Dear Friends,

This month was momentous for many reasons: The ISB community came together in Hyderabad for a spectacular grand finale of our ten-year celebrations that we had hosted across the globe this year. With this momentous occasion, we have come a full circle and what a journey it has been! In a panel discussion, Professors M Rammohan Rao, Amit Bubna, Milind Sohoni and ISB staff Mayura Balasubramanian shared their nostalgic memories about ISB’s early days with us. Former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu, also regaled us with stories of ISB’s founding years. This celebration, along with the alumni homecoming, Solstice added joy to the occasion.  We also had another reason to celebrate – ISB received accreditation from AACSB and became the first School in South Asia to receive this recognition. This is a great honour and I hope it spurs us onto greater accomplishments in management education and research. 

The campus also witnessed a whirlwind of activity this month. The PGP students hosted a very well-attended ISB Leadership Summit, which focused on India’s challenges as the country grapples with economic uncertainties amid massive global shifts. 45 eminent speakers spoke in different panel discussions and shared their vision for the country with the students, who deserve the credit for the flawless execution of the event.  

“Swavalamban II,” the follow-up to last year’s conference was also held at the campus. This event jointly hosted by ISB’s Munjal Global Manufacturing Institute and College of Defence Management focused on increasing the country’s self-reliance in defence manufacturing. Many bureaucrats, industry leaders and defence personnel attended the conference that featured many interesting and heated panel discussions.

In addition, we also hosted our annual Accounting Research Conference. This two-day event draws some of the best minds in the field of accounting to ISB.

This will be the last newsletter for this year. I hope 2012 brings in more reasons to celebrate at ISB.

I wish you a very happy and prosperous new year. I look forward to hearing from you. Do write to me at ajit_rangnekar@isb.edu.

With Regards,
Ajit Rangnekar