classnotes M BA Gil Lacson, MBA 1983 is now the Relationship Manager for Women’s World Banking with company address at 8 West 40th St., New York, NY 10018 USA.
Marilen Patricio, MBA 1986 writes: “Warm regards from Canada! Spring has finally arrived and it always brings joy and excitement in our family. Our twin boys Matthew and Anthony, age 5 and our daughter Monica, age 12 look forward to outdoor games and picnics in the park. My husband Abe and I are blessed to have such wonderful children. They’re life’s greatest reward.”
Stephanie Merida, MBA 1996 is now the Asia Franchise Director – Vaccines for Merck Sharp & Dohme (Asia) Limited with company address at 26/F Caroline Ctr., Lee Gardens 2, 28 Yun Ping Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Stevie Martinez, MBA 2000 is now the Account Group Manager of DDB Philippines Ad Verbum PR, with company address at 24/F Chatham House, Rufino cor. Valero St., Salcedo Village Makati City. Stevie writes: “Sending you my daughter Bianca’s picture at 8 months. This is my favorite picture of her, though she’s already 1 year and 3 months now and already seriously hyperactive! She was the baby in the Neozep oral drops commercial that was aired from July to December 2005.”
Satish Bairy, MBA 2005 is now the Business Development Manager of HCL Technologies, Melbourne, Australia. Charles Robert “Roby” B. Davis, MBA 1988 is now the Country Manager of United Pharma (Vietnam), Inc. with company address at 61A Cao Thang St., Dist. 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Roby visited the Alumni Relations Office last February 2, 2006, to say hello to his classmate, Ofelia-Odilao Bisnar, EMD for SSAR and to Greg Atienza, EMD for ARO. Ajeet Verma, MBA 1991 is the Director and Head of Investment Banking of ASK Raymond James and Associates Private Limited with company address at 254 D, Bandbox House, Dr. AB Road, Worli, Mumbai 400025 India. Ajeet writes: “My significant learning at AIM was that there are no rights and wrongs in business situations but there are only different shades of grey. The rigors of the schedule has not only made me tough but has also helped me to achieve higher goals. My favorite professor was Romulo Neri, who never tolerated nonsense. Once I was able to match his thoughts on a presentation on a working capital case. The other professor whom I liked was Ned Roberto, who helped me to see the finer details while executing a strategy. And of course, Santos from Citibank who was quite a tough task master.” 54
MM Dr. Pashupati Nath Singh, MM 1975 is Chairman of Grid Consultants Pvt Ltd with company address at 502-505, Sai Chambers, Santacruz (E), Mumbai-400 055, India. His message to his classmates and professors: “Don’t preach about social responsibility. Take some affirmative action, however small that may be.” Haji Zulkifly “Zul” Baharom, MM ‘89/ SHRMP ’95 is now a Director/Senior Consultant for SMR HR Technologies Sdn. Bhd. with company address at Unit No.503A, 2nd. Floor Block 2300, Century Square I, 63000 Cyberjaya, Malaysia. Jack Niu, MM 1998 chairman of AIM Alumni Association, Beijing, participated in the AIM alumni activities during the Homecoming week last March, as well as to attend the annual FAIM conference. He took time to visit his batchmates of MM ‘98.
Front row, first from right: Chairman John Yang, MM ‘94; second row, second from right: Michael Hsu, MM ‘91; second row, sixth from right: Deputy Chairman Ching-Kuo Hsiao, MM ‘90. AIM Alumni Association of Taiwan, ROC held an alumni dinner meeting in Taipei on March 24, 2006 where 20 alumni attended. Iene Muliati, MM 2004 is now a Director in PT Temerity Inovasi International, with company address at Wisma 46 Kota BNI, 43RD Floor, JL. Jend. Sudirman Kav. 1, Jakarta 10220, Indonesia. Iene writes: “I will be conducting a research study on ‘Intrapreneurship’. I would be happy to be in touch with AIM alumni or anyone who owns or works for Asian corporations/enterprises in Asian countries (any industry and company scale), who are willing to participate and have their corporations/enterprises included in this study, and or who could share some related-information, knowledge, or data on their (Asian) countries that might be essential to this study. For further information, please feel free to email me: ienemuliati@msn.com.” ON PROFESSOR GABY by Iene Muliati, MM 2004 My time in AIM was just like a searching journey to me, times when I felt like I was being sent down and then forced to start life again from ground zero. I experienced a constant struggle between leaving the course and going back to the working world during the course. I guess that moment was really the peak of losing my professional pride. However I tried to survive and combat my own constant boredom in classes that did not interest me throughout the days. I guess finally I should have agreed with what most MM professors said: that the AIM moment was a time for a ‘paradigm shift’ and committing mistakes. Well, I guess I did learn both. My all time favorite AIM professor is Prof. Gaby Mendoza. Unfortunately, Prof. Mendoza did not come often to the class. I always waited for him to come to the class and ask his favorite choice of questions like “really?”, “do you think so?”, “but why?”, and “huh” in a
very critical and challenging tone. And then he would leave the class and the case just exactly like when he entered the class: there was neither an opening nor ending. Each casewas left unconcluded and unclosed. Prof. Mendoza always challenged every idea/opinion which indirectly forced us in the class, especially me, to be more critical, to be able to see each case deeply to understand each problem, and to prepare logical and no-nonsense reasoning to back up our own opinions. Prof. Mendoza never failed to make me silently question my own perspectives on the problem, and intuitively think about what other people would think and put myself in other peoples’ shoes. Really, to me, Prof. Mendoza’s classes were just like mind-game classes which reminded me about the game theory I learnt during my undergraduate studies a long time ago. But, if we think about it, that is exactly happens in this real world, is it not? The unclosed case method that Prof. Mendoza often adopted opened my eyes that there was no one fixed answer to each problem. Each problem has many solutions, depending upon which angle we see the problem, provided we assume that the problem is defined as a problem. For some people, a problem is regarded as a challenge. Personally I always thought that if I could survive Prof. Mendoza’s class or his critical questions then I would be fine. So now when I am doing my job and facing problems at work, I always replay those favorite words in my mind, starting with ‘really’ then ‘but why’ then ‘do you think so?’ then ‘huh’. Well, to me, Prof. Mendoza is the strategic professor, ‘mind-game’ expert. Thank you, Sir for your inspiration. Hareish Gur, MM 2005 writes: “Hi Everybody! I’m now heading the Marketing function of Newgen Software Technologies, which is one of the top 10 software product companies in India. Earlier in my 15-year career, I have worked in various capacities such as R&D, product development, etc. My company Newgen offers software solutions in the space called BPM (Business Process Management) and DM (Document Management) for
A I M A LU M NI LEA D ERS H IP MAGAZIN E April to J u n e 2006
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