The alumni of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B) are all set for IIMBUE 2015, the first ever Global Alumni Conclave and Leadership Summit, to be held from December 11 to 13. Addressing reporters about the event this on the afternoon, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairman, IIM-B Board of Governors and Chief Patron of the Leadership Summit, said, “IIMBUE will bring together IIM-B alumni, students, world-class thinkers and achievers – people committed to excellence and passionate about what they do – over a weekend of stimulating discussions.”
She emphasized that the objective of launching IIMBUE and making it an annual calendar event at IIMB was to foster deeper ties between the alumni and the Institute. “The event will help the alumni engage with IIM and engage with what stands for excellence and what stands for a sense of commitment,” she remarked, adding that the discussion tracks themed around leadership excellence would feature eminent individuals from Azim Premji to Kaushik Mukherjee.
“The December 11-13 weekend will bring the IIM-B alumni back to Bangalore from places as far as the UK and the US; rekindle memories, strengthen old connections and create new ones,” declared Sushil Vachani, Director, IIM Bangalore, who offered an overview of the initiatives of the Institute to strengthen alumni ties. “Relations with alumni are key to our future. We are very proud of our alumni who have gone so far in life and contributed so much to the country, and we want to make sure that we have close relations with this family. Therefore we have this event to bring them together, strengthen our connections with them, strengthen connections among the alumni, inform them of what’s going on and take their advice,” he explained.
Offering glimpses into all the hard work and the effort that is going into the making of IIMBUE 2015, Harish Mittal, Convenor IIMBUE 2015 and President of the Bangalore Chapter of the IIM-B Alumni Association said, “IIMBUE means to inspire. The idea is to inspire people towards betterment in life. The tag line of the IIM-B Alumni Association is Engage, Energize, Enhance, which is also the motto of IIMBUE.”
Acknowledging the “enthusiastic and unstinting support” of Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw in getting the mega event off the ground, Harish said IIMBUE was able to attract a galaxy of eminent speakers, all of whom are engaging with the alumni and students pro bono, due to the collective efforts of the chief patron, the institute and the alumni. “Every alumnus on the IIMBUE team has been working tirelessly and giving generously of their time and energy,” he observed, adding that it was perhaps the first time ever, that such an initiative had been launched by an alumni network of any IIM or IIT in the country.
The event starts on December 11 with a special address by well-known actor Shah Rukh Khan. On December 12, the Leadership Summit begins with a session on the business of philanthropy by Azim Premji and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, followed by a keynote address by Shashi Tharoor on India in today’s networked world. A panel discussion featuring IIMB alumni achievers is then followed by a conversation between Kabir Bedi and Vidya Balan on the topic of leadership in a creative industry. The evening session will see Chief Secretary Karnataka, Kaushik Mukherjee, share his ideas on ‘Creating and Sustaining Excellence’. The last session of the day will see former India cricket captain Anil Kumble in a discussion with ace swimmer Nisha Millet and former tennis champion Vijay Amritraj on achieving leadership in the context of sport.
On December 13, the alumni will revisit their alma mater, interact with students and relive cherished memories while making new ones.
Vasanthi Srinivasan, Chairperson, Alumni Relations Office, IIMB, described IIMBUE 2015 as “the coming of age of the IIMB Alumni Association” and said IIMBUE would be “a learning, a celebration and a coming together of interesting minds”.
The IIMB Alumni Association was formally registered as a Trust in 2009 and has its own executive team. It has 15 chapters worldwide that run initiatives like reunions, mentoring, alumni participating in interviews, guest talks, lectures, community runs, various social initiatives, and more. “Attending IIMBUE 2015 will be alumni from the Institute’s earliest batches to the most recently graduated batch; from Arun Balakrishnan of PGP ’76 who is also the Distinguished Alumni Awardee (DAA) for 2008, Sridhar Ramanujam PGP ’82 who is another DAA, to 180 alumni from the last five batches,” she said.
In an email, Arun Balakrishnan writes, “We, the very first batch, were a class of 45. Today, a Yahoo Group connects about 35 of us. A good number of us have retired and come back to live in Bangalore and we meet often. Our IIMB days were the times when faculty members invited us in small groups to their homes for dinner. Indeed, 1976 was many years ago…most companies at that time did not know what an MBA grad could bring to the table. IIMB awakened abilities and talents within us.”
Keen on attending IIMBUE, he said: “I want to listen to the new-age achievers and entrepreneurs. The e-commerce guys… a business line which did not exist during my work life.”
Some of the alumni who will attend the event include Kavindra Mishra, CEO, Pepe Jeans; Parag Dhol of Inventus Capital; Arun Balakrishnan, Founder Chairman HPCL Mittal Energy Limited; Sridhar Ramanujam, Founder CEO, Brand Comm; Mayur Vora, MD - Mapro Foods; Karan Bhagat, MD and CEO – IIFL; Shivprasad Naik, SVP – RIL; Mathew Cyriac, Senior MD – Blackstone; Srinivas Kopllolu, CEO and MD - Tata Business Support Services; Vipul Parekh, Co-Founder, Big Basket; Lekha Sishta, VP Talent at Zenoti and Renuka Vaidyanathan, Director of Sattvaa, Singapore.