Past Events Archive - March 2003

March 26, 2003
Sam Gilliland, CEO of Travelocity

KACNY held an event in late March featuring Sam Gilliland, CEO of Travelocity. The event was held at the Williams Club in New York and began with a cocktail reception. Following the reception, Mr. Gilliland, a true survivor of the dot com shake out and a leader in the travel and leisure industry, presented his perspective on leadership in the current business climate. Attendees picked up a few career tips from a man who has risen rapidly to the top in his industry. After the presentation, we held a brief Q&A session. This event was sponsored by KACNY and the Oxford Club of New York. Special thanks to Daniel Schlein, president of the Oxford Alumni Association of New York, for organizing this event along with Dan Williams ’99.

See the photo gallery from this event.

March 20, 2003
"Buicks" - A New Play

KACNY alumni gathered on a late March evening for a new production of “Buicks” produced by the Underwood Theater Company and held at the McGinn/Cazale Theater on Broadway on New York’s Upper West Side. After the show, alumni attendees gathered at The Evelyn Lounge nearby for a post-production discussion on the performance over a few drinks. Special thanks to Amy Becker ’96 for introducing KACNY to the Underwood Theater company.

March 12, 2003
All Northwestern Happy Hour

Alumni from the various schools of Northwestern University in the New York area (KACNY, Medill Club of Greater New York, Northwestern Club of New York and NUEA East) gathered on an evening in mid-March at the Joshua Tree, a lounge on Restaurant Row in New York’s theater district. Alumni from the various Northwestern programs found that they had more in common than simply their alma mater. As with many of our events, important social and business connections were made, in addition to rekindling old friendships from days in Evanston or Chicago.

March 4, 2003
"In Brands We Trust?"

KACNY teamed up with the Medill Club of New York in early March to present this exciting discussion with branding professionals on how brands have been impacted by our challenging environment of global recession, the then-imminent war with Iraq, widespread corporate accounting scandals, and eroding consumer confidence. The panel explored recent changes in consumers' behavior and their impressions of brands and also looked at the roles brands have for the future. Panelists, listed below, discussed effective brand strategies that impact product, price, and distribution; integrated marketing communications that businesses might consider; and ways to measure shareholder value and ROI in branding initiatives. Panelists included: Frank Mulhern (professor and chair of Integrated Marketing Communications program at Medill), Stuart Elliott (advertising columnist for the New York Times), Barry Hepburn (managing director of Brand Finance USA), Andy Hopson (CEO of Publicis Dialog), and Thomas Troland (director of development at Meredith Corporation). Over 100 Kellogg and Medill alumni attended this event hosted at Publicis Dialog’s Herald Square headquarters. Special thanks to Lan Wong of the Medill Club of Greater New York for helping organize and plan this event with KACNY.

Medill also has a full write-up of this event that can be found here.

See the photo gallery for this event.