evanston for alumni club heads. Our primary focus is to strengthen the Kellogg brand through a series of intimate gatherings in Vienna. We are a relatively small club, with 33 listed members to date. The club is led by Andy Sattlberger ’97, who is responsible for alumni relations, and Gina Villanueva-Weinzierl ’85, who organizes events in conjunction with Kellogg Alumni Relations in Evanston.
On Nov. 21, Professor Philip Kotler joined alumni from the Kellogg Club of Austria for a breakfast event at the Radisson SAS Hotel in Vienna´s Inner District. Kotler was invited to be a keynote speaker at the Drucker Management Seminar, an event commemorating the 100th birthday of Peter Drucker. We had other distinguished guests from this seminar, including Bodo Schlegelmich, dean of the Executive Academy for the Vienna University for Economics and Business (WU), and Richard Straub, founder of the Drucker Society in Vienna. Alumni attending the breakfast included Andy Sattleberger ’97, Reinhold Baudisch ’04, Robert Fuchs ’09 and Gina Villanueva-Weinzierl ’85. The main topic during the breakfast was the ever-changing curriculum for future MBA programs. This was certainly an enlightening discussion, given the presence of experienced professors and business practitioners.
We also have facilitated the launch of a forthcoming joint executive development program between Kellogg´s Executive Education and the WU´s Executive Academy. Initial concepts for this program began in April 2009 as part of our efforts to expand the Kellogg brand in Europe. It is planned as a complement to the existing Kellogg-WHU MBA program in Germany. According to Steve Burnett, Kellogg associate dean of executive education, Kellogg has similar programs on other continents but no existing executive development programs in Central Europe and nearby regions.
The proposed format for the seminar is a three-part module focusing on leadership, marketing and finance. The target participants are senior executives in Austria, Central Europe and hopefully Eastern Europe. It is envisioned that the first module will begin in Austria. The second module will be held in Evanston on site at the Allen Center. The closing module will be held in Austria. Erica Kantor, assistant dean of executive education at Kellogg, has been in discussions with Günter Stahl, professor of international management at WU and the designated academic director of the Kellogg/WU seminar. The first module on leadership is scheduled for the fall 2010.
We are keeping our fingers crossed that this proposed joint executive development program will kick off and strengthen the Kellogg brand in Central Europe. The Kellogg Club of Austria will work in conjunction with the Executive Academy staff to launch this program. For more information on the latter, please contact Gina or Andy. Further details will be available online in the next few weeks.
Other events are underway for spring 2010! |
