The Centre for Executive Education (CEE) at the Indian School of Business (ISB) recently celebrated their first Alumni Meet at the ISB, and also launched the Hyderabad Chapter of the CEE Alumni Association.

Amidst an intimate gathering of CEE alumni were present Dean M Rammohan Rao, Deepak Chandra, Associate Dean, CEE, and a host of other guests.

Dean Rao in his address urged the alumni to come together through a forum like this and take initiatives of mentorship – e.g. adopt tier 2 management schools and offer expertise to these institutions. “You can also play a vital role in strengthening the CEE and its activities,” he added. He mentioned CEE’s leadership role in providing executive education. “The CEE is the largest provider of executive education in India, and one among the largest in Asia. It will continue to bring world class faculty and focus on knowledge dissemination,” Dean Rao assured. The CEE proposes to strengthen the alumni network by starting three other chapters at Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai. The purpose of creating this empowering network was illustrated by Deepak Chandra – “to elect office bearers, to arrange for a meeting of all the office bearers from the four chapters, and overall, to leverage the alumni network and create more energy for greater purpose.”

As the evening proceeded, alumni Pradeep Dhobale, Divisional Chief Executive, ITC Limited, was unanimously elected as President of the CEE Alumni Association, Hyderabad Chapter. Alumni Dr A Goutam, CEO, SmarTeach, was chosen as Secretary. Dhobale mentioned, “I accept the position of President of the CEE Alumni Association, Hyderabad Chapter, with utmost humility. To my mind, a forum like this can bring academics and industry closer together for effective contribution to nation building.” He outlined some areas of action that the alumni can participate together in – “adopting tier-2 management schools, mentoring of young entrepreneurs, and dissemination of knowledge.”

The governance structure of the Alumni body aims to align activities of all the chapters, increase membership, and most important execute the vision that CEE proposes.

As Dhobale puts it, “The 7000 plus Alumni of the CEE at the ISB represent a powerful community with resources at their disposal, and can certainly contribute towards the vision.”

The dates for the Alumni Meet of the other Chapters are -
Bangalore Chapter - August 9, 2008
Mumbai Chapter – August 10, 2008
Delhi Chapter- August 30, 2008