Erin!
The New York Times has an article on Erin Burnett ‘98. I’ll leave it to # 1 Fan to discuss it.
Purple Bull Investment Club
Hey All,   I am quite new to the blog scene, but with Dave’s help, I am posting the Purple Bull Investment Club Portfolio.  For those of you who don’t know, we are an investment club here at Williams.  The group was started 3 years ago as a way for Williams students to research and invest in the stock market.  Seeing how we have so many successful Ephs in the financial world, but no real finance training here at Williams, I believe this group is a great starting point for many students.   Each member is required to contribute $500 and we work together to invest the money.  More than the profits, we are more concerned with the educational aspect of investing.  Anyhow, I have posted our current holdings.  Please note that we also have a strong cash holding, nearly 5k.  Basically, we would appreciate any advice you have on our current holdings or perhaps some things we should consider buying.  Our goal is to try to establish a conversation between more knowledgeable Ephs and the Club.  Thanks in advance for your time and help! CAT; DFS; FRO; MS; NYB; PFE; TRST; WM; WYNN; YHOO  Â
The Old School Tie Pays Off
An article in The New York Times entitled, “Quantifying the Role of Old-School Ties in Investing” reports that,
“Mutual fund managers invest more money in companies that are run by people with whom they went to college or graduate school than in companies where they have no such connections, the study found. The investments involving school ties, on average, also do significantly better than other investments.”
This is an interesting finding, given Williams’ longtime links to Wall Street and investment banking.
L’Chaim!
The wedding of my friend and teammate Kenny Marines ‘01 to Jen Greene ‘02 was listed in the New York Times’ wedding announcements on Sunday. Congratulations to a long-standing and lovely couple, and best of luck to them as they begin the rest of their lives together.
David, I don’t know whether they met during Winter Study (and I doubt that they lived across the same quad, as they were a year apart), but they were definitely a Williams couple, so that’s one more for you.
Though I knew about the nuptuals since the summmer, the reason I found out about the announcement was because David Lat (formerly of Article III Groupie and then Wonkette, now running a legal tabloid called AboveTheLaw) listed Ken’n'Jen in his Legal Eagle Wedding Watch post today and in fact, named them this week’s winners. Lat’s commentary is highly complementary and quite amusing — one might even call it gushing. (emphasis below is mine):
Résumé score: 8.7. Both are Williams College grads. She went to Brooklyn Law (cum laude), clerked for a bankruptcy judge (in the S.D.N.Y.), and will be going into bankruptcy — the department, not the financial state — at Simpson Thacher (the other highlight of their credentials, besides Williams). He’s an associate at the Tishman Speyer real estate firm.
…
Balance score: 8.7. Hard to gauge the impressiveness (or profitability) of Kenny’s employment with Tishman Speyer; but it seems to us that Jennifer has the edge.
Beauty score: 9.4. Yes, this is one of the highest scores we’ve awarded in a long time — but check out that photo! They’re both gorgeous. If she’s 5′8″ or above, she belongs on a runway. And so does he. You know someone is truly beautiful when they look great even with a shaved head. It’s all about the features.
Overall score: 8.80.
Additional comments: Extra points if this is a multi-ethnic union. A rabbi officiated, so one or both of them is Jewish; but we’re guessing that Kenny is Latino, based on the names of his parents (Emelania Fernandez and Juan Marines).
…
THIS WEEK’S WINNING COUPLE: Jennifer Greene and Kenny Marines. Their exceedingly high beauty score gave them a lead over the two other couples that they never relinquished. Congratulations!
Blogging from GAC 2006: Day 2: Introduction
What an incredible day. I haven’t slept for more than three hours in close to two weeks and I’m beginning to move from exhaustion to routine, and to love it again.
The vision of the automobile industry, and of our future and changing world, that we have assembled in the past three days is also amazing and wonderful to me. I had little idea that so much would be said, nor that we would find so much agreement and convergence on our ideals of leadership and the new role that the industry must take.
All of the below will take much reworking to identify themes and visions, and we will intergrate with presentation materials, written remarks and audio/visual. For now, I will post my raw notes because this material seems entirely fresh to me, relevant, and entirely different than the representations you see elsewhere.
Post times adjusted to put this below Diana’s earlier post; it is now after midnight here.
GAC 2006 Day 2: Session 2
PANEL DISCUSSION
Moderator: Peter Frise, Professor and AUTO21 NCE Scientific Director & CEO, University of Windsor
Grant Bibby, CEO, Orchid International
John Edwards, Chief Executive, Advantage West Midlands, UK
Lyle Otremba, VP Sales and Program Engineering, Cooper-Standard Automotive
Greg Rasmussen, VP Car Business NA, SKF
GAC 2006 Day 2: Awards Ceremony
Martha Layne Collins, Former Governor (’83-’87), Chairwoman, Kentucky World Trade Center
Ian Browde, Director of Strategy and Business Development, Enterprise Solutions Division, Nokia
Blogging from GAC 2006
Good morning from beautiful Lexington KY.
Phil Martens from Plastech is just finishing up. Three points you might have not expected him to make:
1) The number one problem facing the automotive industry is the impact of global warming; this is the top issue in boardrooms.
2) Global convergence– a process beyond globalization– is the fundamental process facing the automotive industry and the world.
3) If you are in your twenties, the best thing you can do is live in another country, and learn another language. You must have these tools to understand the coming world.
More later as possible.
P.S. Hybrids are a stepping stone; the vision for 2030 is vehicles that positively contribute to the environment around them.
—————-
Steve St. Angelo: “We are all in the same business.”
TMMK is the largest Toyota facility outside Japan: an integrated series of plants under one roof (powertrain, die manufacturing, paint,…)– highly integrated “mini city.” Number one resource: people. $5.3BN investment, produced 93K jobs in US.
32 years ago: “Workers Divided”
Team members; hourly floor workers; senior executive staff. Three separate dining rooms.
Workers: street clothing. Foreman: white collar. Execs: Italian silk suits.
We even had different water fountains! Different bathrooms, “salaried restrooms,” “executive restrooms.” Executive garages, where cleaned and gassed every day…
That’s how it was 32 years ago…
90 days onto the job, people began to walk out. Asked my group leader what was happening, he said “wildcat strike.” Everyone came back next day. Intro to labour relations.
Promoted to foreman (”group leader” today). Strong GLs were considered people who exercised a heavy hand– very few accolades given to
What happened? Toyota– NUMMI. GM watched this miracle and began adapting itself to be more like Toyota: JIT production, lean manufacturing, participative management.
Blogging from GAC 2006: Panel Presentation
Craig Fitzgerald: Strategic Planning and Global Service Practices
Supply base analysis: I expect 2/3 of supply base to go out of business in 5 yr period, and 1/3 to be sold (by 2011). This should take the excess capacity out of the system.
We are at 1/2 rate of return necessary to keep capital in US industry.
SLIDE: Average profit per vehicle — look at huge drop in last 5 years– industry IS LOSING SEVERAL THOSAND DOLLARS PER VEHICLE. Situation cannot and will not continue.
Case of haves and have nots: new domestics have come into market responsibly and carefully, are making a great portion of their profits in the North American market.
SLIDE: OEM Operating Margins: Detroit 3: bad years execept for Chysler- not sustainable; CAN THEY CHANGE THE CULTURE:
THEY REALLY HAVE TO CHANGE FUNDAMENTALLY THE CULTURE AND THE PROCESSES USED IN THE BUSINESS. Their problem is not legacy cost but LEGACY CULTURE.
The Wake of Eziba
Eziba, the global crafts on-line retailer that declared bankruptcy last year and was founded by former Williams economics professor Richard Sabot, is in the news again. The New York Times today features an article questioning Eziba’s decision to pay off its bank loan before paying overseas suppliers (i.e., individual crafts persons in Africa and Asia).
