MBS Chairman Ron McNeilly advised Donor Members at this week’s AGM that the Board will decide at its June meeting whether to go ahead with the proposed merger of the University’s Faculty of Economics and Commerce and MBS, under the continued governance of MBS Ltd. 

At the same time, the University Council will also consider the proposal. If agreement is reached by both, the Chairman will call an extraordinary general meeting asking Donor Members of the School to agree to the merger.  Full details will be made available to donor members at least three weeks prior to the meeting.

Dean John Seybolt gave his 5th and final address to the AGM as he prepares to return to the United States as planned later this year. He officially steps down as Dean on 31 May and Associate Professor Jennifer George becomes Acting Dean on 1 June.

We are sad to announce that Clare Pullar, Director of Advancement will be leaving MBS at the end of June to take up the position of Pro Vice-Chancellor, Advancement at the University of Queensland later in the year.  This is a very significant position and we give warm congratulations to Clare for achieving this wonderful post.  Read more.

Read Clare's tribute to MBS.

Last Wednesday saw MBS say ‘au revoir’ to the Graduating Class of 2009 as they celebrated Valedictory Dinner at the University’s Ormond College, and prepared for life as proud MBS alumni.  We look forward to hearing many success stories as the months and years roll on.

A highlight of the dinner was, as always, the awards ceremony, with Jeffrey Spivock (MBA/Mmktg 2009) delivering a terrific toast to staff and faculty, with one guest commenting it was “the best speech he had ever heard”.  Read more.

If you were looking to hire staff in the current market would you pay a recruiter between 10% and 20% of the successful applicant's salary for the recruiter to screen CVs for you? 

More hiring managers are deciding to search for talent themselves.  In the past contingent recruiters (i.e those that are not retained by a client to search the market for a specific candidate) have sold access to the database as a reason to employ their services.  Websites such as Linkedin, Linkme and Xing now enable hiring managers to search for talent themselves.  Read more

There’s nothing like adversity to generate innovation, and as we weather the worst economic downturn in nearly 80 years, MBS is quietly innovating.

First there’s a host of new elective subjects, ranging from Managerial Judgement by Professor Jill Klein to Negotiation and Conflict Management by Professor Karen (“Etty”) Jehn.  Read more

‘From adversity comes opportunity’ – or at least that is what I’d always been told as I grew up.  The last few years in financial services has certainly been about adversity, and as I lay out below, also about opportunity. 

I had lived in New York and worked on Wall Street for almost a decade, including a two-year stint in London to round out my finance education.  In that time I had a wonderful time being in the centre of the financial ‘universe’ in both New York and London.  Read more.

MBS students and alumni are invited to join keynote speaker Mr Ahmed Fahour (MBA 1993), Chief Executive, Australian Business Investment Partnership (ABIP) - the "Rudd Bank" - at this interactive session on the leadership challenges we are facing relative to the global economic crisis.

This is the second event in the Class of 2008's sponsored Key Note Speaker Series.  Register online no later than Friday 5 June

Federal Reserve Governor Bernanke, among others, claims that the signs of recovery in the US and global economies are evident.

Credit markets are recovering, equity markets are recovering some lost ground, and other positive signs suggest that the worst of the global crisis might be behind us. Hopefully this is the case, but that still leaves the question of what the recovery will look like? 

Hear from Mark Crosby on which countries are best positioned to lead a global recovery, and he speculates on what this recovery might look like. Particular attention will be paid to the economic prospects for Australia and our main trading partners: Japan, China, and the United States.

Register online - Melbourne
Register online - Sydney

To complement the Macroeconomic Update Breakfast, MBS is also delighted to offer alumni access to a new and exclusive personal wealth management series.  Through this unique four-part breakfast series you will discover how to optimise your own wealth management strategy in an intimate learning environment.

The breakfast series will run for four consecutive weeks, beginning Wednesday 15 July, with places strictly limited.  Register here.

The 2009 Giving to MBS Appeal has seen a team of students reach out to almost 1,500 alumni throughout May to engage them with what’s going on at MBS today, seek their feedback, and invite their support of philanthropic initiatives such as Indigenous scholarships and the not-for-profit internship program.

MBA student Ashish Raj Verma – a member of the student team – reflects on the many amazing conversations he’s enjoyed as part of the appeal. Read more.

One of the ways Mt Eliza Executive Education is helping organisations to ‘do more with less’ to leverage and engage their most important organisational asset, their people, is through blended learning. 

Mt Eliza's blended learning approach is a powerful combination of different learning methods that invoke discussion, transformation and practical application in the workplace. It accelerates the value that employees bring to improve their performance and the impact for organisations is immediate and long lasting. Read more

MBS alumni and new 2009 graduates are invited to attend the Autumn 4Seasons networking event. This is a great opportunity for existing alumni to welcome new graduates to the alumni community. Those of you graduating - don't miss this opportunity to network with your fellow alumni!

When: Friday 5 June, 6.00pm
Where: Royal Melbourne Hotel - 629 Bourke St, Melbourne 3000
Register online

*This event is limited to MBS alumni and 2009 Graduates only