Past Speakers
November 2007 Rich Laxer '83, President and CEO of GE Capital Solutions, Career Strategies
Rich Laxer '83 can plot his career trajectory from Skidmore days to his present role as CEO of GE Capital Solutions, a global financial services corporation with over $101 billion in assets. Laxer did just that during a presentation he gave at a November 14 th Skidmore Business Network-New York networking event attended by alumni and several current seniors. After graduating from Skidmore with a business degree, Laxer decided to drop plans to study law and instead go into Financial Services. His business acumen was forged underwriting real estate and selling financial products in the gritty economy of the early 1980s.
“It's easy to succeed when the markets are good—but I learned a lot more about what can go wrong during the bad times,” he says. “To this day, it remains the most useful training I ever received”
Laxer launched his career through GE's Financial Management Program and went on to have 14 managerial positions and 8 different GE locations. Over the next two decades, he established and headed up GE Real Estate Fund Capital Group in New York and other company platforms around the country. From 2001 to 2003, Laxer ran GE Asia Pacific Real Estate in Tokyo before moving on to lead GE Corporate Financial Services London-based European businesses, where he was responsible for leverage finance, corporate restructurings, and distressed/secondary debt investments. Today, he is in charge of GE Capital Solutions, a nine-division financial services group with $101 billion in assets and locations in 30 countries.
October 2007 Doug Metchick ‘90, President and Founder of Penfield Marketing Group, What marketing strategies work
best for your products/services?
With fifteen years of experience in the media, sports, and entertainment marketing industries, Doug Metchick '90 has held leadership positions with Clarion Sports and Entertainment, and Sports Franchises, Inc.
May 2007 - Nancy Harrison '64, Private Equity Investor on "Angel Investing and Early Stage Funding"
 Nancy Harrison '64 is a private equity investor with particular interest in high tech and biotech. She was Managing Director at Connecticut Innovations, Inc., the state's largest technology equity investor. Previously she was Director of Business Development at IBM Research and at IBM Asia Pacific, where she led joint ventures, acquisitions and strategic minority investments for IBM and managed a portfolio of more than 100 investments with an international staff. Her previous IBM career positions were in management of systems engineering, sales, marketing and finance. Nancy received masters degrees from Northwestern in Applied Mathematics and Columbia in Business.
March 2007 -
Susan Magrino Dunning '83, Chairman, CEO and Founder,
the Susan Magrino Agency
"Public Relations: Moving the Public Through Strategic Communications "
 Susan Magrino '83 is an accomplished marketing, branding and public relations professional with 22 distinguished years of experience. Having founded the Susan Magrino Agency in 1992 following a nine-year career at Crown Publishing, Susan has built the company into what is today regarded as one of the premier public relations firms in the business.
Over the course of her career, Susan has been instrumental in building and publicizing some of the world’s most prestigious brands, current clients notwithstanding, from Martha Stewart, a client since 1983, Dom Perignon, Reader’s Digest and the LXR luxury hotel brand, a division of The Blackstone Group, to Alain Ducasse, Harper’s Bazaar, Club Med and One&Only resorts worldwide, among others. A hands-on leader, she not only oversees the fiscal growth of the agency, she is also a driving force behind much of its business. Having maintained valuable and longstanding relationships with the agency’s clients and the media, Susan takes a proactive approach in guiding the strategic direction of campaigns and programs, bringing to each her vision, leadership, integrity, and commitment to excellence.
Since founding the agency, Susan has directed the public relations and played an integral role in the brand and communications strategy around the growth of the Martha Stewart from a one-woman entrepreneur to an Initial Public Offering – most recently orchestrating her return to television with the launch of the daily show, Martha, and The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, both airing on NBC. Susan has also been involved throughout her career in every aspect of the MSLO business including retail relationships with Kmart as well as all of the publishing, merchandising and other branded businesses.
Under Susan’s direction, the agency has also been responsible for groundbreaking campaigns including the 2000 launch of Hearst Magazine’s O, The Oprah Magazine, hailed by Newsweek as “the most successful magazine start-up in history,” the launch and branding of Starwood Corporation’s W Hotels, which Business Week said was “one of the industry’s most successful launches,” and for Coty, the launch of Celine Dion’s first fragrance, Celine, which was also recognized in the industry as one of the most successful fragrance launches in the ‘masstige’ category.
Susan has also led the agency in producing major events. Highlights include One&Only Palmilla’s grand opening celebration – a 50th birthday party for John Travolta, Time Magazine’s 75th Anniversary at Radio City Music Hall, the 2001 American Fashion Awards for CFDA, the 40th Anniversary celebrations for the Four Seasons and AmFAR’s tribute to Larry King with special guest Sharon Stone at the Plaza.
Susan lives in New York with her husband James Dunning, and is a board member of Manitoga, The Russell Wright Design Center.
To RSVP for the monthly networking events, email rsvp@skidbiz.com. Please include your name, company name and position, daytime phone number and e-mail address. Space is limited.
January 2007 - Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship
Kenneth Freirich '90, a seasoned entrepreneur, corporate executive and a Fortune 100 executive at age 29, discussed how he has successfully created and grown numerous companies dating back to his Skidmore days.
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Ken with O.J. Anderson from the NY Giants and Founder of Health Monitor founder Eric Jensen
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Most recently, Ken was recruited by the Founder of Health Monitor Network, one of the nation's leading multimedia health publishing companies to help grow the company exponentially. The company distributes its publications and other products to physician offices and works very closely with it’s customers in the pharmaceutical industry. After a record setting 2006, they are on their way !
Previously, Ken served as Founder and CEO of TransLocal Health Corporation, a leading multimedia health information provider to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. Prior to that, he was President of InteliHealth, which started as a join venture between Johns Hopkins and Aetna U.S. Healthcare, an executive with Thomson/Medical Economics and the Founder and Publisher of The Collegian Magazine.
December 2006 - Protecting Your and Your Company's Privacy
Dana Metes '90, Attorney and Associate LeBouef, Lamb, Greene & MacRae LLP, shared her extensive experience in obtaining, protecting,
and enforcing trademark, copyright, and other intellectual property rights.
November 2006 - Executive Recruiter & Career Coach John Mazzei Presents "Career Strategies"
John Mazzei has been in executive recruiting for over 20 years. His clients include the largest financial institutions in the world. They are Investment Banks, Major Money Center Bank as well as Boutique Investment firms: Hedge Funds/Venture Capital & Private Equity Firms. Also he has worked with some of New York City's best Not-For-Profit Organizations. His expertise is identifying/assessing talent in the areas of Corporate Finance; M&A, Equity & Fixed Income Research, Credit Trained Professionals and other business & Not For Profit Professionals.
John also enjoys a very successful career/executive coaching practice. He has lectured on career planning at the areas' colleges, business schools and alumni associations. His career coaching is language-focused. John is a master "linguistic observer."
Currently, he is a Managing Director - Managing Partner in the Financial Institutions Group at Rand Thompson Consulting, a 25 year old executive recruiting firm located in Manhattan.
September 2006 - SBN-NYC Season Kick-Off - Hedge Funds 101
Over 30 alumni attended the SBN-NYC Kick Off Cocktail Reception on September 14 held at the rooftop garden of Jim Iseman '78. Fritz Wahl ’83, Director of Research, Principal, & Co-Founder, Ore Hill Partners, LLC, gave a presentation on "Hedge Funds 101.” A lively networking session followed. Alumni representing the '80s, '90s, and recent grads enjoyed conversation and exchanged business cards.
Fritz Wahl is the Director of Research, Principal, Co-Founder and a member of the Investment Committee of Ore Hill Partners LLC. Mr. Wahl is primarily responsible for research and idea generation at Ore Hill. Previously, Mr. Wahl served as an advisor to Midway Capital Partners LLC. Prior to that, Mr. Wahl worked as a senior member of the Global Distressed Research and Trading business at Goldman Sachs & Co. where he oversaw a team of distressed research analysts' investments for the firm's proprietary capital. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Mr. Wahl was employed by Morgan Stanley from 1984 to 1997. During the period 1993-1997, Mr. Wahl was a Principal and Co-Head of the High Yield Research Department at Morgan Stanley. Mr. Wahl managed a team comprised of 25 analysts. During the period from 1994-1995, Mr. Wahl was employed by Morgan Stanley International in London where he established Morgan Stanley's highly successful European High Yield business. Mr. Wahl holds a BA in Economics from Skidmore College.
May 2006 - IGA Co-Founder Darren Herman '04 On "Leading Innovation in the New Media Space"
 An entrepreneur in the alternative marketing mediums, Darren's successes first started roughly ten years ago when he launched his first start-up focusing on the technology world. Working closely with clients in the advertising, media, entertainment, and technology industries, Herman has handled clients ranging from public to private companies, as well, as global Fortune brands including eBay, FortuneCity, MyPhotoAlbum, Sony/BMG, Altlantic Records, Sprint Nextel, Ralston Purina, Subway, and No-Cal Soda to name a few. He was named "Top Entrepreneur Under 25" by Businessweek magazine for 2007.
In the 1990s, Darren established iComputerServices, LLC (iCS) in order to start designing and developing websites and applications for small to medium sized companies. After the launch of iCS, having designed over a dozen websites including the American Ideal Diamond Exchange and the SAS Group, Herman established GlobalWebSpace to host the websites. GlobalWebSpace quickly grew to over 250 clients within a 3 month time frame which led the launch of an automated game serving company, TerminalX. After two years of running GlobalWebSpace and TerminalX and managing a team of a half dozen server administrators located around the world, Herman sold the companies to a public company in the bandwidth business.
Herman then went to work for i33 Communications, one of the premier interactive agencies. Darren worked with the new business teams for Sprint, Ralston Purina, Multex, and American Eagle Outfitters. Leaving i33, Herman went to Student.com taking on the responsibilities for the entire website. Herman worked directly with the development and management team to oversee all website design and overall marketing initiatives. Student.com quickly grew to be one of Nielsen Netratings top sites for college and high school students.
After two years with Student.com, Herman went to become an in-house entrepreneur and product manager at Conducive Corporation and led the roll-out of the contextual bid-for-placement ad-network, adMarketplace. After launching adMarketplace for eBay and various other major websites and communities successfully, Herman incubated Dynamify Productions, a full-service independent booking agency focused on mid-market bands. While with Dynamify Productions Herman booked acts such as former New Kids on the Block, Columbia Records recording artist Ari Hest, Sire Records recording artist John Lardieri/Twin-A, and dozens of others through its numerous music booking agents. Herman acquired Fanlist.com, a premier email marketing company for the music space. After three years of running Dynamify Productions and speaking at every major music tradeshow and conference across the USA including CMJ and SXSW on music marketing, digital distribution, and tour booking, Herman sold the business to a New York based record label.
Darren Herman is currently working at IGA Worldwide Inc., as a co-founder of the company. IGA is a venture backed in-game advertising company with over $12 million in oversubscribed funding. Herman leads the business development group across advertising, publishing and technology. He graduated from Skidmore with a Bachelor of Sciences degree in business.
April 2006 - Bernard Kastory, Harder Professor of Management and Business, Skidmore College on "The Lessons of Enron"
 Integral to the Skidmore Department of Management and Business Bernie brings a wealth of experience to the table from his 33 years tenure with Bestfoods, a global food company whose leading brands include Knorr, Hellmans, Skippy, Entenmanns and SB Thomas. During this time Bernie served as President of the $l.5 BIO worldwide corn refining division, President of the $2 BIO baking division, and Chief Financial Officer for the corporation.
Bernie Kastory joined the Skidmore faculty in the fall of 2001 as the F. William Harder Professor of Business Administration. He has a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois and a M.B.A. from Northwestern. Prior to coming to Skidmore, Bernie worked for 33 years at Bestfoods, a global food company whose leading brands include Knorr, Hellmans, Skippy, Entenmanns and S B Thomas.
During his career at Bestfoods, Bernie progressed through a series of increasingly significant assignments in manufacturing, finance and general management. Significant general management assignments included President of the $l.5 BIO worldwide corn refining division, President of the $2 BIO baking division, and Chief Financial Officer for the corporation. His most recent assignment, before Skidmore, entailed executive responsibility for all Bestfoods' operations in Asia and Latin America and the North American Baking business. The scope of these responsibilities encompassed leadership of 20,000 employees and operations in 30 countries with total revenues approaching $4 BIO.
During his time at Skidmore, Professor Kastory has taught Business Strategy and International Business. He is also the coordinator of the Management & Business Department's mentoring program, which links business majors with local business executives and provides the students additional opportunities to learn about business concepts in action.
March 2006 - Hillary Schupf '93, Senior Director Public Relations, Sirius Radio, on Switching to Sirius: How I Landed My Dream Job
After working as a publicist in the book publishing industry for 13 years, Hillary just landed her dream job as Senior Director, Public Relations at Sirius Satellite Radio where she handles the publicity for Howard Stern, Martha Stewart and all of the other talk and entertainment channels. During her publishing days, she spent seven years at Penguin Putnam where she held various publicity positions including Publicity Director for the Berkeley and New American Library divisions. After Penquin she moved to Simon & Schuster, where she was Director of Publicity for the Pocket Books division. Hillary has served as the president for the alumni class of 1993 since graduation.
February 2006 - Jim Iseman '78, Vice President, Wealth Management and Portfolio Manager at Citigroup-Smith Barney, on "Portfolio Management: Investing in 'Leading Brand' vs. Traditional Investing Methods"
Jim Iseman, a Portfolio Manager at Smith Barney, has over 28 years professional experience across a broad range of clients specializing in portfolio management and brand management. For the past eight years, Jim has focused on portfolio management at Smith Barney for high net worth clients and institutions. Previously, Jim specialized in brand management working with companies such as Procter & Gamble, Pfizer and Allergan. Jim holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters of Business Administration from New York University . Headlining the February 8th Skidmore Business Network breakfast, Jim will explore the topic of investing in “Leading Brands” versus more traditional methods such as “Style Boxing.” He will discuss leading brands that are currently gaining market share as well as their historical stock performances. Jim will focus on the leading brands that dominate new niche categories, including branded Internet search, branded organic foods, branded MP3 players and branded package goods.
January 2006 - Thomas A. Renyi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Bank of New York Company, Inc. on "Global Securities"
 Thomas A. Renyi has successfully directed The Bank of New York's transformation from a traditional commercial bank to a global leader in securities servicing for issuers, investors and financial intermediaries. Since becoming Chief Executive Officer in 1997, Mr. Renyi has accelerated the Company's strategic evolution through more than 50 acquisitions, including RBS Trust in 1999 and Pershing in 2003. Today, the Company plays an integral role in the infrastructure of the global capital markets, providing a comprehensive array of services that enable institutions and individuals to move and manage their financial assets in more than 100 markets worldwide.
Mr. Renyi's career at The Bank of New York has spanned three decades and has included key leadership roles in securities servicing, credit policy, capital markets, and domestic and international banking. In 1989, Mr. Renyi headed the transition team responsible for integrating the Irving Trust Company into The Bank of New York. It was the largest merger in the U.S. banking industry at the time and gave the Bank an expanded presence in international markets and critical scale in its securities management businesses.
In 1992, Mr. Renyi was named President of the Company and elected to its Board of Directors. In 1997, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Company and was elected Chairman of the Board the following year.
Mr. Renyi graduated from Rutgers University with a BA in Business Administration in 1967 and an MBA in 1968. He served as a First Lieutenant in Military Intelligence with the U.S. Army in Vietnam.
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Interested in becoming a SBN speaker? Do you have experience, insight, and information that would be valuable to alumni in the fields of finance, marketing, and related fields? Simply consult the following Speakers Bureau presention andcontact Gregg Nicoll at 212-820-7452 (w) or 516-884-2551 (c). View Presentation.
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