In addition to attending the events for the opening of the UVA China Office in early March, Dean Bruner, Dennis Yang and Marc Johnson spent time in China engaging with other leading business schools, corporate leaders, Darden alumni and the media to help advance Darden’s partnerships and presence. These engagements included discussions of the newly launched Asia Initiative, which will include efforts to build on Darden engagement existing in the region. Darden alumni in China gathered for a luncheon with Dean Bruner hosted by the Darden Society, where the Dean noted some of the recent success in Darden engagement in China, including the alumni-led Darden China Scholarship, which reached the one million dollar milestone last year and the inauguration of the Shanghai Investing Summit. Media interviews for Dean Bruner and Dennis Yang resulted many publications. A few of the highlights are as follows:
- People’s Net and Xinhua Net: Conversations About the World: How to Achieve Globalization?
- Sina.com: Finance section citing Dean Bruner and Professor Yang
- International Finance News: The Dialogue Between Two Sessions and the World: How to Carry on the Internationalization
Following the visits in China, Dean Bruner and Marc Johnson traveled to New Delhi, where Darden Chapter president Shravani Bagchi-Chowdhury and Aman Chowdhury hosted a gathering for alumni at their home, including the President of the UVA Club of India. Dean Bruner emphasized the importance of India as part of the Asia Initiative and to the Darden School more broadly, noting alumni support for the India Fund scholarship and engagement by Darden students and faculty. VN Dalmia hosted an event for Dean Bruner at his residence with local corporate and other leaders, and arranged for Dean Bruner to speak to the EO New Delhi Chapter on his research on “Deals from Hell” and to the Young Business Leaders Forum of the PHD Chamber of Commerce on management education in the future. Dean Bruner was also interviewed by local media in India, which produced these stories:
- The Asian Age (India): Delayed Fed Rate Hike to Benefit India
- The Asia Age (India): Honour Bound
- The Times of India (India): VN Dalmia hosts reception for Darden School of Business Dean Robert F. Bruner in Delhi
- Mint: Robert Bruner: The Stability of EU is a Big Risk Facing the Global Economy
At the alumni events in Shanghai and New Delhi, Dean Bruner noted the importance of alumni engagement to the success of Darden’s global efforts and the strong support from the Darden China and India Chapters. Dean Bruner has spent time in Asia in every year of his tenure as dean and noted that without the support of local alumni, the success in building Darden’s presence in Asia over the past 10 years would not have been possible. Alumni leadership in both countries has been critical to recruiting top MBA student talent, building new relationships with leading organizations, and helping to raise the profile of Darden in this part of the world. The strength of the Darden alumni network was on display in both India and China through these visits, with alumni not only joining these events but helping to arrange interviews, meetings with corporate partners, and new opportunities while Dean Bruner was in Asia.
