Eight highly qualified members are on the ballot for four positions on the 2004-2005 Executive MBA Council Board of Trustees. Cast your vote before June 1. Access the ballot and candidate biographies at http://www.emba.org/members/mem_emailresources.htm (use emba for both username and password when prompted).

The Nominating Committee has identified an outstanding slate of candidates based on their contributions to the council, their experience with Executive MBA Programs, and the skills required for the open board positions of treasurer, education, faculty, communications, and research.

When you vote, select four of the eight candidates:

• Diane Badame
  Associate Dean and Director of Executive MBA and MBA for Professionals and Managers Programs
  Associate Professor of Marketing, Clinical
  University of Southern California
  
  
• Darlene Brannigan Smith
  Academic Director of Executive and Graduate Business Programs
  Associate Professor of Marketing
  Loyola College in Maryland
  
  
• Susan Carver West
  Director of the Executive MBA and Executive Education
  University of Alabama
  
  
• Beatrix Dart
  Academic Director of Executive MBA Programs
  University of Toronto, Canada
  
  
• John Fraser
  Director of the Executive MBA Program
  University of Iowa
  
  
• Kay Henry
  Director of the MBA for Executives Program
  Rice University
  
  
• Barry Van Dyck
  Director for Executive Education Degree Programs
  University of Notre Dame
  
  
• Pam Wiese
  Associate Dean and Director of Executive MBA Programs
  Washington University in St. Louis

Remember: Each Executive MBA Council member school has one vote in the board election.

Register online now for the 2004 Executive MBA Conference at http://www.embac.org/annualconference.htm. The conference, set for Oct. 30-Nov. 2, 2004, in San Francisco, Calif., offers benefits to members, whether they are conference veterans or new to the conference experience. Listen to what members have to say about the conference experience.

Patricio B. Fay, director, Programas Internacionales, IAE – Universidad Austral, attended the most recent conferences in Keystone, Colo., and Atlanta, Ga.

“Both were truly outstanding in terms of generating new ideas and interacting with colleagues from a wide range of different business schools,” says Fay. “This is what I was expecting when I attended the conferences and was not disappointed. Generating new ideas and networking with colleagues are two key points of the conference.”

Fay enjoyed the collegiality of the conference. “Coming from a school in Buenos Aires, I was surprised to find doors opening to a whole new possibility of exploring new ideas, visioning changes or confirming what we are doing. In other words, there was a breath of fresh air to open my mind and to make new friends."

Kate Livingston, executive director of the Management Development Center and Executive MBA Program at the University of New Mexico, looks forward to attending her 10th Executive MBA Council Conference in San Francisco.

A conference veteran, Livingston finds that the conference offers her an opportunity “to renew old friendships and contacts, to hear how other programs are grappling with some of the same issues and challenges I face, and to renew my enthusiasm and commitment to this ‘business’ after a decade of service.”

“And then, there is the ‘fun’ factor of being out of the office for a few days and taking a mental break from the daily routine. It’s all about recharging and reconnecting.”

Start an exciting new initiative in your program? Expand your program into a new market? Appoint a new director? Submit your news, articles, or ideas to Kathryn Carlson at kcarlson@csom.umn.edu by June 4, 2004.

The June issue of Exchange will feature news and information from member schools, which offers schools a way to promote their programs and members a way to keep current on the latest thinking and practices.

Please send updates in any of the following areas:

• Global Efforts
  
  
• Program Innovations
  
  
• Curriculum Changes
  
  
• Milestones
  
  
• Alumni Success

Submit articles or ideas for feature stories by June 4 to:

Kathryn Carlson
Kcarlson@csom.umn.edu

This spring featured Executive MBA Council regional meetings that took place all over the world – from Beijing to New Mexico to The Netherlands.

Each meeting featured great participation and outstanding presentations. Highlights of the meetings follow.

Asian Regional Meeting
Tsinghua University
Beijing, China

More than 90 participants from 61 institutions attended the Asia Regional Meeting, which Tsinghua University hosted in Beijing April 17.

Highlights included keynote presentations by the director of the China State Council Academic Degree Office, the dean of Nanyang Business School, and the dean of Shanghai Jiaotong University Antai School of Management.

The associate dean and director of the Executive MBA Program at Fudan University and the dean of the Asia Campus of INSEAD led two roundtable discussions that followed the keynote presentations. Many representatives from non-Asian schools also joined the School of Economics and Management 20th anniversary celebration, which immediately preceded the regional meeting.

The meeting was organized by Liao Li, associate dean, SEM, Tsinghua and Ei Ruipeng, Fan Xing, Liu Shenghua, Jia Li, and Xiong Juan.

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European Regional Meeting
RSM Erasmus University
Rotterdam, The Netherlands

The European Regional Meeting on April 21-22, held in conjunction with efmd’s MBA Directors Meeting, attracted 31 participants from 28 different programs and 13 countries. RSM Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands hosted both meetings.

Highlights of presentations included:

• Journalist Joshua Jampol and Jeroen van den Hoven, RSM faculty member, discussed ways to manage the communications process when the media reports negative news about your school. Participants also took part in a role playing exercise to understand the perspectives of the media and the school.
  
  
• Albert Jolind of RSM offered perspectives on the expansion of the European Union from the current 15 countries to 25 on May 1 with the inclusion of the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
  
  
• Bill Collins of RSM led a session on multi-cultural interaction and communications that involved a multi-cultural interaction game.

Mike Page, RSM dean, and Dianne Cleton Bevelander, director of Degree Programs organized the meeting.

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Western Region/Texas Region Joint Regional Meeting
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico

For the first time, the Texas and Western regions sponsored a joint meeting April 25-27 at the University of New Mexico. The meeting attracted 29 participants from 16 programs, nine different states, and Mexico.

Highlights of the presentations included:

• A University of New Mexico alumni, who is now the chairman of an advertising firm in Albuquerque, Steve McKee spoke on lessons that Executive MBA Programs can learn from America’s growth companies.
  
  
• Jackie Hood, University of New Mexico faculty member, explored the formation of MBA study teams, including the pros and cons of self-forming teams and assigned teams.
  
  
• Participants also visited Intel Corporation. The visit included opening remarks, a presentation on workforce development at Intel, a panel discussion of Intel employees who are alumni of the University of New Mexico Executive MBA Program or are current students, and a tour of the facility, the world’s largest chip manufacturing plant.

Kate Livingston, Jenny Black, Susan Ross, and Clint Pyeatt organized and hosted the meeting.