Welcome to the new Darden Chicago Alumni site.  Granted, the site isn’t 100% perfect across all devices and I recommend using larger screens for easiest reading; laptops and computers are best while a bit tougher to navigate on mobile phones.

On the site you can scroll to see the latest updates, quickly find the Next Event via its own tab, connect to Darden’s alumni portal to login and update your contact information or register for events, even Search for news by graduation year, e.g. enter D’xx (substituting the graduation year’s final two digits for the xx’s) or enter an alumni’s name, and more…

Categories on the right quickly take you to Alumni Profiles, Events, Movers & Shakers, Odds & Ends, and Volunteer opportunities.

Please send me content to share, I’m also looking for alumni to profile so people can get to know each other beyond a LinkedIn page.  Use the Contact US page to submit ideas, feedback, anything… I hope the site makes it easier for everyone to stay current and connected vs searching for the latest newsletter.  Now get started and explore.

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Volunteer with Compass Pro Bono

 COMPASS PRO BONO INVITES THE

DARDEN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ALUMNI  TO

VOLUNTEER ON A PRO BONO CONSULTING PROJECT

Application Deadline: Oct 13, 2017 

 Use your skills and experience to make a valuable contribution to some of Chicago’s most dynamic and deserving nonprofits 

 2017-18 Clients:

•  Center for Conflict Resolution 
• Enrich Chicago 
• Northwest Side Housing Center 
• Perspectives Charter Schools 
• The Renaissance Collaborative 
• St. Martin de Porres House of Hope 
• University of Chicago Crime Lab 
• Volunteers of America of Illinois 
• Youth Outreach Services 

Detailed descriptions of each project can be found at 2017-18 clients. The Team Member volunteer application is available here: Team Member Application. 

 REQUIREMENTS – Team Members spend one to two hours per week on their project work from  November through May. 

 DEADLINE – The volunteer application is due October 13, 2017 at 5:00 p.m.  

 FOR MORE INFORMATION – Contact Julie Walther, Executive Director – Chicago, at jwalther@compasschicago.org or call (773) 733-0975.  

 To learn more about Compass, please visit the Compass Website.  

 

 

 

 

Earn VC Returns !

Looking for VC returns?

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After building a successful Angel investing track record, D’08 Nick Moran has launched his New Stack Ventures fund.  While the SEC prohibits me from actually telling you any details per arcane solicitation rules (you have to hear it directly from Nick) I can attest that this is a great opportunity if you’ve ever considered allocating some of your investments to VC.  While I would love to say more about how his investment thesis and fund structure is truly innovative I’ll stop before I say something that gets him in trouble.  You can reach Nick via Nick@NewStack.vc or I can always make a personal introduction if you want to learn more.

Hoo’ Wants To Play Beach Volleyball?

Beach volleyball is back by popular demand !!  There is a coed ACC alumni league playing Thursday evenings at North Ave beach.  The league will begin either July 27 or Aug 3, and will run 7 weeks.   League dues will be about $50/person depending on the size of our team.

Please email Brian Danilo if you are interested and/or have any questions:  brian.danilo@gmail.com 

What are your can’t miss Chicago go / eat / see / do recommendations?

During the fall of 2016, D’16 Sahiba Singh moved to Chicago and couldn’t wait to get to know our great city.  However, as an always-on-the-road consultant she found weekends are not enough to organically discover all the local favorites beyond the tourist hot spots.  Thus, I challenge you to provide your can’t miss recommendations that you rely on to share when new alumni move to town.  I’ll combine all your answers into a comprehensive list on our website that we can continuously update as necessary.   Send you feedback via the site’s Contact page.

Entrepreneur Alert: Morpheus Consulting

D’15 Amiel Harper is combining his J.D. and MBA to co-found Morpheus Consulting.  The firm’s specializes in discovering and implementing customized ‘big win’ transformations.

Whether internal systems for improving efficiencies of human and financial capital, or improving the efficacy of external communication, we specialize in accelerating the process to exceeding goals.

Amiel was an attorney before Darden and spent the last two years with Tyson Foods.  When asked what he and the firm want to accomplish, he states:

“Our individual partners come to Morpheus to accelerate their careers and upgrade their professional brand. Morpheus goes beyond creating the brand, to identify opportunities in the marketplace and prepare our partner to succeed in those roles.”

Collectively, Morpheus is an elite group of leaders in business, law, government, and nonprofits.  The firm’s 2017 Pro Bono Client, Mogul Academy, is a nonprofit organization working to create a new generation of teenage entrepreneurs on Chicago’s west side.

An Evening with D’87 Raymond Lambert

Would you leave your successful Investment Banking career to launch a startup in an industry you have no experience?  What if your startup helped the early careers of comedian Chris Rock, Oscar winner Jamie Foxx, the tv/radio host of everything Steve Harvey, the late Bernie Mac, the great Dave Chappelle, and dozens more…  Then a documentary was made about you that earned great acclaim.  Then you become a producer and your latest movie about Maya Angelou was just selected for the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.  Sounds crazy but taking that risk is what D’87 Raymond Lambert did and he is sharing his behind the scenes entrepreneurial story with our Darden Chicago alumni.  Stay tuned as we’re working on event details but you can order Raymond’s book All Jokes Aside  or rent the documentary Phunny Business from Amazon… or, you can stay in that safe banking job.

The date has slid a bit – Raymond is launching a new project – but we’re both working on finalizing a time and location after the holidays.

Fat Tuesday Happy Hour

In celebration of our nonexistent winter, join the alumni on February 28 for our Q1 Fat Tuesday Happy Hour.  We’ll be meeting at Randolph Tavern @ 188 W Randolph St from 5:30 – ???

As usual, look for the Darden colored balloons and recruit fellow alumni to join us !

Now that is Phunny – D’87 Raymond Lambert

D’87 Raymond Lambert is a social entrepreneur, filmmaker, and published author. He has a broad-based business background; working with both publicly traded and privately held companies in entertainment, financial services, and consumer products. The founder of All Jokes Aside Comedy Clubs, which provided early opportunities (and early paychecks) to many of today’s top comedians, including Oscar winners Jamie Foxx and MoNique, Emmy winners, Steve Harvey, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle and the late Bernie Mac to name a few. He has served as a consultant on comedy and talent to producers at the NBC, BET Comedy Central, HBO, and the Second City. He earned writer and producer credits for the documentary film PHUNNY BUSINESS and is currently serving as a producer on the award-winning documentary, Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and the new Harold Washington documentary, We Want Harold. Agate Publishing recently released his first book, All Jokes Aside: Stand Up Comedy Is A Phunny Business, which chronicles his wild ride through the business world of stand up comedy. Before launching his entrepreneurial ventures, Raymond served as a senior level executive in sales, marketing, and business development at Starz Entertainment Group, Shearson Lehman Hutton, Continental Bank, Gardner Rich & Company, and the Coca Cola Company. Raymond earned his B.A in Marketing from Morehouse College, and his MBA from the University of Virginia Darden Graduate School of Business.

New Internship & Full Time Hiring Format

Darden alumni are the most important resource to connect our students with full-time job and internship opportunities. The Career Development Center seeks your help to increase the number of global career opportunities available to all of our students and U.S. opportunities available to our international students. Your help is critical to achieving these goals. Here’s how you can get involved:

• Post a Job: Post your full-time and internship employment opportunities for Darden students on the Darden Career Development Center job board. Our students are interested in both U.S. and international opportunities. Summer positions do not have to be MBA internship programs; they can be challenging project work for your business challenges. Contact Denise Karaoli (karaolid@darden.virginia.edu) for questions.
• Funding Opportunities for Internships: If you’re looking to hire Darden talent to intern this summer in the U.S. or internationally, we have a number of funding opportunities available to you:
  • Startup Venture or Angel-backed Companies: The Batten Venture Internship Program (BVIP) provides a matching stipend to supplement a student’s summer salary. Contact Reid Thompson (thompsonr@darden.virginia.edu) for more information about the program.
  • International Small- to Medium-Sized Companies: Darden has just launched a program to partner with companies overseas that may not have the resources to hire a Darden student but could benefit from their skill sets to address business challenges. If you’re interested in learning more about this program, contact Denise Karaoli.
  • Nonprofit Organizations: Students may apply to the Darden Nonprofit Internship Fund to defray expenses of pursuing an internship in the nonprofit space anywhere in the world.
• Connect With Students at Darden Interview Forums: Register today for our upcoming MBA Interview Forums to gain access to interview top MBA students from around the country to fill your internship, full-time MBA and experienced hire recruiting needs! For additional questions, contact Tiffany Gutshall (gutshallt@darden.virginia.edu).  Interview forums will be held in Chicago on Friday, 31 March (Registration deadline: Wednesday, 15 March).  Register here.

The CDC truly appreciates your continued support of Darden and looks forward to continuing to engage with you in the future. We look forward to hearing from you!

Interested in a business focused Darden Alumni Book Club?

Breaking rule #1 and talking about book club …. but, PBC Guru would like to run/host a virtual book club group for Darden alumni which is managed and administered by a private LinkedIn group.  This tool would provide content and continuing education for the alumni base Darden can’t typically reach physically.

Basically, Darden would announce the first book for everyone to read (ex: Power of Habits or Talent is Overrated), alums would purchase it themselves via kindle, hard copy etc., and they would be given about 6-7 weeks to read the book. Each week, PBCG would post some content about the topic/author/book on the LinkedIn page and suggest where you should be in the book to stay on track.

Alumni can comment on the material/book at any time. Then, at the end of the reading timeframe, there is a one-week ‘discussion’ period that takes place on the LinkedIn page. PBCG posts questions and people can comment, give feedback etc.

Meanwhile, PBGC will also suggest 3 news book in which the group would vote on and pick for the next read. There would be a new book approximately every 2 months.

You could opt in/out as you please.

Email me before February 20th if you’re interested.  With enough alumni Darden will pay the administration fees so it would be free (except for purchasing the books).