The Rady School of Management sent a small contingency of representatives to China and Japan to engage with corporate entities and alumni in Shanghai, Beijing and Tokyo.
The trip, for me however, proved to highlight the impact of the Rady School across the globe. Dean Sullivan, Ernest Rady, Bosco Lujan (president of the Rady Alumni Board) and myself were impressed and inspired by the impact of the Rady School in China and Japan.
We began our journey in Shanghai where Professor Jun Liu coordinated many high level corporate visits. These partnerships will prove fruitful for our students and graduates alike. We capped our first day of meetings with a wonderful alumni celebration in Shanghai.
At the event we met Sam Chi (MBA ‘11) who took a four hour flight from Shenzhen to attend the event. He shared his product, Pegasi, which are smart glasses designed to help individuals monitor and improve sleeping habits. Later at the alumni event, Jackie Lu (MBA ’12) read a special tribute to Ernest Rady titled “Two Words More Meaningful Than ‘I Love You’: Thank You”. The tribute was a special collection of notes from alumni across the globe that Jackie had contacted.
After a short visit to Beijing, the group took off for Tokyo. There we met Charles Zhang (MBA ’10) who is currently the CEO of Baidu Japan, a rapidly growing internet services company with the mission to provide the best and most equitable way for people to find what they are looking for online . Charles has been essential in connecting Rady students and graduates with Baidu.
Rocky Mitsuhashi (MBA ’08) has been leading the Rady Alumni Tokyo chapter ever since he graduated from Rady. They are very active in getting together, recruiting new students, and organizing new student “send offs” in Tokyo. Rocky recently joined our Rady Alumni Board and will be participating from Tokyo and continuing his engagement efforts on behalf of the alumni community.
After many visits in Tokyo, we celebrated with the Tokyo Rady Alumni at a reception. This group gathers once a month to discuss ‘Rady business.’ I learned that they meet to celebrate when a student is accepted in to the Rady Program, to welcome an alum back to Tokyo from Rady, to help each other with career opportunities and more. The Rady Alumni Group in Japan is as vibrant and dedicated as I have ever seen!
The trip was an eye opening experience about the power of the Rady Alumni Network and positive impact our school is having across the globe.
Zachary Smith (MBA ’18) is the senior director of development at the Rady School of Management.