Attend IP Law & Business’ official event, The 5th Annual IP Counsel Forum in San Jose where you will join distinguished Senior Counsel from Cisco, Dell, EBay, Sun Microsystems, Oracle, Yahoo!, AT&T, Boeing and more, to discuss the latest updates on case law, technology patents, and changes to the unpredictable IP landscape.
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Our inaugural Savvy Geek Chix event “Weathering the Economic Storm” will address how you can effectively manage your career in a tough economic climate.
Join us on March 24 in Palo Alto, CA for an evening of Networking, Job Hunting Strategies, and our Resume Clinic.
Please help us spread the word about this event to those who will benefit. We’ve kept the cost low ($25) to make it affordable for everyone. Special thanks to SAP for hosting this event! You’ll find full details at https://savvygeekchix.com/.
by Elizabeth Harrin (London)
Last week, Gwen Rhys, founder of Women in the City, unveiled a new Lifetime Achievement Award at the launch event for the Annual Women in the City Lunch and Awards 2009.
The venue for the launch was the impressive London campus of The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, which was the first ever university to award a PhD in business to a woman, back in 1929. Tucked in amongst iconic city landmarks, the university is a hub of activity for graduate and executive education program.
As senior executive women from finance, law, consultancy, insurance and other fields stood in the welcoming lounge area, sipped bucks fizz and tucked into breakfast canapés, Gwen explained her ambitious plans for the Women in the City network over the next few years. Women in the City is a dynamic organization which aims to raise the profile of senior level professional business women working in London’s business hubs – the City, Canary Wharf and extending into the West End – and the impact they have in leading teams, developing talent, supporting the progress of women in the wider business world, and contributing to the economy. Originally launched in 2003 as a one-off lunch, Women in the City now offers a range of services and products to UK and international audiences and hosts an awards scheme which is endorsed by major UK professional bodies.
by Heather Cassell (San Francisco)
Finance and legal firms came out on top of Employers Group’s spot light on California’s Best Places to Work for the second year with video game’s rounding out the bottom in technology.
“These companies send the message that, despite the doom and gloom currently pervading the business world, there are companies that champion their workforce and exhibit a creative, caring, and dynamic culture,” says Mark Wilbur, president and CEO of Employers Group, about the second year ranking California companiesin a March 10 news release. “The 15 winners of 2008’s program are leading the way to a brighter future for all of us.”
Nicholas-Applegate Capital Management, a diversified global investment firm leaped up the survey’s ranks to first place in 2008 from fourth place in 2007.“We are actually really delighted with it,” says Susan Hunter, head of public relations of Nicholas-Applegate Capital Management, founded in San Diego, California more than 20 years ago. The finance company now has offices in New York, London, Melbourne and Sydney.
“For one thing, working in this program gave us some good ideas,” continues Hunter about incorporated ideas from other companies that participated in the survey with the Nicholas-Applegate’s existing strong employee benefits and programs. “We found it a great platform to improve our benefits program and respond to employee requests. We took it as an opportunity to make it better. We are absolutely delighted and honored.”
by Elizabeth Harrin (London)
“I’ve had a back to front life,” says Anne Fergusson, a Director in PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Business and Head of the PwC Panel Network. She hands me a cup of tea. “Life is full of surprises.”
Anne talks as if she is surprised at the way her career has turned out, but listening to her it is clear that she made good choices, and has actively managed her route to the top at PwC.
She started salaried work at the age of 40, when she separated from her first husband. “I made a decision to earn my own living,” she says. It was a decision taken by necessity: living in the west of Scotland, outside Glasgow, she had three children to support. She had qualified as a chartered accountant when she was younger and took a full-time lectureship at the University of Strathclyde teaching financial and management accounting and tax practice.
She met and married her second husband, who was studying at the time. He read her professional journals, which she admits to ignoring, and pointed out a job he thought she should go for. “I didn’t think I had anywhere else to go, and I enjoyed academia,” she says. However, she rang the Director of Education at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and he invited her to an interview.
“I ended up teaching to demanding audiences and made some great friends,” Anne says. Her work with the Institute saw her working in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Russia, Poland and Romania. “I was responsible for my own material, the hours were long and family life was very restricted.”
Contributed by Martin Mitchell of the Corporate Training Group
In case you were too busy to have kept up with all the news, contributor Martin Mitchell has gathered some Contributed by Martin Mitchell of the Corporate Training Group important market events from last week to help you start this week well informed:
Mergers and Acquisitions
Keynote Speaker: Donald F. Donahue, Chairman and CEO, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation on “Re-Regulation and Change: Managing Ahead of the Curve.”
All full conference registration fees include continental breakfast and lunch on Monday and Tuesday as well as the conference dinner on Monday night.
One-day Monday registration fees DO NOT include the dinner on Monday night. The dinner can be purchased at a fee of $100.00 CLICK HERE to REGISTER NOW!
Featured sessions:
Recruitment & Selection Trends in the Investment Profession by Ms. Andrea Ross, Managing Director, Robert Walters
Managing your Career in Difficult Times by Mr. Tim Hird, Director Robert Half International
Recession & Financial Crisis Impact and implications to Financial Institution’s Job Roles and Responsibilities by Professor Dogan, Tirtiroglu, University of Adelaide
Staying ahead with CFA Investment Body of Knowledge by Dr. Ashvin Vibhakar, CFA, Managing Director, CFA Institute, Asia Pacific Operations
Click here to register
by Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)
In my opinion, the best documentary films are compelling because they allow a glimpse of otherwise inaccessible lives and lifestyles. Think of some well-known documentaries and the stories they tell: the journey of the son of a famous yet enigmatic architect trying to piece together the story of his father’s double life (My Architect); the struggle of quadriplegic young men and their quest for the wheelchair rugby Paralympics gold (Murderball); the differing expectations and, ultimately, life paths of upper and working class Brits over the course of 40+ years (The Up Series); the determination and quirkiness of a group of humans so intent on winning a new 4X4 truck that they ignore basic physical needs and stand for days in the heat hanging onto the vehicle as if for dear life (Hands on a Hard Body).
The truth is that I’ve been collecting subjects and planning out documentary films in my head for years. Maybe other people do this; however, I think it’s particularly odd because I am an energy/international business transactions attorney by training, who, until about a year ago, had no knowledge of how to actually make films.
A documentary filmmaking class at NYU changed that, and earlier this month, some classmates and I embarked on my first attempt to put what I’d learned into practice. The International Documentary Challenge, an international contest in which 130 teams from around the world research, write, film, produce and edit a short documentary in 5 days was my trial by fire.
I know it sounds a bit crazy: my very first documentary and I’m accepting the extra pressure that accompanies the very tight timeline? That said, I found the tight timeline permitted me a certain liberty from my own high expectations. It allowed me to accept that I could not possibly make a “perfect” film. It also forced the team to make quick decisions about everything including subject matter, where to film, and what to include in the film, rather than agonizing over them. And it actually gave me the impetus to do it now rather than allowing me to succumb to inertia, telling myself that I’ll do it some weekend when I can find the time, when I’m less tired, when work quiets down. Here was a built-in deadline – no ifs, ands or buts.
by Liz O’Donnell (Boston)
Bryant Park says pink is the new black and Wall Street says coffee is the new lunch. The New York Times recently ran an article about Hollywood and literary types who no longer fight to pick up the check at business lunches due to the struggling economy. So The Glass Hammer asked business women if their lunch habits were changing too.
We learned that a coffee meeting is indeed the preferred way of doing business. Lunches, although sometimes unavoidable, are viewed less favorably. While some business women use lunches to stand out from the crowd, we predict the coffee meeting will replace the business lunch as the power get together of 2009.
“Yes, the economy has affected my business meal practices. I’m scheduling more coffee/drink meetings. The lunches and breakfasts are few and far between,” says Gaea L. Honeycutt, President, G.L. Honeycutt Consulting, LLC: Research and Communications Services. “I generally split the tab unless it’s a client I’m strongly courting. Most client meetings are scheduled over coffee or in their offices.”