Xl News - July 2009

From Prof. M G Jomon - Alumni Co-ordinator.

Dear Friends,
It is a privilege to reach out to you once again through the Newsletter of July 2009.
INDUCTING THE YOUNG XLers:
With the objective of welcoming new members to the XL family, a number of induction activities like sports festival, informal get together, formal sessions etc. were organized. Two events that deserve special mentioning are: The village exposure programme of life in rural India and the Adventure Programme. The objective of the village exposure programme was to sensitise students to conditions prevailing in villages and highlight their future role as managers of corporate India towards corporate social responsibility. The freshers were also part of the Adventure Programme which is aimed at enhancing team building and leadership skills.

GRADUATION CEREMONY OF DEFENCE OFFICERS :
Warriors donned the XLRI graduating gown instead of the service uniform for the fifth graduation ceremony of the executive management programme for defence officers on July 18, 2009. This year, 49 officers from armed forces graduated, 43 from the army, four from Air Force and two from the Navy. Saroj Vinayak, the Director-general of ordnance factories and chairman of Ordnance Factory Board, Calcutta, was the chief guest at the function. XLRI launched the Certificate Programme in Business Management for Defence Personnel on January 14, 2007. The programme for defence officers was launched at the request of the Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India, who perceived the need for "resettlement" of the officers.

XLRI LEADERSHIP MEET FOR MEDICAL OFFICERS:
XLRI conducted a ten-day Leadership Development Programme on Reproductive Health starting from June 22. Participants in this programme were Doctors and officers from Jharkhand and Bihar working in the health sector. The objective of the programme was to build the capacity to lead and meet the millennium goal of development in the reproductive and health sector. This programme was conducted by XLRI in collaboration with The David and Lucille Packard Foundation.

XLRI VENTURES IN NEWS:
Parichay - a social venture supported by The XLRI Social Entrepreneurship Trust, put up its first Product Exhibition just 9 months after the inauguration of the Parichay Learning & Design Center in October 2008. Parichay was started by students from the 2007-09 batch and is an initiative aimed at bringing a sustainable change in the lives of the rural and tribal artisans by contemporizing their design, training them and connecting them to the market.

XLRI IKISAN PROGRAM: XLRI along with Ikisan Hyderabad (a comprehensive Agri Portal promoted by Nagarjuna Group, Hyderabad) is strengthening its commitment to its vision by extending management education to the agricultural sector through a unique "Six-month Certificate Programme in Agri Business Management" to prepare agricultural graduates and agri-business field assistants for undertaking marketing and sales jobs in the agri-business industry.

STUDENT'S ACTIVITIES
Ratanjee 2009-10: Ratanjee 2009-10 brought out the sporting best in the current student batches. A keenly contested contest thus ensued on campus for a period of three days and the whole campus was immersed in the sporting spirit.

Consulting Club-C3: Crescent Consulting Club or C3 was launched with an aim to develop and increase the understanding of consulting works. The inauguration of the club was held on July 9th with a session by Mr. Joe Simon, CIO Viacom International (New York) on "Life as a Consultant". Mr. Simon provided the students with valuable insights by sharing his experiences as a consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton. Mr. Joe Simon, a 1983 batch alumnus of XLRI, is the Chief Information Officer for Viacom International.

SAPPHIRE Blog: Sapphire launched its blog at xlrisapphire.wordpress.com and has started off on a great note with posts by Gautam Ghosh , Abhijit Bhaduri , Dr. Mathai Fenn and Prof Madhukar Shukla along with students on campus. There are lots more planned for the blog with new pages and online contests!

ALUMNI IN NEWS:
Cyclone Aila: Alumni of XLRI and ISB joined hands to support those ravaged by Cyclone Aila recently in the world's largest mangrove forests of the Sundarbans. Tushar Dutta (BMD 07) took the initiative along with several other alumni of both B-schools to help out to villages devastated in one of the worst affected areas of Gosaba block of the Rangabelia panchayat in South 24 Parganas district in West Bengal. Tushar, XLRI is proud of you!
Social entrepreneurship: XLRI Alumni along with Samekti Jan Vikas Kendra (SJVK) to provide sustainable source of income to the tribal women artisans of Kolhan region. The alumni, through their social entrepreneurship venture, Parichay, would be using services of designers to train the rural women in terra-cotta, bamboo and handloom items using natural products. They will also assist the artisans in marketing the products.
They make us proud: Preeti Reddy (82BMD) was appointed the head of the Kantar-owned Lanka Market Research Bureau (LMRB). Surojit Shome (86 BMD) joins Rabo India Finance Limited as Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer. Suman Bose was appointed as Vice-President and Managing Director by Siemens PLM Software for its Indian operations. Asitava Sen (93 BMD) will join Nielsen Consulting's specialist Business Consulting Services group.

REUNION REMINDERS
Homecoming: We eagerly await your participation in the Homecoming 2009 scheduled for November 21st and 22nd. Institute has started the preparations in earnest.
Silver Jubilee Celebrations (December 21-23): The 1984 batch meets regularly on line and are charting out the plans to makes the event a memorable one.