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IEMBA ´98
The 7th reunion of this graduating class took place on March 23 at IESE’s Madrid campus. Alumni Xavi Pascual and Pablo Romero gave a talk about “Change Management,” in which they shared their experience and discussed what they had learned in this area. The meeting was called by Juan Miguel Poyatos, the class president.

EMBA ´05
On May 19, IESE Prof. Javier Quintanilla delivered remarks to this graduating class. The keynote speaker was Rafael Fernández de Alarcón.

MBA ´86
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of their graduation, this class held an alumni gathering in Barcelona. A total of 65 classmates took part, many of them from countries as diverse as Italy, Austria, Argentina and the USA. The meeting began with a mass in remembrance on four deceased colleagues, and continued with a welcome address from IESE’s Dean Jordi Canals. A presentation was delivered by Prof. Juan Carlos Vázquez-Dodero, followed by a group photograph of the whole class. The meeting was organized by class President Miguel Ángel Luna Mansilla.

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The alumni of this class celebrated their traditional Spring reunion at the invitation of Casimiro Molins and Eduardo Tarragona.

PADE-I-91
On March 21, the British InterContinental Hotels Group appointed Alfonso Jordán as its new General Manager for the InterContinental brand in Spain. Alfonso will supervise the development of new projects in the Murcia region: InterContinental Mar Menor Golf Resort & Spa, a five-star luxury hotel which will become the brand’s first Spanish resort hotel, due to be opened in June 2006, the Crowne Plaza La Torre Golf Resort (to be opened in the Summer of 2007) and the InterContinental El Valle Golf Resort in Murcia (opening in fall 2007). Currently General Manager of the Madrid InterContinental Hotel, Alfonso is an acknowledged expert in luxury hotel management both in Spain and abroad.

PADE-A-03
Adolfo Ramírez Morales was recently appointed to the position of Assistant General Manager of Banesto.

On March 31, various members of the class gathered for a special event. Pablo Martínez invited Gabriele Finaldi, Assistant Director of the Prado Museum, to share with the alumni his ideas about managing museums and artistic foundations. Class President Antonio del Pozo and Secretary Alfonso Jiménez looked after the organization for the event.

PADE-I-05
Pere Guardiola invited his former classmates to share with him the fantastic experience of crossing the Atlantic in a yacht, thanks to his photographic presentation. The meeting took place at IESE Barcelona on April 20.
Here is a photo of the pilgrimage to the Holy Land organized by the PADE Class of 2005, guided by Prof. Eduardo Martínez Abascal, who has now visited the Holy Land on 10 occasions.

PDD-V-95
At the alumni reunion on March 17th, Prof. Brian Subirana gave a talk called “Ten at a Time,” in reference to the time which has passed since they completed their IESE program. The alumni were invited by Ramón Añaños.

On April 20, Federico Ricart was appointed General Manager of the World Trade Center Barcelona. The World Trade Center Barcelona is one of the most outstanding building complexes in the city and has become an important focus for Catalonian business. The WTCB hosts the head offices of over 100 companies as well as 25 other businesses and service companies. The business model is based on the integrated management of all the services provided in the building complex, from telecommunications and maintenance to security and interpretation services.

PDD-I-98
Just as they have done every year since the end of their Program, Susana Calvo and Gloria Ausió invited all their classmates to the 8th Class of PDD-I-98 Reunion, held on May 25 at IESE’s Barcelona campus. The speaker was professor Steve Poelmans whose talk was titled “Quality Time: Quality of Life.”

PDD-1-02
Jordi Vilà Giménez writes to tell us that Human Catalunya, S.A., a subsidiary of Human Management Systems, S.A., the company he manages, is making such exciting progress that they have had to move offices. After two and a half years they had outgrown the previous ones, and are now located on Barcelona’s Vía Augusta.

PDD-3-02
The alumni of this graduating class met on April 4 at IESE’s Barcelona campus to attend a lecture by Prof. Josep Valor. He presented a case study titled “Downloading Music from the Internet: An Industrial Revolution.” Xavier López-Sautés and Eva Gispert, President and Secretary respectively of the class, brought their colleagues together.

PDD-2-03
Guadalupe Gros and Mercedes Rius invited their former classmates to IESE to attend a Continuous Education Program session led by Prof. Cosimo Chiesa.

PDD-Galicia-03
The traditional annual reunion of this graduating class was held in Santiago de Compostela on April 18. At the invitation of Mercè Faixes and Santiago Vázquez, the alumni listened to a lecture by Prof. Manel Velilla, which was much appreciated by all.

PDD-A-04
Prof. José Ramón Pin gave a talk to the alumni of this class on March 9. Lucía Franchesch and Pablo Gómez-Acebo organized the event.

PDD-C-04
On May 4, José Ángel Garcés invited his class colleagues to a session in IESE Madrid by Instructor Javier Quintanilla entitled: “When Salaries Are Not a Secret.”

PDD-1-05
On March 10, the class met together in Barcelona to celebrate the first anniversary of the end of the program. The alumni were invited by Joan Antón Cárdenas, Félix Ferrer, Isabel López, Josep Maria Marimón, Fina Pampliega, Quim Pastor, Ricard Presas and Sergio Rivera to take part in a guided tour of the Torre Agbar building, where they heard a presentation on Applus+ by General Manager Lucio Moreno (PDD-III-92).

PDD-A-05
The alumni of this class gathered together at IESE Madrid on April 6 for a presentation by Prof. Luis Manuel Calleja on the subject of “Properly Structured Companies.” The attendees were brought together by Carlos Recarte, the class President.

PDD-F-05
The alumni gathered together at IESE Madrid on June 1 to attend a lecture by IESE Pof. Luis Palencia. The meeting was called by Luis Sánchez Peiro and Iván Soler.

José Fernández Sela has joined the Eve Marina Group, one of Spain’s leading real estate groups, as Regional Manager for the Central Region, with responsibility for managing the Group’s expansion and project development. Fernández formerly held the position of Finance Director at the multinational ESC Scholz & Friends.

PDG-A-02
Marcos de Pedro has joined Neoris as CEO for Spain. Before joining Neoris, Marcos had a very successful career at DMR Consulting, where he led various business areas since the company was founded in 1997. He held previous management positions in Accenture, where he contributed to the creation and implementation of financial solutions for the European banking sector.

PDG-A-03
IESE professor Eduardo Ballarín delivered a lecture at the April 27 meeting in IESEMadrid, titled “Innovation; A Strategic Focus,” illustrating his remarks with a case study on “Evolution of the Circus as an Industry.” The event was organized by Fernando Moroy and Luis Arias.

PDG-1-04
Antonio José Martín Antolí informs us that on March 27 he was appointed as Media Manager for Barcelona Football Club and General Manager of Barça TV. This department handles the Club’s TV rights, the Barça TV channel, the Club’s website and all matters relating to mobile telephone and mobile telephones.

PDG-2-04
At the invitation of Ferran Gatius and Micha Pérez, the members of this graduating class gathered at IESE’s campus for a talk about the Chinese market led by Alfredo Pastor, IESE professor and former dean of CEIBS.

PDG-A-04
Francisco García Rubio, class president, invited the 19 graduating class members to a meeting at IESE_Madrid on March 3 to take part in a discussion led by Bea Fernández Valderrama called “The Creative Journey: How to Develop it Yourself and Encourage It Within the Company."

PDG-B-05
Fernando Echegaray del Pozo was recently appointed Director of Barcelona Airport.

AMP Reunion

The first AMP Reunion took place May 25-26, bringing past participants of the Advanced Management Program back to IESE Barcelona where they previously completed the executive education program.

The event kicked off with a welcome session led by Prof. Eric Weber, associate dean of executive education, together with Idunn Jónsdóttir, director of the Advanced Management Program, and Maria Puig, director of the IESE Alumni Association.

The next day, IESE Dean Jordi Canals opened the academic sessions, which included: Prof. Pedro Videla speaking on China and India; Prof. Josep Valor addressing the technological revolution in the media and telecommunication industries; and Prof. Steven Poelmans talking about the ageing workforce and how companies can respond with family-friendly policies.

Prof. Frederic Sabrià was joined by guest speaker Ramon Tarrech, a partner of ALG, in discussing new trends in air transportation, focusing on the lessons of the Barcelona and Madrid expansion projects.

Participants were then transported to Torre de Collserola for a closing dinner.

The AMP Reunion was the first of its kind, and will be held every two years. The event serves as a key forum to catch up with professors and old friends alike, in addition to taking part in exciting talks. As with all IESE Alumni Association events, the academic sessions were balanced with vital networking opportunities.

EMBA Alumni Meeting

Alumni of the Executive MBA program gathered at IESE Madrid on May 17 for the EMBA Alumni Meeting 2006. The emotional gathering was a chance for alumni to reconnect with past participants of the program; it also provided a forum for reflection and debate on current themes.
Prof. José Ramón Pin, director of the Executive MBA, commended all those who had assisted in the program, especially the professors and alumni who had shared their thoughts and insights.

IESE Masters: Hole in One

The IESE Masters Golf tournament took place March 12 at the Platja de Pals Golf course. The event was organized by the MBA student golf club and sponsored by IESE faculty, IESE Alumni Association, Michael Page, Nike, Hugo Boss, Banco Madrid, Hotel La Costa, Golf Platja de Pals, Codorniu, Artespaña and Vodafone.

The idea was to get different groups together – IESE faculty, alumni, MBA and EMBA students – to enjoy a day of golf. Although the tournament was scheduled for Sunday, many of the 80 players arrived on Saturday for a get-together and round of golf that, thanks to alumnus Baltasar Parera, was included in a superb weekend package offered to all players by sponsors Golf Platja de Pals and Hotel La Costa.
With 20 fourballs to go, tee-off started at 9.10 am on Sunday. Although sunny, there was a strong wind that prevailed for the first 10 holes. Nevertheless, this did not prevent some players from displaying their top-notch skills, like Javier Pemán (EMBA '06) who won the longest driver competition, or Ohiana Diaz (MBA '06) who managed to leave the ball less than 2 meters away from the flag to win the best approach. In the end, alumnus Fernando Moreno (Stableford) and Jose Luis Ros (Scratch) were the best on the course and each took home an Alumni Association cup.

After a very competitive tournament, players enjoyed some Spanish tapas and cava at the clubhouse, which helped build momentum before the awards ceremony, where nobody left emptyhanded since on top of the championship prizes, all players received a welcome package (one polo shirt, one book, tees and a golf towel). To close the event, a raffle took place where some lucky players won fantastic prizes, such as free golf rounds, cell phones or brand-name golf apparel.

Overall, it was an unforgettable experience that, thanks to our sponsors, was a success and will surely become a tradition for years to come. We encourage all alumni to join us next year.

Chapter News

Utrecht
On May 20, members of the Benelux Alumni Chapter gathered in Utrecht to hear a session led by Rob Zwartendijk, former board member of Ahold. The topic of his talk was, “Ahold’s Drama: The View of Rob Zwartendijk, Board Member Prior to the Scandal.”

Sao Paulo
Sao Paulo was the setting for meetings on March 30 and May 16 for members of the Brazil Alumni Chapter. On March 30, the event included the participation of Prof. Beatriz Muñoz-Seca, while on May 16, Prof. Julia Prats led a session titled, “Innovation and Entrepreneurial Spirit: How to Make Them Your Secret Weapon.”

Toronto
On March 27, IESE’s Dean Jordi Canals met with members of the Canada Alumni Chapter. He delivered a session titled, “Good Leadership or Good Governance?”

Shanghai
Alumni met up on May 24 in Shanghai for a session led by Steven Gangster, managing director of Technomic Asia. The session was titled, Challenges in Developing a Business Case for China.”

Hong Kong
Hong Kong-based alumni convened on June 5 for a session led by Prof. Jaume Ribera, titled, “Innovations in Project Management.”

Paris
The France Alumni Chapter organized a session on April 24. Dean Emeritus Carlos Cavallé led a session on “Corporate Social Responsibility.”

On June 17, the group met again in Barcelona IESE campus for a session that included welcoming remarks by Dean Jordi Canals and a session led by Prof. Paddy Miller.

Munich
Munich was the backdrop for a Germany Alumni Chapter meeting on March 9. The title of the academic portion of the event was “Stimulating Entrepreneurship: Financing and Building the Next Generation of Firms.” The event was opened by Norbert Kistermann, CEO, corporate banking, Region Bavaria and participating in a panel discussion were: Falk Strascheg, founding partner of Extorel Private Equity Advisers; Dogan Gündogfu, CEO and founder of DVM Capital AG; Dr. Ronald Mertz, head of the division of biotechnology at the Bavarian Ministry for Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Transport and Technology. Moderating was Prof. Julia Prats.

Dusseldorf
Germany-based alumni gathered on June 8 in Düsseldorf for a session led by Prof. Frederic Sabrià. The session was titled “Optimizing Operations Planning: Lessons from Field Marshal E. Rommel and General G. Patton.”

Milan
On March 31, Prof. Alberto Ribera led a session with members of the Italy Alumni Chapter titled, “Me INC: The Business of Managing Oneself.”

Lima
On May 25, Peru Alumni Chapter members organized a session in Lima with Jaime Sáen de Tejada, managing director of BBVA-Banco Continental. His presentation was titled, “The Banking Situation in Peru and the International Context.” Members met up again on June 8 to hear a presentation by Carlos Añaños, president of the Grupo Kola Real, titled, “Kola Real: From Ayacucho to the World.”

Warsaw
Radoslaw Koszewski, director of IESE’s new AMP in Warsaw program, delivered a special session in Warsaw on March 7. He addressed the topic of “the business climate in 2026.”

Lisbon
On April 6, alumni in Portugal heard a presentation by Emilio Sáenz, chairman of Autoeuropa, titled “Autoeuropa: How to Integrate the Interests of Multinationals, Government and Lobbyists: A Business Perspective.” The group also heard from Miguel Athayade Marqué, chairman of Eurnext Portugal.

Zurich
Members of the Switzerland Alumni Chapter gathered in Zurich on May 20 for an event featuring two IESE faculty members: Manel Baucells and Franz Heukamp. The topic of the meeting was “Happiness: Shifting from Economics to Hedonomics.”

London
U.K. Alumni Chapter members met up in London on May 4 to hear from Piers Benbow of Hammond Haspel, Financial Services Executive Search Firm and Michell Walder of TXG,on “The Mechanics of Headhunting.”

U.K.-based graduates also participated in a session on May 25, led by Prof. Tim Sutton, titled, “Manipulation of Accounts: Lessons from WorldCom, Parmalat and other Recent Scandals.”

Finally, on July 1, Prof. Brian Leggett and Fr. Dermot Tredget led a session, “Social Dual- Principle Leadership.”

San Francisco
On June 14, U.S. alumni met with Dean Jordi Canals, who delivered a presentation on “IESE: Perspectives for the Next Few Years.”

Reykjavik
Alumni held a meeting with Prof. Eric Weber, who led a session titled “IESE Activities: A Global Perspective.”