mt bulletin may 2011

In November, Siddharth Chandrasekhar (M&T ‘11) made an appearance on College Jeopardy!, putting together a run to the semifinals on national TV. Sid wrote the following article about his experience on “America’s Favorite Quiz Show.” I have been a big fan of Jeopardy! for as long as I can remember. Every night around dinner time, my entire family including my mom, dad, and two brothers get together to watch the day's episode. Before this year, I had only taken the online test once, and I didn't even know the date of this year's test. In fact, I only found out about it a couple of hours before the test when my friend told me that he was planning on taking it. I then quickly found a computer in the building we were in and signed up to be able to take the test. After taking it, I felt pretty good but I had blanked on at least a couple of the questions. I wasn't sure when I would hear back so I had forgotten all about it when a couple of weeks later, I got an email saying that I had gotten the callback. There were five audition cities around the US and one of them was Philadelphia, so I selected that since I was going to be working in the area over the summer. I was then told that my scheduled try-out time was on June 21st at 9:00 AM at the Sheraton Society Hill down on Dock Street. So on that day, I went down there for the tryout and was in a group with around 25 other students. Then, we had to take a 50 question written test with around eight seconds to answer each question. After that, the Jeopardy Contestant Department selected three of us at a time so that we could play a mock game to get a feel for how gameplay would work. Finally, they interviewed everyone to see how clearly everyone was speaking and how personable they were. At the end of the audition, they let us know that only 15 people total would make it from around the country. I had pretty much written off my chances of getting selected to be on the show and was focusing instead on the beginning of senior year and the job hunt. Then, after a few weeks of class, I was in my room in the afternoon when I got a call from an unknown 310 area code number. When I found out that it was Jeopardy! calling and that I had made it onto the show, I was shocked and didn't know how to respond. After the end of the call, I

was still in disbelief and then walked to the common room where the rest of my house mates were sitting watching TV to tell them the good news. After they congratulated me, I called my parents, and they immediately started making plans to come down for the taping with my brother. In the month that I have had to prepare for being on the show, I had pretty much just been watching the daily episodes, keeping my mind alert, going to bar quizzo and practicing my reflexes for the buzzer. On the day of the taping, we had to meet up in the lobby at 7:30 in the morning, and I was really excited to finally meet all of the other contestants. When I got down, most of the other contestants were there with their parents, and we all introduced ourselves and found out where we all went to school. The entire one hour ride to the studio went by very quickly as Maggie was explaining all of the rules and what to expect when we reached the studio. After getting some makeup and taping interviews/promos, we were finally able to stand behind the actual Jeopardy! podiums on the actual Jeopardy! stage to play a mock game. Getting a feel for the buzzer and how to time it was very tricky for everyone but we were able to play a couple rounds while having fun and cheering each other on. During any free time, all of us were getting to know each other and what I found out was that this was an awesome group of people who were very easy to talk to and had very interesting stories. There was absolutely no tension between anyone and we all started talking about our favorite movies and TV shows. The entire experience was unbelievably fun, and I got to meet some amazing people. It is definitely something that I will never forget and always be able to tell stories about for years to come.

M&T BULLETIN Newsletter of the Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology

Edited by Eve Lee (M&T ’12) and Matt Vogel (M&T ’12)

M&T: A True Daily Double

May 2011

Alumni UpdatesNicolas Valls (M&T ‘04) recently took a position as Associate Director at The PrinceRidge Group LLC, a new investment bank in NYC, after spending four years at RBS in the Leveraged Finance Group in New York. He is excited to be part of a growing firm that has aspirations to have a meaningful presence in investment banking. Nicolas can be reached at [email protected].

Greg Sugar (M&T '95) relocated back to San Fran-cisco in 2010 after a 4-year stint in New York to join social gaming juggernaut, Zynga. At Zynga, Greg is Director of Revenue Operations and focuses on developing advertising opportunities for major brands that want to reach Zynga's audience of over 200MM monthly active users. Zynga is in constant hiring mode -- the 3 year old company currently has 1,300 employees and is always looking for new rockstars. Greg can be contacted at [email protected].

Scott D. Rownin (M&T '97) was recently promoted to Associate Vice President - Investments, upon his move to Wells Fargo Advisors in Westport, CT. Scott, having been a partner on two of the top family office teams at Citi, has moved to Wells to form his own team serving a select group of clients from around the country. Scott lives in Westport with his wife Lauren, their son Max, and their daughter Charlotte. He can be reached at [email protected].

Aaron Cowen (M&T '94) has joined Soros Fund Management as Portfolio Manager for long/short equities. Aaron was previously Chief Investment Officer for SAC Capital, where he co-managed the central account at SAC with founder Steve Cohen. Aaron can be contacted at [email protected].

Alumni UpdatesNimita Shah (M&T ’02) moved to the DC/VA area after living in New York City for the past 8 years. She left the job which she held with Toll Brothers for the past four and half years to work in the public sector again. As a Project Manager with the District of Columbia's Office of the Deputy Mayor for Plan-ning and Economic Development, she oversees real estate projects on the District's behalf. Much to the dismay of her DC residing co-workers, Nimita has chosen to live in Old Town Alexandria (Virginia) to be near her boyfriend. She misses all of her friends and family in New York, but loves exploring a new city and learning a new real estate market. Nimita can be contacted at [email protected].

Brad Roberts (M&T '89) joined a Palo Alto start up called Inflection. Inflection owns the brands Archives.com (value leader in genealogy online) and Peoplesmart.com (highly flexible people and records information search). Brad leads the Product Opera-tions group responsible for business analytics and growth programs. Any M&T'er who is near Univer-sity Avenue in the heart of Silicon Valley should give him a ring to learn more about the company (they're hiring!). Brad can be contacted at [email protected].

Kathy Wu Brady (M&T '01) joined Patch.com, an AOL business, in early January as the Senior Direc-tor of Business Operations. Patch is a hyper-local news and information site that provides content and services to over 700 towns across the US and is based in NYC. Kathy will be responsible for helping to optimize operations across the 1000+ person team, working with leaders across the company. She's very excited about the opportunity to work in a start up environment again and looking forward to getting back to her M&T roots. Kathy can be reached at [email protected].

Alumni Spotlight:Dev Khare (M&T ‘94)

In the M&T Bulletin, we like to highlight alumni that we feel best exemplify the values of the program. This issue features Dev Khare, M&T ’94, who has had a plethora of experiences surrounding the intersection of business and technology and is currently Vice President at Venrock, a venture capital firm in Palo Alto. He is an alum who has truly taken full advantage of his engineering and finance education to forge a successful and exciting career path.

During his time at Penn, Dev majored in Computer Science and eventually transferred into the M&T program at the end of his freshman year. The M&T program allowed him to explore his interests in the world of finance and integrate his knowledge in both the engineering and business fields. He remembers hardcore classes that pushed him, such as engineering management, parallel computing, statistics and fixed-income securities. Outside of the academic sphere, Dev was involved with the Student Federal Credit Union, where he served as a loan officer. He also worked in the library, in Dining Services, and wrote for the Wharton weekly newsletter. On a lighter note, Dev also fondly recalls Spring Fling, pub crawls on South Street in, summers on the green, and football games at Franklin Field.

After graduating magna cum laude, Dev worked in invest-ment banking in Los Angeles at Jefferies and at Donadson, Lufkin & Jenrette. In 1996, after two years focusing on high-yield debt issuances, initial public offerings and M&A, he returned to Harvard Business School with a renewed focus on his M&T roots – entrepreneurship and technology - he spent his summer internships in Banga-lore, India at an enterprise software startup Aditi Tech-nologies and a private equity fund DLJ Merchant Banking. Afterwards, keen on realizing his entrepreneurial aspira-tions, he moved back to Silicon Valley to learn and observe how to technology startups worked. In 1999, Dev co-founded and led product management and business development at Covigo, a mobile application software company that was successfully acquired by Symbol Tech-nologies in 2003. At Covigo, Dev experienced all the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, including surviving through the dotcom crash, changing business models and target markets, raising several rounds of funding, and hiring and firing employees.

Dev joined venture capital firm Venrock in 2006, attracted by the prospect of using the cross-functional knowledge he gleaned from his M&T education and his entrepreneurial experiences to find disruptive mobile, Internet and software technologies and support world-class entrepre-neurs to grow to their startups to large sustainable organi-zations. Areas that he finds especially exciting currently are social media, enterprise software-as-a-service, payments, real-time, mobile apps and location-based services. When asked about future plans, Dev expressed an interest to eventually move back to India to invest in and support high-growth companies there in technology, media, financial services, etc.

Reflecting on his undergraduate education, Dev strongly feels that the M&T program was indispensable in making him as proficient and comfortable at coding software as with strategy, finance and marketing. The program also got him used to working alongside people in many differ-ent functions. Dev particularly encourages all current M&Ts to identify specific areas of interest, interact (during their time at Penn) with startups in those specific areas, and network with alumni in that field.

In addition to work, Dev enjoys spending time with his wife and six-month old daughter. His hobbies include trav-eling around the world (his world tour blog is here: http://shahkhare.type pad.com) and keeping fit through squash and running. He also provides commentary on the tech industry at his blog: http://www.nextwala.com and on Twitter @dkhare.

Entrepreneur’s Corner

Tobias Dengel (M&T '94) joined WillowTree Apps, Inc. as CEO in 2010. WillowTree is a custom mobile applications development firm focused on mobile web, iOS, Android and Windows Mobile 7 projects. In addition, Tobias recently launched RentalSpot.com, a vacation home rental website based on a free listings model. He lives in Charlot-tesville, VA where his wife is completing her General Surgery residency and their two boys, Lucas (3) and Willem (1), keep them on their toes. He can be contacted at [email protected].

Jake Peters (M&T '01) is working on a new venture, PayPerks (www.payperks.com), which mar-kets Payroll Cards to unbanked workers in the US. PayPerks recently closed an angel round of funding and is launching a pilot of its program with two employers in the spring of 2011. Jake remains in London, but is spending more time in NYC. He can be reached at [email protected].

Matthew Owens (M&T '09, IPD '10) has been working with Gratio Capital, a San Francisco-based startup spearheading a movement to provide all consumers with access to simple and low-cost tools that will help them build toward their financial goals. It is a really fast and affordable way to get a nephew a college fund or your friend started towards a dream trip!

Job PostingsAcquis ConsultingOverview:Acquis Consulting Group is a management consulting firm that partners with companies to drive and enhance their business performance in defined and measurable ways. We help companies to grow, realize benefits, and get to the next level. Acquis brings insight, passion, and intelligence to the lasting relationships we establish with leading enterprises. We measure ourselves through our clients’ success utilizing the agility, creativity, and focus of a smaller firm. For more information visit www.acquisconsulting.com.

As a growth organization Acquis requires its employees to be self-starters who will contribute to and lead internal company development initiatives. The ability to take on new challenges and succeed beyond one’s comfort zone is required. Mental agility and the aptitude to learn are paramount.

Seeking: Analyst, Associate

Acquis Consulting Group is seeking a few intelligent and skilled recent graduates to fill our Analyst (0-1 year experience) and Associate (1-3 years experience) roles. A BS or BA is required for consideration, concentra-tion in business preferred. Top schools, impressive GPAs and challenging curriculum will receive preference. Proven positions of leadership and the ability to learn are paramount. The ability to take on new challenges and succeed beyond one’s comfort zone is required.

Seeking: Integration Consultant (M&A Process and Systems Integration) Engagement Manager, Senior Associate, and Associate Level

Acquis Consulting Group is seeking a few intelligent and skilled individuals to serve integration initiatives at the Engagement Manager, Senior Associate, and Associate levels. Post merger experience enabling efficien-cies and building processes is required. Additional areas of preference include integration project manage-ment, shared service strategy, business process design, systems implementation, business intelligence, change management, and procurement. Comfort with and conceptual understanding of technology, such as databases and statistical analysis tools, is also preferred. A BS or BA is required for consideration. Candidates must be proactive with proven positions of leadership and/or delivery experience.

Seeking: Senior Associate

Acquis Consulting Group is seeking a few intelligent and skilled consultants (aminimum of 3-5 years experi-ence) to be Senior Associates. Consulting experience is strongly preferred, particularly in systems implemen-tation, process redesign, business intelligence and reporting or other areas that drive operational effectiveness and efficiency. Other required experience includes client interaction, project planning, and project management. Comfort with and at least conceptual understanding of technology, such as databases and statistical analysis tools, is also preferred.

Requirements:• BS or BA (Business, Finance, Engineering, Computer Sciences preferred)• MBA is not required

Job Postings

Patch (posted by Kathy Wu Brady)

Overview:At Patch.com we’re radically reinventing community journalism. We launched in February 2009, currently operate hundreds of local community news and information sites, and are rapidly expanding to many more mar-kets and towns across the country! We've already won acclaim in the industry and coverage in the New York Times, Forbes, Newsweek, Bloomberg, NPR's "talk of the nation", "the news hour with Jim Lehrer", CBS Eve-ning News, and numerous industry blogs and web sites. In June of 2009 we were acquired by AOL Ventures. Well funded, and led by a management team of leaders in each of their respective fields, Patch is poised to become the largest pure-play local news and information platform employing professional journalists--and we’re always looking to hire bright new Patchers!

Seeking:Manager of Business Operations

Patch’s Business Operations team is dedicated to working cross-functionally to identify and help address key priorities and opportunities that will strengthen and grow Patch’s operations. We are proactive collaborators and partners that are equally passionate about strategy and execution. As Patch’s Manager of Business Operations, you will report to our Sr. Director of Business Operations and be instrumental in strategic initiatives critical to the ongoing growth of Patch.

Responsibilities:

• Identify areas for internal improvement and developing and executing plans for implementing them in collabo-ration with other teams• Analyze and draw insights on data to effectively communicate concise executable actions to Senior Manage-ment• Lend expertise to internal teams and task forces, ranging from business strategy to product/technology and organizational change initiatives• Plan and schedule project goals, milestones and deliverables• Define requirements and plan the project life cycle deployment

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in business and/or engineering is preferred. MBA a plus• Passion for and experience in digital media preferred• Ability to organize and complete tasks on short deadlines• Demonstrated critical thinking experience in a consulting, financial planning, management, or corporate strat-egy role• Exemplary communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to be personable yet persuasive• Consultative approach working with different functional areas

Contact:Interested candidates should contact Emily Grant: [email protected] *Competitive salary and benefits package, including 401-K match and performance bonus. Patch Media is an AOL company.

Job Postings

Perella Weinberg Partners (SF)Overview:Launched in June 2006, Perella Weinberg Partners is a financial services firm focused on providing independent corporate advisory and asset management services to clients and investors around the world. To date, the firm consists of over 300 talented and experienced professionals (including 50 partners) in offices in New York, London, Abu Dhabi, Denver, Austin and San Francisco.

The Corporate Advisory practice of Perella Weinberg Partners is actively seeking talented, ambitious and accomplished individuals who are attracted to the proposition of joining a private, entrepreneurial firm that embraces a partnership culture. Additional information about Perella Weinberg Partners can be found at www.pwpartners.com.

Seeking: Analyst

Perella Weinberg Partners is looking to hire a 1st or 2nd year full-time Analyst to work in its Corporate Advisory business in San Francisco. Candidates need to have a strong aptitude for financial analysis and a desire to work in the Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) space. The Analyst will be expected to support the Partners by building financial valuation models, engaging in due diligence and creating presentation materials.

Responsibilities:

The Analyst experience at Perella Weinberg Partners is differentiated through high level interaction with the industry’s most highly regarded M&A and restructuring practitioners. In addition, the Analyst will be an integral part of the deal team and will attend as many internal and client meetings as appropriate. Because of the seniority of the Partners at the Firm, the majority of the Analyst’s time will be focused on deal execution as opposed to creating materials for deal origination. The Firm operates with leanly staffed deal teams, typically comprised of a Partner, Director, Associate, and Analyst.

Requirements:

• Strong financial modeling, finance, and accounting skills with superior attention to detail • Ability to master complex tasks with minimal supervision • Ability to work well in a team-oriented environment and enjoy collaborating with others on projects • Excellent verbal and written communication skills • Ability to handle several projects at one time while corresponding with different levels of management • Investment Banking/ M&A experience preferred, not required

Contact:Interested candidates should submit their resume to [email protected]. Please indicate “SF Analyst – UPenn” in the subject.

Job Postings

SnapdealOverview:Snapdeal is India's largest group buying site, and is a product of Jasper, which is India's fastest growing market-ing platforms company. The company is headquartered in India with a team of 300 people and has operations in 50 cities, 5 countries and works with over 50,000 retailers. The company has witnessed phenomenal growth since June 2008, when it began business operations, and is backed by leading venture capital firms and angel investors from the US.

Seeking: International Business Development Manager

The team member will lead the expansion of Snapdeal, which is currently India's largest group buying company, into new international markets. Role would involve:

• Identification of acquisition and investment targets in defined geographies• Conducting detailing meetings with management of these companies• Structuring term sheets and negotiating agreements• Managing the knowledge transfer across geographies to enable success of all regions• Being hands-on with operationally assisting the business in any market

Requirements:

The candidate will need to be extremely entrepreneurial as the above description suggests. As such, candidates should meet the following criteria:

Comfort with international travel, cultural differences, and living out of a suitcaseSelf starters with sales skills and charisma. Resourcefulness and initiative will be highly valuedPossess a good understanding of how investment and acquisition deals in the start-up domain are structuredExceptional interpersonal skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with both seasoned executives and younger technology entrepreneursAbility to change gears and manage day to day business operations in any country with complete ease.Strong process orientationExperience in an entrepreneurial environment will be a big plus

Contact:Interested applicants should contact [email protected] or [email protected].

Job Postings

Visiting Nurse Service of New York (posted by Lily Lam, M&T ‘98)

Overview:Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY) is the nation's largest not-for-profit home health care organiza-tion, with 14,000 employees and over $1 billion in annual revenue. We are recognized nationally for the scope and innovation of our home- and community-based services.

Department Information:Reporting to the COO, Pathways is a strategic change management effort supported by a new IT system. The vision of Pathways is to promote a culture of analytics and data-driven decision makingthat continuously and innovatively improves the way VNSNY meets the healthcare needs of the community while maintaining financial viability.

Our overall objectives are to:• Improve health and financial outcomes through better data and analyses• Understand, manage, and grow our business through consistent use of data• Understand our marketplace, competition, regulatory environment, and unmet needs• Increase the quality and speed of decision making• Support ideas with quantitative analyses

To achieve our vision, the Pathways Team is designing, developing, and implementing a new enterprise-wide data warehouse and business intelligence solution.

Seeking: Business Intelligence Project Manager

Pathways is seeking a talented individual for our Business Intelligence Project Manager position. Responsible for managing the Business Intelligence (“BI”) solution design and implementation for the VNSNY Pathways Program, including delivery of all BI solution objectives, milestones and outcomes. Coordinates efforts between IT subject matter experts (“SMEs”) and impacted business areas. Manages VNSNY’s relationship with the external implementation partner, ensuring all deliverables and milestones are completed in a high qual-ity and timely manner.

Requirements:Minimum of three years of work experience in Business Intelligence, Data Warehouse Design and Architecture, and/or IT Project Management required. Demonstrated experience managing multiple large scale, cross-functional systems integrations, including defining application strategy, developing system requirements, designing, testing, training, defining support procedures and implementing business solutions under tight dead-lines required. Experience with business intelligence and reporting solutions, meeting organizational analytics needs through technology required. Experience working with external systems integration consultants required. Demonstrated ability to influence and build consensus with others required. Strong analytical and project man-agement skills required. Strong written and verbal communication skills required.

Education:Bachelor’s degree in Business or related field required. Master’s degree in Business Administration, Computer Science, or relevant specialty preferred.

Job Postings


Seeking: Business Intelligence Analyst

Pathways is seeking a talented individual for our Business Intelligence Analyst position. Responsible for supporting the Project Director through the design and implementation modules of the program, leading to the completion of all Project Management Office (“PMO”) objectives, milestones and outcomes. Supports external partners in this effort, ensuring all deliverables and milestones are completed in a high quality and timely manner.

Responsibilities:

Specific responsibilities include:- Provides content knowledge in area of finance specialty- Works with business unit subject matter experts to develop report prototypes for Finance, Operations, and Clinical Models- Develops advanced proficiency as business analyst with BI analysis tool – “Super-User”- Creates end-user testing scripts and participates in end-user testing- Participates in the change management and training effort- Supports Project Director in PMO activities- Assists Project Director on communication plan

Requirements:Minimum of three years experience in Business Intelligence, Analytics, Project Management or related area required. Demonstrated experience supporting complex, cross-functional, and multi-business unit projects required. Experience in business process design and change management preferred. Strong analytical and inter-personal skills required. Demonstrated use of managerial accounting and key performance indicators required.

Education:Bachelor’s degree in Business or related field required.

Job Postings


Seeking: Change Management and Training Manager

Pathways is seeking a talented individual for our Change Management and Training Manager position. Respon-sibilities include facilitating the change management and training effort as the new analytics model is rolled out across the organization, training delivery, managing consultants, managing the VNSNY implementation team, and project management.

Requirements:Ideal candidates will have at least 3-5 years experience in management consulting, training development, change management, or organizational transformation. Strong written and verbal communication, problem solving, and project management skills required. Bachelor’s in Business or related discipline required. MBA or graduate degree in a related field preferred. Business intelligence or analytics experience preferred..

Contact:For consideration, please submit a cover letter and resume to:Robert Burke, Recruitment SpecialistVisiting Nurse Service of New York1250 Broadway, 7th floorNew York, NY 10001Email: [email protected]: (212) 609-7913

Job Postings

Renaissance Strategic Advisors

Overview:This position is with a Washington, DC based management consultancy which provides comprehensive strate-gic advisory services to the aerospace, defense and government services industry.

Seeking: Associate

The successful candidate will lead associates and analysts while working alongside senior consultants in support of national and international clients. This position will require analysis of government trends, budgets and investments, including competitive analysis of firms operating in these markets. Daily activities will include management and mentorship of junior analytical staff, primary and secondary source research, vetting data while providing value added analysis, quantitative modeling, building client briefings, and other tasks identified by senior consultants. This is a position for management consulting professionals with a minimum of 4-5 years of relevant experience who are interested in defense and government markets. The individual should posses an interest in strategic management and corporate finance, demonstrated skills relating to analytical research, and a thorough understanding of multiple analytical techniques. The position requires a solid foundation in business planning skills including market forecasting, competitive intelligence, due diligence and other research activities. Clients include defense prime contractors, second and third tier defense/aerospace firms, investment banks, private equity institutions, and other commercial entities interested in defense and government services markets. We strongly prefer those with previous experience working directly with aerospace and defense contractors, or indirectly as a member of a management consultancy. Some travel will be required, including the potential for international travel.

Requirements:

• An interest in the business of defense, aerospace and homeland security markets; experience in these markets is strongly desired;• 4-5 years experience in strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, or business development activities;• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to conduct primary source interviews on behalf of company’s clientele;• The ability to multi-task and manage a number of engagements at one time;• Superior analytical capabilities, both from a quantitative and qualitative aspect;• Strong acumen in business writing and dealing face-to-face with clients;• The ability to operate and excel in a fast-paced, high-performance business environment;• Proficiency using Microsoft office;• BA/BS required; MBA strongly preferred.

Contact:Interested candidates can visit our website (www.rsadvisors.com) and send a CV and cover letter to [email protected]: (212) 609-7913

Announcements

Want to update your fellow M&Ts on your life? Did you start a company? New additions to your family? Or do you have

suggestions for an article in the next edition?

Email blurbs, photos, and any suggestions to Matt Vogel (M&T ‘12) and Eve Lee (M&T ’12) at

[email protected] and [email protected].

Looking for current M&T students to intern at your company?

Email a description of the company and the position to M&T Program Administrative Director January Stayton and Associate Director Jaime Davis at [email protected] and [email protected]. Artem

Mikhlin (M&T ‘97) will be coordinating the requests.

mt bulletin may 2011

Documents