Fall 2008 CBPM Board Dinner

Three weeks ago the CBPM board came to Madison for two days for the annual Board Meeting. Festivities kicked off on Thursday evening with the Board Dinner at Ocean Grille. For the 1st years, it was our first chance to meet many of the board members and get to know them on a personal level. For the 2nd years, it was a great chance to reconnect and share their internship experiences with the interested board members.

I have to say that going in, I was a little nervous. I don't know if you have read through the bios of the board members, but they are very accomplished individuals, who are the leaders of many of the companies that I would love to work at. I went with the impression that I would have to put on my networking hat and work the room, but I was mistaken. When I walked in the restaurant, Tara Khoury, who is the Board Chairman, walked right up to me introduced herself and wanted to learn about my background. That put me at ease and the rest of the evening was easy. It is nice to know that the board members were as interested in me as I was in them.

If you read my quote on the website, I said that I wanted "to gain access to key industry leaders." Well, at dinner I sat next to Signe Ostby and across from Jim Neupert and Colleen Googins. Signe and I even discussed the project I am working on for Consumer Behavior and she gave some much needed advice. During dessert, the board members moved tables and I ended up next to Scott Cook and across from Cheryl Stallworth-Cooper. Scott and I discussed his recent Harvard Business Review article on user contribution and he asked my opinion. Granted, my opinion was drastically influenced by his article, but it was still nice that he asked. Either way, I definitely gained the access that I was looking for and more.

All in all, the food was tasty, the conversation invigorating, and the board members incredibly interesting. Great night.

Pictures below are from the dinner. Good for you that there are no pictures of me.

Adam Needles (2nd year) and Jim Neupert



Becky Bishop (2nd year), Laura Hufschmidt (2nd year), Tara Khoury, and Kirsten Jaeckle (2nd year)

Mark Digman (1st year), Colleen Goggins, John Oros (2nd year)

John Rotheray (2nd year), Andi Lind (1st year), Tim Cofer, Jeffrey Xie (2nd year), Katie Daggett (1st year), Jan Heide (CBPM faculty member)