Chicago

Warm winter greetings to all alumni from your Kellogg hometown club, the Kellogg Alumni Club of Chicago (KACC). KACC invites all of you to join us at any of our events throughout the year, whether you're traveling in the area on business, visiting friends and family or just passing through.

We want to express our warmest wishes and best of luck to Dean Jacobs on behalf of all KACC members and the Chicago-area alumni community. Our Kellogg experience has made an immeasurable difference in all of our lives, and would not have been possible without Dean Jacobs' leadership, his vision and his tenacity in building the best graduate business school in the world. This spirit lives on through the hearts and minds of the alumni situated in every industry, in every business sector, across the globe.

In doing its part to maintain the connection between Kellogg and the alumni community, KACC continues to fulfill its mission: To facilitate lifelong learning, contacts and camaraderie, to apply Kellogg management training to enhance members' personal, career and community development, and to establish club membership as an expectation and aspiration among students and alumni.

Special recognition goes to the members of our eBusiness Committee for the tremendous job they have done in creating an excellent series of programs on a variety of subjects addressing the needs of the Kellogg eBusiness community. The committee is chaired by Gary Heck '92 and Julia Trosman '98. Their dedicated committee members include Karen Chung '98, Mary Conley '96, Joe Dondalski '84, Eric Fridman '97, Molly Mangan '94, Cynthia Opie '98, Ed Rafacz '96 and Mary Lou Wattman '90.

On Sept. 21, our eBusiness committee organized a spectacular panel discussion on �Mobile Commerce: Where is it going? How far? How fast?� Attended by nearly 150 alumni, students and their guests, the panel discussed how wireless technology is used today and assessed its future potential. Panelists engaged the audience in a lively Q&A session. As with most KACC events, there was plenty of time to network and socialize with fellow alumni over hors d'oeuvres and cocktails.

�Whose Data is it Anyway?: Serving the �Market of One' in a Privacy-Conscious World� was the subject of our Nov. 16 presentation, moderated by Tom LaPort from WBBM Newsradio. Panelists included the CIO of the State of Illinois, the vice president of product strategy at Broadbase Software, the CMO and senior vice president of TruSecure Corporation and an executive from CoolSavings.com.

On Feb. 15, our eBusiness Committee hosted �Metamorphosis of the Company: Fall of the Dot-com, Rise of the Large Corporation?� Top executives from United Airlines, CNA eBusiness, CDW Computer Centers and Diamond Cluster addressed questions from the perspective of large corporations. More than 150 alumni and guests attended this premiere event on the Chicago campus. The next eBusiness event is in April.

After the success of Professor Phil Kotler's May 2000 standing-room-only presentation on his newest book, Kotler on Marketing, our Kellogg Authors Committee is developing a new seminar series based on the newly released Kellogg on Marketing. The first session occurred March 8 and featured Professor Lakshman Krishnamurthi, one of the many stellar contributors to what is destined to become a marketing classic. Keep an eye out for more installments in this series, as well as other sessions featuring authors from all corners of the Kellogg community.

Our Entrepreneurship Committee planned an event for March 15, drawing together a panel of successful entrepreneurs to share their stories, secrets and recipes for success with all of us who have entrepreneurial aspirations. This was a �back to the roots� session focusing not on eBusiness, but on many other sectors of interest to our diverse Kellogg alumni community.

We are also working with the EMA and other student groups to begin a series of alumni/student mixers that will ensure strong connections among the entire Kellogg community, and enable all of us to benefit from the depth of knowledge, experience and contacts available. As well, these efforts will increase awareness and interest in alumni activities among students and encourage their participation upon graduation.

Lastly, we have been working to improve our communications with the Chicago-area alumni. We have moved to an e-mail only format, so it is crucial you update your contact information through the Kellogg Web site, or by dropping a note to our KACC Coordinator at director@ kacc.org.

We are also revitalizing the content on our Web site so you can go there and be sure to find the latest information on all of our events and activities. This new site can be accessed through the Kellogg home page, or by typing www.kellogg.nwu. edu/alumni/usclubs/chicago.htm into your browser. We look forward to seeing you at upcoming events.

If you're interested in getting involved with KACC just contact Mitch Kreger or Christine Feary, our KACC Coordinator at 847.467.KACC.