Cornell Experiences Pacific NW Hospitality
Greg Hubbell '02
Issue date: 2/20/02 Section: Features
"If companies from the Pacific Northwest are not going to come to New York, then we will have to create a value proposition that they cannot ignore", stated Greg Hubbell, one of the original organizers of the trip. "Tony Titus, Mike Gauthier and I all have family in the Northwest but were disappointed by the lack of opportunities to get us back there. We looked for a solution that would help us achieve our goals while revising the existing system so that future students would not have the same frustrations." This idea obviously had merit as evidenced by the significant number of students jumped in to join the cause. 18 of Cornell's graduate students interested in careers in the Pacific Northwest dedicated time, funds and months of planning required to bridge the gap between Ithaca and Seattle.
Once the team had momentum, Dick Shafer of the CSO jumped behind the cause with both feet. Dick took the opportunity to examine the trip from several perspectives. First, he wanted to see exactly which other schools we are competing with in the region. Second, he wanted to explore the "Cornell Destination X" model to see how easily we could transfer the idea into other key target regions. Finally, he wanted to build new long-term corporate relationships in one of the most exciting regions in the US. Seattle is at the front edge of emerging technologies in biotech, software, telecommunications, coffee and e-business.
We learned early on that we needed a critical mass of at least 15 students to get the companies to take 'Cornell Destination PNW' seriously. We reached out to the other graduate schools at Cornell. Branding the trip as an 'all-Cornell event' played well to the non-MBAs in the Seattle area and was consistent with the new branding initiative at the Johnson school. One of the great takeaways from Destination PNW is that we must continue to leverage the power of the whole Cornell network.
The anchor event for the week was Monday night's Seattle CEN (Cornell Entrepreneur Network) event at the Elliott Grand Hyatt hotel. 120 Cornellians filled the ballroom for an evening of networking, dinner, and entertainment. Keynote speaker Dan Hesse (CEO of Terabeam) shared lessons from his many years as an executive at AT&T Wireless and smaller companies. He also gave us a live demonstration of the Terabeam Free Space Optics with a link to NYC where Dean Swieringa and one of Merrill Lynch's telecom analysts shared their messages with the Seattle audience.
All in all, the week was a tremendous success with fantastic visits with the area firms, great networking with local executives and Cornell alums. "It was a hell of a lot of work, but if just one of us get a job out of the effort, it was worth it", said a weary Tony Titus at the end of a long but rewarding week in Seattle.
Once the team had momentum, Dick Shafer of the CSO jumped behind the cause with both feet. Dick took the opportunity to examine the trip from several perspectives. First, he wanted to see exactly which other schools we are competing with in the region. Second, he wanted to explore the "Cornell Destination X" model to see how easily we could transfer the idea into other key target regions. Finally, he wanted to build new long-term corporate relationships in one of the most exciting regions in the US. Seattle is at the front edge of emerging technologies in biotech, software, telecommunications, coffee and e-business.
We learned early on that we needed a critical mass of at least 15 students to get the companies to take 'Cornell Destination PNW' seriously. We reached out to the other graduate schools at Cornell. Branding the trip as an 'all-Cornell event' played well to the non-MBAs in the Seattle area and was consistent with the new branding initiative at the Johnson school. One of the great takeaways from Destination PNW is that we must continue to leverage the power of the whole Cornell network.
The anchor event for the week was Monday night's Seattle CEN (Cornell Entrepreneur Network) event at the Elliott Grand Hyatt hotel. 120 Cornellians filled the ballroom for an evening of networking, dinner, and entertainment. Keynote speaker Dan Hesse (CEO of Terabeam) shared lessons from his many years as an executive at AT&T Wireless and smaller companies. He also gave us a live demonstration of the Terabeam Free Space Optics with a link to NYC where Dean Swieringa and one of Merrill Lynch's telecom analysts shared their messages with the Seattle audience.
All in all, the week was a tremendous success with fantastic visits with the area firms, great networking with local executives and Cornell alums. "It was a hell of a lot of work, but if just one of us get a job out of the effort, it was worth it", said a weary Tony Titus at the end of a long but rewarding week in Seattle.