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Dear Class,

This Wednesday we will have the author of the book “The Walmart Effect” speaking to us via Skype about the book and about the effect of Walmart on the economy. There will be time for the class to ask questions to the author so please be prepared. Below is the synopsis of the book. If you can read the book by then, thats even better.

BIO:
Charles Fishman is an award-winning investigative and magazine journalist who has spent the last twenty years trying to get inside, understand, and explain important organizations, from NASA to Wal-Mart. Three times in four years, he won the Gerald Loeb Award, the highest award for business journalism. The Wal-Mart Effect was chosen as a Book of the Year by the editors of Amazon.com, The Economist, and the Financial Times. Fishman, who started his career at The Washington Post, has also been a senior editor at theOrlando Sentinel and the News & Observer in Raleigh, and has written for Fast Company magazine since 1995. In reporting about Wal-Mart, he has visited 150 Wal-Mart stores in twenty-eight states.

Fishman’s most recent book is The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water. Read more at www.charles-fishman.com.

Synopsis

Wal-Mart is the biggest company on earth, ever. Around 7.2 billion people shop there in a year – more than one visit for every person on the planet. It’s expanding across the globe from Brazil to Eastern Europe. And it has the power to change our world …

Charles Fishman takes us into the heart of the most successful superstore in history to show how the ‘Wal-Mart effect’ shapes lives everywhere, whether for overnight cleaners in America, bicycle-makers in China or salmon farmers in Chile. Now Wal-Mart’s influence is so great it can determine everything from the design of deodorant to the shape of a town, working practices to market forces themselves, Fishman asks: how did a shop manage to do all this? And what will the ultimate cost of low prices be?

David Tawil

Steven Esses

Jonathan Gong

Team Members: Joseph Hernandez, Katerina Kozlukova, Teodulo Lopez, Ana Ontaneda, Michael Rego, Jessica Tobon,  Corey Trippiedi, Jennifer Yuan, Martin Hoffstein, Shailleen Rodriguez

Panelists

Marcia Larson
Manager of Recruitment
Wall Street Journal Digital Network / Dow Jones

Marcia Larson is a Manager of Recruitment for Wall Street Journal Digital Network/ Dow Jones, Manager of Talent Acquisition at News Corporation, and a Board member at Micah Global Foundation. Ms. Larson graduated from Vanderbilt College with a French degree in 1999, and then completed 2 Masters degrees: one in French/Art History from NYU and the other in International Affairs from the GBS of Government at Texas A&M.  Marcia Larson joined News Corp in November of 2007 after four years in recruitment at Meridian Capital Group and Sucherman Consulting Group in Manhattan. Marcia’s role at News Corp / Wall Street Journal / Dow Jones incorporates: recruiting star candidates for the digital network, planning monthly meetings to bring together recruiters from our various business units to create synergies and collaboration, promoting virtual career fairs and on-line recruitment tools, and speaking to student groups and business school clubs about who News Corp are and what they do. Ms. Larson’s favorite project is being a part of the lives of her News Corp community via daily blogging about recruitment trends/Gen Y research/and company happenings.

Matthew Barash
Forbes Digital Media
Vice President & Advertising Director

Matthew Barash received his BA in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to arriving at Forbes, Matthew served as the Senior Director of Publisher Development at Fox Audience Network, where he and his team assembled and managed a portfolio of more than 800 third party publishers. Matt has extensive third party ad network experience at both Traffic Marketplace and 24/7 Real Media, where he worked in various business development capacities on data, technology and strategic publisher partnerships.  Prior to entering the digital world, Matt held sales and strategy roles in both broadcast and print media at Discovery Communications, ESPN/ABC Sports, Conde Nast and Smithsonian. In November of 2010 Matt accepted and started his role as Vice President & Advertising Director at Forbes Digital Media.

Jayd Gardina
Jayd Gardina Photography
Owner and Photographer

Jayd Gardina is a Manhattan Based photographer who has been published in The Knot Magazine, The Knot Online, Ruffled Blog, and Lucky me Blog among others. Jayd began pursuing a career in photography during college, assisting photographers in shooting weddings in her native state of Massachusetts. She moved to NYC in 2005 and worked in Marketing during the well while pursuing photography on the weekends. in 2008, due to word-of-mouth, good online marketing social networking and happy clients, Jayd was able to open her studio full time, working only for herself. She has shot over 100 weddings in the tri-state area. She also shoots musicians, actors, artists, live music, and corporate events. Some high profile events include a private dinner party with the host of Top Chef, Padma Lakshmi, Barry Manilow’s induction to the New York City Friar’s Club, a Donna Karan Holiday Party, and the Barenaked Ladies Live at Tarrytown Music Hall.

Questions:

1) In about two minutes, can you give us your personal pitch and tell us a little bit about yourself?

2) On the topic, can you tell us how digital media has changed your business in the course of its operations? In other words, how is your business today as compared to your business five years ago?

3) On a similar note, have you ever had to deal with a major transformational change in your company?

4) Do you see a shift in the quality of inter and intra-organizational communication now that this generation is relying more heavily on texting and instant messaging?

5) Do you find that there are significant differences between a digital first impression and a personal first impression?

6) Do you think Facebook and other similar tools are viable in evaluating colleagues, new hires and potential business associates?

7) Do you own a Facebook? (And if so, how do you keep your private life separate from your public online life?)

8) To what extent do you use sites such as Linkedin or Facebook to market your product or service?

9) What is the mission of your business, and how have you used digital media to help you accomplish it?

10) Have you ever faced a situation when cultural biases or preconceived notions threatened your company’s goals and objectives?

11) Would you say digital media has made decision making simpler or more difficult (in terms of reaching a consensus)?

12) How does your company contribute to the expansion of digital media? In other words, what innovations are you working on and what steps are you taking to achieve them?

13) What kind of ethical obligations does your company have?

14) Have you ever faced a challenge to your personal ethical standards?

15) How do you exercise control in your organization? Has digital media made control simpler or more difficult?

Opening:

Have you ever used Facebook, Skype, Twitted on twitter, used an e-book, learned from a power point, commented on a blog, or even been influenced to make a purchase decision from online advertisements? If you answered yes to any one of these questions you have been exposed to digital media.

With our daily advances in technology digital media is a growing epidemic. Digital media follows us on a personal level with products such as smart phones & now Internet capable televisions.

Not only are our technological aspects improving but also are advertisers efforts reaching consumers. On November 17, 2010, the IAB (interactive advertising bureau), reported that U.S. internet advertising revenue hit 6.4 billion in the third quarter of 2010, representing the highest quarterly results ever for the online advertising industry and a 17% increase from the same period in 2009.

As you can see digital media has impacted our lives on a consumer and personal level, and it will continue to do so with our advances in technology, but it has also transformed the way business is conducted in America & worldwide.

Video Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypmfs3z8esI

Conclusion

First off, we would like to thank our panelists for taking the time to come to our class and talk about their experiences working in the field of digital media.

Ms. Jayd Gardina talked about her small business and how important it is for her to maintain a personal connection with her clients and respond to their digital requests quickly and effectively.

Ms. Marcia Larson told us about her company’s growing presence in the digital world and her role as a recruiter for creative and digital savvy individuals.

Mr. Matthew Barash talked about his many experiences in several different companies and about all the digital media knowledge he has acquired throughout the years . It is important to know your audience and use digital media to target your market and reach as many consumers as you can.

Ms. Jayd Gardina personally benefits from digital media at a low cost and this helps her since she is a small business owner.  It is important to monitor your online activity and express your opinions in a respectful manner because you never know who is reading what you write.  Businesses must also maintain good ethical standards and follow the unwritten rules of the internet in order to retain their good image in the public eye.

Group #6 did a good job on the panel. I enjoyed the topic.  All the chosen panelists had valuable advices to offer from which all of us can benefit. Especially councilman Koo stood out. His presence on the panel was refreshing and entertaining. It was too bad that he had to leave too early. Everybody needs some inspiration in order to accomplish his/her goals. In conclusion, if we will be in the leadership position we should work as hard as we want our employees to work. This kind of approach sets  a good example. Overall, good job group 6!

Group Members: Bob Salame Jr., Joyce Tse, Oleg Polovets, Christopher Goldman, Amanda Medina, Jasper Cunneen, Wojciech Balakier, Fuxin (Chris) Zheng

Panelists:

Ghen Saito

MBA from Wharton Business

CEO – DocoLabs Technology

DoCoLabs provides Business Intelligence software that analyzes costs  vs revenue in real time. By comparing actual AP from incoming bills and  invoices against real time revenue, the software automatically  identifies discrepancies and areas to increase profitability.

Former CEO and Founder of Rave Wireless

Rave Mobile Safety was founded in 2004 by a visionary team of  entrepreneurs and investors who believed the powerful capabilities and  near-ubiquitous ownership of mobile phones could transform the way we  communicate. Since then, the company has grown to meet the increasing  demand from institutional clients across a variety of market segments,  all bound by a common goal: to protect the lives and promote the  well-being of their on-the-go constituents.

Joseph M. Harary

President and CEO – Research Frontiers

Stock Ticker – REFR

Founder, Board Member at Imagine Academy for Autism

Graduated Columbia Law

Joe Harary joined Research Frontiers Incorporated as its Vice  President and General Counsel in 1992 and has been a director of the  Company since 1993. After various promotions, Mr. Harary became  President and Chief Operating Officer in 2002, and Chief Executive  Officer starting in January 2009.  Mr. Harary has actively managed and  directed all aspects of the Company’s business including licensing,  raising private and public equity capital, marketing, and government  relations. Working closely with Chairman Robert L. Saxe, during Joe  Harary’s tenure, the company’s intellectual property portfolio —  patents and patent applications for SPD-Smart™ technology worldwide —  has grown to over 500, making Research Frontiers the industry leader in  smart glass light-control technology. He and the executive team are  responsible for building an SPD supply chain infrastructure through the  licensing of premier companies that include the world’s largest chemical  and glass companies, and building global awareness of the benefits of  SPD-SmartGlass technology. In 2007, Research Frontiers’ licensees began  producing and selling to their customers next-generation SPD-Smart film  and end-products.  Prior to joining Research Frontiers, Mr. Harary’s corporate law practice  emphasized technology, licensing, mergers and acquisitions, securities  law, and intellectual property law at three prestigious New York City  law firms. Mr. Harary graduated Summa Cum Laude from Columbia College  with an A.B. degree in economics, and received a Juris Doctor degree  from Columbia Law School where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar as  well as an editor of the Columbia Law Review. Prior to attending law  school, Mr. Harary worked as an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank  of New York. Joe Harary is frequently asked to share his business  experience with other companies directly, and as a speaker and published  author in the fields of intellectual property, corporate law, and smart  glass. His online column, “Ask Joe,” is popular among the growing  number of visitors to the Company’s website (SmartGlass.com). Mr. Harary  has also served as a guest lecturer at Fordham University’s Accelerated  MBA Program, and serves on the boards of various charities including  the Imagine Academy which helps children with autism and their families.

Joan Darragh

Arts Administration Professor of Baruch College

Curator  of numerous exhibitions

Director for Planning and Architecture at the Brooklyn  Museum

Joan Darragh has twenty-five years of experience in the field of institutional planning and design management. She is also the co-author of Museum Design: Planning and Building for Art (Oxford University Press, 1992). As a consultant to many institutions, she has developed building programs for a variety of projects, including projects like, Arata Isozaki’s Center of Science and Industry, Columbus,Ohio; Santiago Calatrava’s addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum; and a master plan for the Morgan Library, New York, NY. Professor Darragh was the Director for Planning and Architecture at the Brooklyn Museum from 1987 to 2007, overseeing the capital development of the Museum’s master plan from its conception through its first three phases. More recently, she led her Brooklyn team through the creation and implementation of:  the Polshek Partnership’s $65,000,000 entrance and plaza redesign; a $3,000,000 library expansion and renovation; the Luce Center for Studies in American Art; the $6,000,000 Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art; and the planning, design, and contract negotiation for a $100,000,000 building campaign for the addition of a new service wing and the installation of climate control throughout the historic structure. Most recently, she managed the early stages of a proposed redesign and renovation for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Museum in Simi Valley, California. She is currently a Professor at Baruch College, City University of New York, teaching arts administration courses.

Team Members: Brian Bogart, D’Shea Ollivierre, Efraim Mauban, Francisco Gomez, Rachel Rosenthal, Susan Sull, Vincent Wan, Yafeng Chen, Zhoudi Tang

Panelists:

Zoravar Dhaliwal, CEO

Community Lab

Zoravar S. Dhaliwal is the CEO of Community Lab, a nonprofit providing tools and resources to strengthen health, nutrition and education systems globally. He gained extensive experience in finance through his work at Merrill Lynch, UBS and Trinorth Capital, and in management consulting during five years at Accenture, specializing in technology, process engineering, strategy and performance analytics. He has also created start-up firms in real estate investment and development.

Ayman Zameli, Managing Director

Private Equity at Pivotal Group

Ayman Zameli helps to identify and facilitate acquisitions. Prior to joining Pivotal, Mr. Zameli spent over 12 years in the financial sector providing debt financing for leveraged buyouts including transactions for private equity investors as well as corporate borrowers. From 2004 through 2009, Mr. Zameli was a Principal in Bank of America’s New York Leveraged Finance Group where he helped raise over $35 billion in total debt financing. Additionally, Mr. Zameli was a Vice President with JP Morgan Chase Syndicated Leveraged Finance group for five years where he was responsible for advising borrowers on appropriate capital structures. Mr. Zameli is currently a board member of ABANA; a non-profit organization that promotes financial services industry relations between the Arab world and North America. He is also a supporter of several New York based charities. Mr. Zameli holds an MBA from The George Washington University.

Peter Koo, Council Member-Republican

District 20

Peter Koo is currently a City Councilman, the founder and CEO of Starside pharmacy and a philanthropist. Peter Koo, who was born in Hong Kong, immigrated to the US in 1971. He attended college in the University of New Mexico by working odd jobs at KFC and Dunkin Donuts to put himself through pharmacy school. Thereafter, he obtained his BS degree and within a few years he opened his first pharmacy in Flushing Queens known as Starside pharmacy, which eventually expanded into several different chains located in Queens. Within the Flushing community, he served as the Chairman of the Flushing Business Improvement District and President of the Flushing Chinese Business Association. Although he was a Republican candidate he was able to win over the community in an area that is primarily a Democratic-stronghold in the elections of November 2009. In terms of his philanthropist acts, he has donated $100,000 to LaGuardia Community College by founding a scholarship, donated 20 wheelchairs to Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, donated to several senior centers in the local community and he also donates his entire councilman salary back to the community.

Opening Statement:

We are living in a society where continually on the news we hear about people being killed in wars, people starving all over the world, and it seems with every new year comes a new disaster somewhere around the world. Today’s current economy only intensifies all these horrible situations. That is why inspiration is more important than ever. In order to get through any situation one must be inspired to do great things and help the people and the world around them thus inspiring other people in the process. Today we have four great speakers who are all inspiring in their own right. All have overcome incredible odds to be become successful and all take the time to give back to community. Through our panel we hope everyone in the class can take a little inspiration and make the world a better place.

Questions:

1. To start off, how about each of you give us a brief synopsis about what your current occupations are and how you got there.

2. Did you have a long-term strategy in mind when you began your career or did you just take advantage of opportunities as they came up?

3. We pretty much all know that we have to fight hard and put some effort to get what we want, like as the old cliché goes, “No Pain, No Gain”, so what hardships can you say you faced in accomplishing your goals? And what do you feel you learned from them?

4. In terms of business how do you feel that you inspire your workers and/or yourself to make everyone feel united under a common goal?

5. Is inspiration valued in your company structure? Does it get implemented?

6. How do you incorporate “inspiration” and how do you inspire people within your decision making process (how do you go about solving problems)?

7. Do you think failure can help create new inspiration? Do you have any personal examples?

8. Despite the great progress our country has had when it comes to accepting others cultures, some may argue that tension conflicts are still major issues.  How can a leader or group member help a team collaborate despite cultural tension?

9. Beside culturally, in terms of conflict what kinds of situations have you encountered in your own profession? Explain what is the conflict was about, who was involved and how you resolved it (or was it never resolved). What kind of method is best used to approach and resolve a conflict in a professional setting?

10. How is inspiration useful in planning for the future?

Closing Statement:

I first and foremost want to thank our panelists for coming here to speak in front of all of us today. In the hard times that we face today as well as the hard times we will undoubtedly have in the future, we must always remember not only to work hard but to also stay optimistic and stay inspired. This inspiration, whether you get it from inside yourself or from those around you, will be vital not only in your own future careers but in also how you go about your everyday lives. Because remember, there will always be another generation looking at what we are all doing, and we need to be a positive guiding force for the continuous improvement of our society. Some of the main key points I would like all of us to take from this discussion today are…

Main Points:

Peter Koo

Build a great foundation so that when opportunity for success presents itself, you’ll be able to grab it

Timing, location, support of people will help you achieve your goals

Make own determination to succeed

Life isn’t easy but it’s not hard

Not every path is the right path

Stop saying whatever, things are important, make it happen, don’t give up or let others give up

Two different types of intelligence: book intelligence and “street smarts”

The first 100 years are the hardest

Ayman Zameli

Failure is part of life, success will follow

Discover opportunities. Once you know what you want, go get it

Do your best every time and success will come naturally

Zorovar Dhaliwal

Sometimes we aim for the golden ticket, but it is necessary for us to figure out our skill sets and relationships to do what we really love

To be a good team leader you need 80% positive reinforcement, 20% constructive action

Team Members: Stanley Weinberg, Cameron Mo, Viorika (Vicky) Rybak, Jiaying (Selina) Li, Walter Zielkowski, Li (Lelia) Tan, Boris Ermis, Alina Kidanova

Panelists:

• Kalechi Noel is a proud Baruch Alumni and President/CEO of Kaon Multimedia INC. At an early age, Kalechi Noel realized he had a natural ability for leading due to the fact that when around friends, or even in the class, he would always volunteer to be the group leader when no one else wanted to. He was always the one who enjoyed receiving the credit when things went good…. as well as taking the blame when things went bad.  As he got older, this skillset proved itself in all aspects of his life from sports teams, to musical bands, to church organizational groups,  and even business.  While at Baruch College, he founded the Baruch Movies Club. The club produced their first feature film “The Dominick Sanders Story” in 2008″, which comprised of Baruch Students and had a sold out premiere night in BPAC. Even after graduating, the club exist today and has gone on to produce even more movies. Kalechi’s leadership and entrepreneurial mindset has paved the way for the starting and managing of a Live Band, a Graphics Design company, a Wedding Photography business and a Multimedia Production Company.
• Kalechi Noel
  Director/ Producer
  Kaonmultimedia.com

• Charles A. Riley, II, PhD is a Professor at Baruch College/City University of New York.  His articles on business and public policy have appeared in several magazines, including Fortune, WE, Owner-Manager, Newsday, Art & Auction, Art & Antiques, New York, Artnews and New Asia Review.  He has been interviewed on business and regulatory issues on ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, CNNfn, FNN, CNBC, National Public Radio and the Canadian Broadcasting Company. He is the author of nineteen books, including the just published Disability and Business (University Press of New England, www.upne.com) and Disability and the Media, the first two volumes in The Disability Library, a new series launched by him. He is also the author of The Jazz Age in France, Sacred Sister, Aristocracy and the Modern Imagination, The Saints of Modern Art, Color Codes, Small Business, Big Politics, The Tools of Historic Preservation and The Arts in the World Economy. He was formerly founder and editor-in-chief of WE Magazine and editor of Art & Auction magazine and on the editorial staff of Fortune magazine.  He is director of communications for the International Center for Corporate Accountability, and a frequent guest at think tanks including the White House Conference on Small Business, the Renaissance Weekends, Salzburg Seminar and the Organization for Economic Development. Dr. Riley earned his BA at Princeton University and his MPhil and PhD at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
• Charles Riley, Ph.D., Professor
• At 17, Eugene Shkolnikov came to the United States from Russia. At 19, he began attending Brooklyn College working his entire way through. For $3 an hour, he would hand out fliers to pedestrians next to the Empire State Building as the crowds passed him by. “I used to look at all of the men in suits,” he recalled, “and think I wanted to be like that.” Now, just several years later, Shkolnikov, field director with The Nemec Financial Group in New York, has found a thriving business. “Now, I am the  one wearing suits to work each day and working on a successful career,” he said. It is that same promise of suits that has led him to recruit others into the career. Through the leadership and development of others in his office, he is making his mark on the Network.
• Eugene Shkolnikov, CLTC
• Financial Representative
• NorthWestern Mutual Financial Network

• Matthew Washington, the Brooklyn District Manager who oversees important public issues in Brooklyn such as the city budget. He has many interactions with team members regarding daily transactions and has to motivate his team everyday due to different economic situations. As a salesperson, it is very important for him to transfer his enthusiasm and energy onto others.
• Brooklyn District Manager

Opening Statement: In every situation, whether in a company or in school, we have to work with other people and learn to motivate each other. While people can depend on themselves, it is also important to gain the ability to maintain strong relationships and work together towards a common goal. Statistics have shown that average employees with exceptional managers work better than exceptional employees with average managers. Though inspiring and motivating others is essential, it is not always easy to accomplish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwpTj_Z9v-c&feature=related

Questions for panel:

1.Can you please tell us about yourselves, and how you arrived at the positions you’re in now?

2.Based on your work experiences, what makes the company you work for unique in its industry?

3.How have you applied the education you have learned in the classroom to on the job projects?

4.Do you prefer to work alone or in groups, and what in your mind exemplifies a strong team leader?

5.Based on the clip that we just showed, can you tell us the different motivational tactics you use when working with team?

6.Kalechi Noel: what characteristics do you look for in individuals when forming a team, and what specific qualities make the group excel?

7.Harry Schweitzer: Can you tell us about a work experience where you have worked on a project individually, and how that project would have changed if you would have worked with a team?

8.Charles Riley: we understand you had a stint in the NHL, can you please tell us how the team work skills you used in that physical environment varies or is similar in the business environment?

9.Eugene Shkolnikov: Life insurance is a touchy subject for many families. How do you motivate your employees to sell a product that can be uncomfortable for those purchasing it?

10.How do you motivate a weak team member without putting them down, what tactics would you use to produce the greatest potential out of the employee?

11.Can you please share an example of when you had to sacrifice your point of view or anything else for the benefit of the team?

12.How do you overcome an unanticipated hurdle when working with a team?

13.Can you tell us of someone you look up to, and how they motivate you in your career and everyday life?

14.Charles Riley: in class we have learned the importance in recognizing different international cultures.  As someone who has lived overseas, how have you seen teamwork change in different cultures?

15.Kalechi Noel:  Working with movies involves a large collaborative effort by many individuals. How do you keep a team of that size organized and on a proper timetable?

16.Eugene Shkolnikov: As someone who works with retirement planning, educational planning, and life insurance planning, should managers be the only ones planning or should the team join the planning process as well?

17.By which, rational persuasion strategy and shared power strategy, you think is the most effective management to today’s business?

18.What advice would you give the class that you know now that you wish you would have known in college?

Key Points:

“put your ego aside, some of the best ideas come from new members”

“motivate yourself before you motivate others”

“you should always look for new motivations, learning new things”

“you can find motivation anywhere you look for it”

“start now, half the life you’re too young, half the life you’re too old”

“do something you love to do. find your passion”

“losing is just as important as winning”

Closing Statement:

Working in teams may mean different things in different corporations and industries. Some undoubtably need more teamwork, such as Mr. Noel’s movie industry–and others prefer to work alone, such as Mr. Eugene and financial planning. But even with an outstanding team, it is still hard to do exceptional work when members are not motivated. One key point we heard over the panel presentation was that to be a good motivator, you must motivate yourself first. People look up to you, so confidence is key. In every industry, there are real teams and fake teams; keeping in touch with friends throughout your life will help you form some real teams.

Group 3- The Marketeers

Victoria Oliva, YongXin (Stephanie) Yang,  Diana Barberio,  Shubkarmen Kaur,  Tiffany Chih, Valeria Quito, Eric Thai, Justin Shen & Russell Muradov

Panelist

BIO’s

Jessica Murphy

While earning her degree in Classical Voice Performance at Boston University, Jessica decided that long hours in solitary practice rooms weren’t exactly her cup of herbal throat-soothing tea. Upon graduating, she moved to New York City where she began her career in event marketing in the creative services department at Vanity Fair Magazine, working on events and promotions for luxury lifestyle and entertainment brands. From there, she joined Savvy Partners, Inc., as an account manager. While at Savvy, she obtained celebrity endorsements and executed gainful benefits for non-profit clients such as The United Nations Population Fund and Fashion Targets Breast Cancer, while securing media placement and planning product launches for lifestyle brands such as Ellesse and Oakley.

In 2004, Jessica merged her backgrounds in marketing, pr and event production by becoming a senior account director at the michael alan group. Working with the guerilla-minded team there, she started planning and executing strategic street-level and publicity-centric events for clients such as Bravo, Citibank, fuse, The Independent Film Channel, NBC Universal, Nickelodeon, People Magazine and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Jessica is now a senior vice president at the michael alan group, focusing on new business, staff management and client relations. She lives with her husband in Brooklyn.

Linda Shapiro

Linda brings over 15 years of Media experience to her current assignment as Connections Director on the BMS team at MediaVest. Prior to her position on BMS, Linda oversaw the Kraft Crackers portfolio (winning a Bronze Effie for the Ritz “Open for Fun” campaign) as well as the multi-dimensional Coke Red brand (recently winning an OMMA award for the “Secret Formula” campaign in the “Social App as Advertising” category). Linda spent the majority of her career moving up the ranks at BBDO/OMD. There she honed her media skills working across their broad client roster including: Campbell’s Soup, Polaroid, FedEx, Visa, Bayer, LensCrafters, RayBan , Samsonite and Gillette.

Currently, Linda is actively committed to making MediaVest a great place to work. She is an integral part of the Employee Engagement team and was recently chosen (out of over 800 employees) to be one of 12 members of the Impact Circle. The IC is tasked with being a “catalyst for a leadership revolution” at the Agency.

In her free time, Linda is passionate about helping children and traveling. She joined the Executive Committee of the Starlight Children’s Foundation in 2009 and was asked to co-chair the Committee in 2010. To date, they have raised over $35,000 in 2010. She had the opportunity to move abroad to Italy in 2008 and goes back to visit her “Rome Sweet Home” a few times a year as well as continuing to explore parts unknown.

Ya Lan Young

Ya Lan Young was born in Taipei, Taiwan and immigrated to the US with her family at a very young age. She grew up in Rochester, NY and went to university at Syracuse University majoring in Communications Design. The major was a concentration on Graphic Design in all forms from conception to production incorporating business strategy, branding and graphic design. After graduating, she took the position of in house Graphic Designer and Marketing Assistant at JewelMak Inc.

After a year, the Marketing Director left and she took over the department and has been running it since then. She is also responsible for hiring staff and bringing in resources for all Marketing and Public Relation projects such as photographers, graphic designers, printers, etc.
 Along with that she works closely with the stylist and magazine editors on special projects such as awards events, charity auctions and celebrity advertisement campaigns in product promotion.

Since she took over, the company has expanded their retail business so now she oversees the marketing and promotion for three retail locations as well as their various wholesale brands

Opening Statement

Women In Marketing: How We Got Here is our way of presenting how to successfully market not only our business, but ourselves.  Through this, we also narrowed our topic down to women to see how gender unfolds in the corporate world and what obstacles these women had to overcome to obtain their positions.  Our panelists are three very credible women from completely different industries.  Our goal was to find out what women do differently from men in the marketing industry as well as gain career advice from women who definitely had to face bias in order to be where they are today.

Questions

1. What is unique about the service you provide?

2. What would you consider to be the core values of your organization? How do you live up to them, model them and reinforce them through management?

3. NYC is known for its diversified workforce, where women can take on male oriented jobs. But unfortunately, not all companies are like this. What are some of the things organizations and leaders can do to reduce diversity bias faced by minorities and women in the workplace?

4. Being a female in the business industry, how do you overcome bias in the interviewing process?

5. How would you describe the difference between a woman’s creativity from a man’s creativity when dealing with marketing strategies?

6. What’s the most influential business venture you’ve come across in your life?

7. Could you share with us an important decision that you had to make in your career in order to achieve your position?

8. Planning is the process of setting objectives and determining how to accomplish them. When you plan how do you prioritize your objectives? Do you believe in having a back-up plan?

9. Being that you are in high positions within your company, does the workload ever become overwhelming?  If so, when do you decide to delegate?

10. Is there any cultural diversity among your co-workers or your subordinates? If so, how would you handle these diversities and make your team to reach the highest level of cooperation?

11. In the management process, organizing, planning, controlling and leading are essential.  In your years of experience which do you find to be the most important?

12. Would you consider yourself a problem solver (make decisions and try to solve problems when required) or a problem seeker (always looking for problems to solve or opportunities to explore)? And how does that specific characteristic influence your career?

13. In what ways would you say you innovate throughout your company?

14. If you had to start over from scratch what would you do differently and what would you keep the same?

Key Points

-“Find the niche for you”.

Group #2: Mickey Abbatiello, Niaz Ahsan, Oksana Powe, Gabriela Guazco, Yuliya Gumerova, Evan Khordipour, Danial Lam, Edwin Li, Ilya Peysakhov, Yuriy Minchuk

Panelist: Sam Antar

Bio: Sam E. Antar is a former Baruch College alumnus that studied and majored in accounting and eventually earned a CPA. In the 1980’s Sam was the Chief Financial Officer of the publicly traded company called Crazy Eddie Inc. Crazy Eddie Inc. was a discount electronic retailer chain that conducted its business through the Internet and the telephone, which operated throughout New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut for nearly twenty years. Sam’s life then took a turn when he faced a felony charge for one of the biggest securities fraud in his time. After being coined by US Attorney Michael Chertoff as, “the Darth Vader of Capitalism” and realizing his faults, he then decided to learn from his mistakes. He currently advises law enforcement, government entities, professionals, and businesses about white-collar crime and trains them to catch the crooks.

Opening Statement:

SamAntar_Intro_Promo

Panel Questions:

1. Sam, can you tell the audience a little bit about yourself and how Crazy Eddie’s was started. What was your role in the company?
2. In comparison to frauds of your time and frauds of today, how do you compare the Crazy Eddie fraud to them? (In terms of money involved, length of fraud, and people involved)
3. When Eddie Antar offered to pay for your education so that you could so-to-speak “help” him with the business, were you aware of what you were getting yourself into?
4. As a manager of sorts, do you feel like Eddie needed to use fear/coercion tactics to keep you and your family faithful to the business? Or was it a mutual understanding among the family that what you were doing was ok?
5. In 1970-1979 when the first phase of fraud began, can you explain the process of how you performed income tax invasion and cash skimming?
6. In 1980 when you were working for Crazy Eddie off the books and Penn and Horowitz (auditing company for Crazy Eddie), how did you prepare for the company to become public?
7. Why during this time did you work for Penn and Horowitz auditing company?
8. What was the main reason for making Crazy Eddie a public company?
9. After going public, did the fraudulent practices of the company shift from just avoiding taxes as a private company?
10. Can you explain the “Panama Pump” and give an example on how you manipulated the inventory accounts of Crazy Eddie?
11. How did the auditors fail to uncover these fraudulent practices that were made?
12. Can any amount of audit procedures make up for the lack of internal controls?
13. What techniques did you use to prevent the auditors from performing an effective audit?
14. Did you ever feel like Eddie was taking his scheme out of control? Was there a time when you had a fear of getting caught?
15. After investigations started to unfold, what was the main reason for cooperating with the government officials and civil plaintiffs?
16. What was going through your mind at the time of investigation (regret, fear etc.)?
17. Did you destroy any documents to obstruct the criminal and civil investigations?
18. What was the result of both cases and what happened to Eddie Antar and the rest of the family members involved? Do you and Eddie Antar still talk?
19. Did any of the Antar family members involved in the fraud, including you, ever have a discussion about the morality of the fraud?
20. In regards to the Bernie Madoff scandal and many others like it that occurred after yours, who do you put the blame on? Why are white-collar crimes of this size still being committed?
21. A big part of the business world is being able to handle criticism. With you being in public’s eye in a negative way, how did you handle the negative and harsh things that was said of you and what you did?
22. What is the main lesson you learned from your experience and if you had never gotten caught would you have continued what you were doing?
23. What is the motivation for you to speak openly about the case and become an advisor for law enforcement?

Key Points:

Sam Antar made many key points about frauds in the business world. A main point that Sam kept on focusing on was the point of people being naive. It is our job as people to be aware of our surroundings and not to believe everything we hear. Crazy Eddie’s commited the biggest fraud of their time which affected many investors and totaled to over 100 million dollars. Another key point that was showed through this panel was that ethics is a huge issue today. Honesty and integrity in the accounting and financial firms is a key point to look out for because many situations like Sam’s is still going on today. It is shown that their are still flaws in the auditing process and their needs to be a change in that area.

Closing Statement:

Since we are a young generation that will have to deal with these problems of fraud in our life, it will be a good idea to maybe introduce a class on fraud. This class will hope to teach us more about how to be aware of these flaws in the industry and to make sure it does not happen to us. Make sure that when investing your money that you are aware of the situation and do your research on the company to make sure that you are not being taken advantage of. Having this panel also gives us the opprotunity to learn from Sam’s mistakes and to give us a sense of the path that you will take if you decided to go down the wrong road. It is better to learn from someone else’s mistake then to make it yourself. Also learn to accept the consequences of your actions and mainly learn from them and turn your experience into a positive by educating people about your situation.

Group 1: Toni Cai, Yongru Chen, Vincent Cianciaruso, Mirlinda Djecbitric, Li Huang, Tae Min Kim, Lucky Nguyen, Eric Park, Helen Shiu

Panelists

Emanuel Zur
– CUNY Baruch College
– Professor
– One Bernard Baruch Way, Box B 12-225 New York, NY 10010 646-312-3230

Joseph Juntereal
– KPMG, Tax
– Senior Associate

Kurt Kraeger
– Robert Walters
– President
– Web: www.robertwalters.com

Lindsay Edelson
– Friedman LLP
– HR Coordinator and Campus Recruiter

Opening Statement- Bios

Emanuel Zur
Emanuel Zur earned his BA in economics and business and his law degree from Tel Aviv University in Israel. In 2008, he completed a PhD in accounting from Stern School of Business at NYU. Between all the school works, Emanuel spent several years at Ernst & Young in the Information System Assurance & Advisory Service and in one of the leading law firms in Israel. He also spent several years in the Israeli Army. Emanuel specializes in Hedge Funds, M&A, and the Bond Market. His published research includes Entrepreneurial Shareholder Activism: Hedge Funds and Other Private Investors in the journal of finance, and The Implications of Hedge Fund Activism on the Target Firm’s Existing Bondholders in the Review of Financial Studies. Outside of academia, he enjoys soccer, tennis, skiing, and mostly spends time with his two kids and wife.

Joseph Juntereal
Joseph Juntereal is a senior associate at KPMG in the Financial Services – Asset Management Tax Group. Joseph graduated in 2007 from Fordham University with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. He focuses primarily on hedge funds and private equity partnerships and his clients include Citigroup Alternative Investments, Credit Suisse, Aberdeen Asset Management, and Goldman Sachs. Prior to moving to New York City, Joseph was born and raised in Philadelphia.

Kurt Kraeger
Kurt Kraeger is currently 48 years old. He graduated from high school a year early and joined the US Navy on his 17th birthday. He is a veteran of the war in Granada. Kurt started college when he was 21 years old, 4 years after being in the Navy. He spent 2 years in Public Accounting and then got into Financial Recruitment as well as 6 years at Foster McKay, a local accounting recruiting firm. Kurt joined Robert Walters in 1997 to run their NYC office. He places Accounting and Financial professionals in the 75k – 500k range.

Lindsay Edelson
Lindsay Edelson is an HR Coordinator and Campus Recruiter at Friedman LLP, one of the leading mid size Public Accounting Firms in the New York City area. She is a graduate of Rutgers University where she received her Master’s in Human Resource Management. Lindsay has worked in Human Resources positions across various industries for 3 years including Mercedes-Benz USA for 1.5 years. She began her career at Mercedes-Benz in the Human Resource Operations department handling MBA Recruiting, as well as the Call Center Recruiting and HR Reporting functions. Following Mercedes-Benz, Lindsay joined Friedman LLP in August 2009 where she handles Campus Recruiting, CPE, Employee Relations and Scheduling. In her roles, she has been privy to building relationships with both new hires and existing employees with the end goal of building strong talent for her company.

Preliminary Questions
1. Is your current job your ideal job back in college? How did you find out what you wanted to do?
2. What were your plans for the future when you were in college? Did they change over time and have they been met yet?
3. It can be a difficult transition from attending classes daily to working a full time job after just graduating from college. Are there any tips you can provide that would make the transition a little smoother or easier for graduating seniors?
4. When working in a group setting in a fast-pace environment, there is bound to be some conflict amongst team members, bosses, or business partners. How do you deal with conflict in the work place? Can you share some tips we can use to settle issues professionally?
5. So far in our management class, we have learned about the power of negotiating and compromising. Do you ever have to negotiate at your workplace? If so, what would you say your tactics are when it comes to negotiating?
6. What are your company’s organizational subcultures? How do these subcultures work in your organization? Do you think they are important for a company?
7. We all know communicating effectively is very important in our everyday lives and especially within organizations. Can you tell us what are some ways we can communicate more effectively in a workplace setting?
8. Do you think you have effective communication skills? How have you developed them overtime?

Keypoints
1. When you are going for an interview, NEVER BE LATE. If it cannot be helped and you are running late, call in advance.
2. Be knowledgeable and prepared for the interview. Study the company and the specific position you are interviewing for.
3. As Lindsay Edelson stated, interact with the interviewers instead of being “robotic” during the whole process. You are suppose to make yourself appeal to the interviewers. Try asking follow up questions after every question they asked you; this will show that you are actually interested in company and the position you are applying for.
4. There are always conflicts in an organization whether it is big or small, but, the conflicts are based on how you approach the problem. Kurt Kraeger stated that you should only have problems after you have worked in a company for 3 years. After that, you can address any of your concerns. When addressing your concerns, ALWAYS address them in a professional matter to leave a good impression on your employer. The business world is so small, that even the slightest mistake or smallest bad impression you leave with the company will be heard by other companies.
5. Joseph Juntereal stated that we should all balance our social and work life. Don’t intervene your work life into your social life, it will only cause more stress!
6. Emanuel Zur suggested to do what you like to do. He quit his job at Ernst & Young because he does not want his children to see the kind of hard working life his father is going through. So, instead he became a professor at Baruch College. Being a professor allowed him to have a flexible schedule and spend more time with his children.

44. Template-Team Tables For Evaluating Panels (1)