School Notes: School of Management
January/February 2010

CEO Summit honors Indian pioneer

For the first time, the Yale CEO Summit was held in India this past November, bringing together some of the world’s top chief executives around the promise of India in the twenty-first century and honoring one of the country’s brightest leaders. More than 100 global leaders attended the event, which is organized by senior associate dean Jeffrey Sonnenfeld under the auspices of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute. At the Indian event, Yale president Richard C. Levin presented Nandan Nilekani, Infosys Technologies Ltd. co-founder and chairman of India’s Unique Identification Database Authority, with the Legends in Leadership Award, the first time an Indian has received the honor. Nilekani, who co-founded Infosys in 1981 and served as CEO from 2002 to 2007, is the first chair of the Indian government’s newly created Unique Identification Database Authority. The universal ID card is expected to help ensure that most of the billions of dollars India and other organizations spend on aid reach the people for whom it was intended.

Latest issue of Qn looks at the behavioral side of economics

Q6, the latest issue of Qn, the Yale SOM magazine, focuses on the behavioral side of business and economics: research, finance, and how individuals are often less than fully rational when it comes to their decisions. The magazine leverages the school’s strength in behavioral fields to study the recent economic crisis, while exploring the impact this growing area is having on business, public policy, and even the law. In the issue, titled What are you thinking? Robert Shiller, Arthur M. Okun Professor of Economics, argues that not understanding how people make decisions is a dangerous blind spot for economists; MIT’s Andrew Lo studies how improper perceptions of risk lead even the most experienced financiers to make what seem like rookie mistakes; and three SOM scholars discuss what their research tells us about whether consumers actually make choices in their best interests. Read Q6 at http://qn.som.yale.edu.

New SOM alumni portal released

Alumni looking to keep up with classmates and current happenings at SOM have a new resource. In November the school launched a Beta version of the SOM alumni portal, which brings many familiar functions and key new ones under the banner of a single website. The portal includes upcoming alumni events, alumni news, job resources, and ongoing learning opportunities. Alums can create personal profiles and join virtual interest groups, forums that allow alumni, faculty, and current students to come together and discuss a wide variety of topics. “We believe the new portal has the potential to become a very powerful tool for the entire SOM community,” said Joel Getz, associate dean for development and alumni relations. “I look forward to our alumni actively engaging with each other and the school through this great new tool.” The portal can be accessed at http://alumni.som.yale.edu.