Reunion 2011

5/13/2011 - Buenos Aires resident Esteban Rubin ’01 traveled more than 5,000 miles to attend Kellogg’s Reunion 2011. But Rubin says the distance seems insignificant compared to the growth he’s experienced since his first days at Kellogg.

When he began the MBA program in 1999, “I was so lost,” says Rubin, founding director of The Mind Company. “I was in a new country, speaking a new language, back in school again. But I made it through with the help of my classmates and friends [at Kellogg].

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“It’s good to reconnect with so many of them again” at Reunion, he said.

Those reconnections took place during the jam-packed Reunion 2011 weekend April 29-May 1, which featured individual class parties, performances of the Special K Revue, an all-class reception and barbecue, and more.

Overflow crowds attended the “MBA Update” sessions, a series of 75-minute mini-courses conducted by senior faculty members. In one session, Mitchell Petersen, the Glen Vasel Professor of Finance, shared his observations on the promises and perils of the democratization of finance; in another, Michelle Buck, clinical professor of management and organizations, explored the topic of inspirational leadership.

One of the highlights of the weekend was Dean Sally Blount’s State of the School address, which took place in the Owen L. Coon Forum before a capacity crowd. During the address, Blount shared a forthcoming Kellogg information video, talked about objectives for positioning Kellogg on the global stage, and described plans for Kellogg’s new building. She told attendees that their next Reunion would take place in that stunning new facility with a fabulous lakefront view.

“I can’t wait for that celebration,” Blount says. “And I can’t wait to make our statement to the world: That we are Kellogg, and we are going to be here for a long, long time.”

The dean’s vision strongly resonated with alumni in the crowded auditorium.

“When Dean Blount was speaking, you saw a whole lot of heads nodding around the room,” says Simon Frewer ’06, practice leader at Corporate Executive Board in Washington and a Reunion 2011 committee member. “As she spoke, you felt an instant reconnection with the school.

“We had the feeling that ‘This is what Kellogg is all about.’”