Dear Alum,

One Class transitioned from being students to alumni and a new Class started on their journey. We are now close to 3000 members in the alumni body with the newly minted alums from the Class of 2010, who are slowly settling down in new jobs and new cities. They need our help in finding homes, hooking up with roommates, and of course finding like minded people to hang out with. I know we all will pitch in and make them feel welcome.

The Class of 2011 is now on campus, and what a phenomenal bunch! Every year I look at the new admits and never cease to be amazed by the caliber of people we attract. Every individual unique and interesting in his or her own way. Every individual destined for great things. This year is no different. We have 580 super smart people getting ready to be counted among the best of the best. A monk from Japan, an IPS officer who has run the politically charged district of Muzzafarpur, a Telugu film actress, a Spanish hombre who can speak Hindi and Tamil fluently, and of course our usual doctors, architects, lawyers, engineers, chartered accountants, journalists, entrepreneurs, all make up the Class of 2011.

Orientation for the new Class was as fun as ever. This year we had alumni from across Classes run the first few days of the orientation week and it was very well received. Not only did alumni get to meet the new class but they also gave stories from their year on campus in a very unique way and set the tone for the week to come. The pictures are available in the orientation photo gallery elsewhere in the newsletter.

This year, as has been the practice from the last few years, we will run the Mentorship program or the Buddy program where we match current students with alumni from a similar background and encourage alumni to actively mentor these students. I urge you all to consider being part of this programme - the only caveat though is that you must be willing to give at least one hour every week to this initiative. Remember how we were when we first joined the ISB? Excited, confused, not sure of where we wanted to be a year from then.. well these students are in the same boat and we as alumni are the only ones who can make their journey smoother with our timely advice and a little bit of hand holding. So I hope we get many alumni signups for this when we send out the details later in May.

All our domestic chapters have finalised their programme schedule from now on till November 2010 and this is available for you to see in the alumni association section of this newsletter. Our international chapters are also in the process of doing the same and you will soon get to hear about these. I hope you all take part in these activities organised by alum volunteers who really have gone out of their way to make sure we have a rocking alum community.

I am sure you are all aware of the setting up of the ‘Alumni Endowment Fund’ which was seeded by the first contributions from the Class of 2004. The Class of 2010 also set a trend by giving its legacy gift to this fund and the Executive Board of the School has agreed to match all gifts to this fund up to 1 Crore to encourage such philanthropy. It truly gladdens my heart to see my fellow alumni contribute towards the growth of our School. As Dean Rangnekar said in his thank you note, its apt that this move was first made by the alumni of the School. After all we are the brand ambassadors and true custodians of the ISB’s reputation and this is our school!

In the midst of all these activities and exciting times we also had a few sad moments. CK Prahalad, a person who needed no introduction passed away after a sudden illness. His work encouraged a lot of the research the School is now concentrating on and he was a very strong supporter of the School. The much admired visiting faculty from UPitt, Prof Kuldeep Shastri ,who taught finance to many of us also passed away due to a cardiac arrest. All of us will miss these brilliant teachers and thought leaders.

Do write in with your feedback and suggestions to alumni_relations@isb.edu

Warm wishes,

Nidhi