FROM SCOTT DERUE, DEAN OF THE MICHIGAN ROSS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS:
For the last year, I’ve been traveling the world meeting with Michigan Ross alumni, partners, prospective students, and other community members for a series of RossTalks events.
Our goal is to bring Michigan Ross people and ideas together in cities across the world. By the end of this year, we’ll have held RossTalks events in more than 25 cities, connecting with the Ross community everywhere from Chicago and LA and our nation’s capital to the global city centers of Shanghai and Mumbai.
One of the things I love about RossTalks is that each one is unique. We’ve talked together about the future of Michigan Ross. We’ve discussed major trends in business. And we’ve had discussions with several visiting guests.
In New York, we had a panel of accomplished Michigan Ross grads turned entrepreneurs talk about their experiences and lessons learned managing startups and acquiring funding.
Chatting with Tarō Kōno at the recent RossTalks in Tokyo
In LA, I had an insightful and wide-ranging discussion with Charlie Munger. You may have seen that his comments on bitcoin and cryptocurrency were widely reported and may have even had an impact on the markets.
In Tokyo, where we held our most recent RossTalks just this past weekend, I had the pleasure of chatting with the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs, Tarō Kōno. We talked about his vision for the future of Japan, globalization, and how trade and economic relationships among countries can create value and enable innovation for all members of society.
We’ve visited a lot of our alumni and friends in the past year, but I also know that we have not been to every city where our alumni are in the world. So, we have live streamed our next RossTalks event directly to you.
WATCH THE VIDEO
On Thursday, Feb. 1 at 6:30 p.m. ET, we broadcasted our Ann Arbor RossTalks event live to the Michigan Ross website and the Ross YouTube page. You can view the complete panel discussion here:
During the Ann Arbor RossTalks event, I hosted a discussion with Tom Lewand, CEO of Shinola; and Mike Barger, the executive director of the Michigan Ross Office of Strategy and Academic Innovation.
We talked about how Michigan Ross is redefining the future of business education through innovative partnerships with leading companies around the globe, including Shinola. If you can imagine a world where business students lead specific business functions for companies as part of their education, you are imagining the world we are creating at Michigan Ross. These innovations will shape the future of our school and our partners education for generations.
It was a fun, informative discussion with a few twists and turns along the way, so I hope you’ll take a look at the video. Go Blue!
