Welcome to the Cornell Entrepreneur Network!
CEN is the university's multi-city business networking program. With ~100 events per year, CEN offers alumni the opportunity to learn from world-class speakers and meet fellow Cornellians with similar business motivations.

Upcoming Events

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02.10.2010 | *Web Seminars | More Details | See Who's Coming | Register to Attend

CEN Web Seminars: Uncensored VC Confessions

CEN Web Seminars Presents: Uncensored VC Confessions — a candid online discussion led by Zach Shulman, Senior Lecturer of Entrepreneurship at the Johnson School at Cornell University, and also a managing partner at Cayuga Venture Fund based in Ithaca.

Panelists include:
Ben Black ’91, JD ’97, General Partner and Co-Founder, New Cycle Capital
Scott Killips, MBA ’75, Partner, Preserve Capital Group

Join us for this interactive web seminar to get first-hand viewpoints and advice from venture capitalists on topics relevant to entrepreneurs and startups, including executive/VC/employee relations, institutional dollars, corporate governance, service providers, and business sense. The delivery will come in the form of “one liners,” a format designed to elicit great discussion and rapid-fire commentary, with plenty of room for attendee participation and questions. Venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, startup employees, and service providers are sure to find this web seminar worthwhile and entertaining.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010
12:30PM - 1:30PM (Eastern)

This is an online event. To participate in the web seminar you will need internet and a phone. Log-in and dial-in information will be sent a day before the event. If you have any questions, contact Allison Shirley at acs275@cornell.edu or 607-254-7176.

Cost: $20 per person; if you are not completely satisfied with the presentation, you will be fully refunded.

About CEN Web Seminars: As our CEN programs continue to grow in popularity, we are taking the best of CEN online. CEN is producing a series of web seminars focused on current topics that provide attendees with the tools they need to grow their business. The web seminars continue to feature the top speakers in their field. The goal is for the web seminars to be as interactive as possible. Throughout the presentation, the audience can ask the speaker questions and there will be an official Q&A session at the end of the presentation. Some presentations will also include instant audience polling. As with all CEN programs, attendees are able to post Open Mike Comments online before the event. To get a flavor for the types of web seminars CEN is sponsoring, visit the CEN website.

Get more details and register.

02.10.2010 | South Florida | More Details | See Who's Coming | Register to Attend

CEN Miami: The Power of Personal Service

Cornell Entrepreneur Network (CEN) Miami presents The Power of Personal Service – Now More Than Ever featuring Barbara M. Talbott, Ph.D., CEO and Founder – GlenLarkin Advisors, former Executive Vice President Marketing, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in conversation with Michael Johnson, Dean of the Cornell School of Hotel Administration.

Now more than ever, delivering the best customer experiences can help any organization stand apart – protecting and building market share even in challenging times. Brands such as Four Seasons have been doing this for many years, by creating a culture of service that delivers enduring value.

Tonight through a very interactive conversation we’ll cover some key lessons learned from Four Seasons and other great service organizations. Our event is applicable to all Cornellians regardless of their degree at Cornell and professional work. In a tough economic climate, there will be ideas you can take to work the next morning, as well as more ground-breaking, enterprise shaking-ideas that will have you thinking long after this session ends.

Recruiting – Why should any conversation about service start there? How do you find great people?

Leadership – What qualities do outstanding service leaders share?

Service Training – How much? What makes it meaningful?

Turn-Arounds – Is it possible to reshape an existing culture? What does it take to do that?

Us and Them – Why are basic service expectations often so hard to meet? How can organizations become more customer-centric?

Pricing – What does your price say about your brand? What’s most important to your customers and how can you deliver it, uniquely?

Loyalty – Does it require a program? Is there a downside to points and perks?

Time – We’re all stretched thin. (AND you’re probably reading this on your Blackberry, right?) Why is time pressure one of your best market share opportunities?

Research – What can you learn about your customers through conventional research – and other sources? What are we working on at Cornell? What’s going on in the industry.

Barbara Talbott has been on tour with us at Cornell Entrepreneur Network (CEN) for several years. Perhaps better than any other speaker we’ve featured, Barbara grasps the power of stories to educate. She is funny and engaging, practical and approachable, and yet quickly draws you into very deep thinking. Why can’t every customer interaction offer an opportunity to show excellence? You'll find a great example of Barbara's research at the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research titled "The Power of Personal Service." A little over a year ago, Barbara retired from Four Seasons and is now devoting her time to teaching and consulting on service innovation and branding. Barbara begins as Chair of The Committee of 200 in January 2010. The primary mission of C200 is to foster, celebrate and advance women's leadership in business. Through targeted outreach and support to future leaders, C200 also helps to ensure that women will continue to take evermore significant and visible leadership roles. This is Cornell at its best, research and applied field practices, changing the world. We know you’ll enjoy this event.

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

6:00pm Doors open/Networking reception

7:00pm Presentation, Discussion, and Q&A
8:00pm Optional Networking Continues

Cost: $30

Location: Four Seasons Hotel, 1435 Brickell Ave, Miami FL (305) 358-3535

About Barbara Talbott

Barbara Talbott, founder and CEO, GlenLarkin Advisors and former Chief Marketing Officer of Four Seasons Hotels, is a leader in global branding and service innovation. From 1989-2008, she led the effort which created one of the world’s most valuable consumer brands–building the strategies and team which positioned Four Seasons as the market leader.

With an integrated approach to branding, direct sales, customer experience and ecommerce, Barbara and her colleagues delivered superior results at Four Seasons through many business cycles. In 2007 she received a lifetime achievement award from HSMAI, the international hospitality sales & marketing association. Other recipients of this award in recent years have included Sir Richard Branson, Michael Eisner and Barry Sternlicht.

Author of “The Power of Personal Service,” Barbara has long been a sought-after speaker at executive conferences in industries ranging from health care and financial services to retailing, hospitality and fashion. In 2009 she formed GlenLarkin Advisors, LLC to continue sharing her insights and experience with senior management teams. Through GlenLarkin, she is also continuing her commitment to mentorship, research & higher education.

During her 30 years in business, Barbara has consistently developed & mentored other leaders, many of them outstanding women. She currently serves on the Board of the Committee of 200, an organization of top entrepreneurs & corporate executives dedicated to advancing women’s leadership in business.

A founding partner and advisory board member of Cornell University’s Center for Hospitality Research, Barbara has been named an honorary member of the Cornell Hotel Society in recognition of her contributions to the University and the industry.

She began her career McKinsey & Company. Prior to Four Seasons, she served as VP Marketing for Royal Viking. Barbara earned a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. She resides in Miami with her husband, John Riley.

About Michael D. Johnson

Michael D. Johnson became the sixth dean of the Cornell School of Hotel Administration in 2006. During his tenure the school has reaffirmed its preeminence as the school for hospitality leadership through the activities of its faculty, students, programs, alumni, and corporate partners. Johnson has overseen the growth of the school’s alliances with the Culinary Institute of America and its master’s degree program in Singapore through the Cornell-Nanyang Institute. He has led the development of the Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship and the Center for Real Estate Finance as well as a highly effective fundraising effort to support the school’s programs. Under Johnson’s leadership, the School of Hotel Administration is building bridges for teaching and research across Cornell University and growing its global brand.

Johnson came to Cornell after a 24-year career on the faculty of the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He holds MBA and PhD degrees from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and a BS degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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02.17.2010 | Northern California | More Details | See Who's Coming | Register to Attend

Cornell Silicon Valley (CSV) presents: Clouds vs. Hype

Clouds vs. Hype; Is Cloud Computing more than just data on the Internet? Does data need a unique home?

Featuring Jonathan Poe '82, Director, Advanced Services, Cisco Systems Inc. and Dean Krafft, Chief Technology Strategist, Cornell University Library

Unbundling, Commoditization, and Consumerization of content and services? Those are topics at the Cornell library?Correct. Take a look. Meanwhile, is Cisco competing with Salesforce.com and Google or enabling them? It’s all cloudy right?

This session will focus on;

1. Cloud fostered virtualization and collaboration

2. Current products and services based on cloud computing

3. Corporate strategies for cloud formation

4. Consumer strategies for home based products

5. Cloud formations at Cornell Library

Uh, that’s all techno-garble to you? How about?
1. Will the digital revolution mean the end of traditional higher education?

2. How are some leading institutions, including Cornell implementing clouds?

3. How does it affect you as manager, developer, user?

This is an event for all alumni, from the Avatar-loving, Apple Tablet aware, to the occasional Amazon Kindle reader, to someone who simply lives in the Bay Area and knows very little about technology (what’s a cloud?) but wants to understand trends. Cornell has a serious strength in multidisciplinary collaboration, the notion that we are stronger through team work across disciplines. The cure for cancer, you won’t find it in any single department at Cornell. We’d love to see a real cross section of alumni at this event.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

6PM Reception

7PM Presentation

Cost: $20 per person including reception and presentation

Location: As this event will sell out, pre-registration is required, We will not be able to accept walk-ins. Cisco Campus, 3979 Freedom Circle, 7th floor, Santa Clara, CA. You may park in the lot across the street or there is a covered garage behing the buildilng.

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02.25.2010 | Washington, D.C. | More Details | See Who's Coming | Register to Attend

CEN DC: Social Entrepreneurship: Where Are We In 2010?

CEN DC presents: Social Entrepreneurship: Where Are We In 2010?

No one has yet counted all the dollars or hours that have been devoted to social entrepreneurship. What we know is that if you google the topic, you'll get 16 million pages. "Social entrepreneurship ideas" alone account for 2.3 million. Now more than ever, we need leaders who combine their passion for a mission with discipline, innovation and determination. And, as Google's Project 10 to the 100 made clear: "Never in history have so many people had so much information, so many tools at their disposal, so many ways of making good ideas come to life."

So how has this movement worked and is it more effective than traditional philanthropy? Our panelists, recognized leaders in social philanthropy, will help us take a closer look at this phenomenon and address such questions as:

What's changed since the idea was first born?
What are some of the latest trends?
Why is social entrepreneurship such a powerful way of creating social change? Or isn't it?
What have we learned about what works and what doesn't?

If you're interested in these questions, or have some of your own, join us. You won't want to miss this event!

Featuring:

Moderator Shelly Porges '74, MPS '77, Chair, Board of Directors, Count Me In for Women's Economic Independence

Christopher Fong '03, Google.org Tanzania Business Evaluator & Google North America Advertising Sales

Alexandra Poe ’81, Chairperson, High Water Women Foundation; Partner, Reed Smith.

Molly Tschang '85, Managing Director, International Programs, Cisco, Internet Business Solutions Group
Stacey Young MA '90, PhD '92, Senior Knowledge Management Advisor, Microenterprise Development, US Agency for International Development

Thursday, February 25th ~ 6:30PM to 9:00PM

6:30 PM Doors Open/Networking/Reception
7:30 PM Presentations /Q&A/Open Mic

8:30 PM Networking Continues

9:00 PM Event Concludes

Cost: ADVANCE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. This event will sell out. $35 includes hors' de oeuvres, presentation and networking.

Location: Reed Smith
One Franklin Square
1301 K Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005
Exact building location and directions will be emailed to registered attendees.

Get more details and register.