Great Connect Concluding Issue

By the Mighty Mamallas

Dear Great Laker

As we set to a new journey and depart from this beautiful college, it

brings us immense pleasure to share with you the concluding issue of

Great Connect. We have a basket full of things to convey to you with

utmost delight.

It has been an amazing experience to gather and bring to you the hap-

penings at Great lakes and keep you updated. We can understand the

feeling of receiving Great connect even more now as we will soon be

experiencing the same, when we will not be on campus and still made

to feel like being there. So, here is the concluding issue by the class of

Mighty Mamallas.

This year began with a bang; the Mega Alumni Meet on Jan 5th with hun-

dreds of alumni came down to their very own college to relive those days and cherish the moments to-

gether with fellow students as well as professors. The event was grand one with funny quizzes, unconfer-

ence session and gala dinner. We also celebrated our annual festival L’Attitude with great zeal, chief guest

being Mr. Nitin Paranjpe, CEO-HUL. Students and professors playing to the tune of Parikrama, cultural

night extravaganza and 2 eventful days.

Some major events also took place in the last quarter of the session. The first ever Karma Yoga Convention

invited children and elders from various villages and encouraged them to share their problems and experi-

ences at an open forum. International Entrepreneurial Conference held in Feb attracted international par-

ticipation in its B-Plan competition, Audacia. We saw a plethora of students, corporates and dignitaries

joining and enlightening us. There was a one day exchange program with the students of the University of

Miami came to Great Lakes and co-created the real time leadership learning. And there was one event

which was historic, the visit of Dr. Philip Kotler; it was the day when the lecture hall was pouring of stu-

dents and visitors to be the audience of the God of Marketing.

This issue will throw light on all the above events and a few others. With this, we would like to sign off but

the legacy shall be continued by the Progressive Pallavas. It was great serving you, a year full on news,

events, and experiences to treasure and to share. We wish you good luck.

Happy Reading!

Kriti Sharma

Editor—Great Connect

Great Lakes Mega Alumni Meet

Great Lakes Mega Alumni meet was held on 5th January, 2013 in GL campus. The early event had a formal note speech by Prof

T.N. Swaminathan, Prof S.Sriram followed by a session with Prof Venkat Krishnan.

The fun started with quiz, yes, even quizzes can be fun, absolute amusement for all alumni and students present there, claim

being open for validation. The question varied from corporate to sports to movies, but everything with a twist. Our quiz masters

from Mamallas batch Lathish and Viral did an excellent job by keeping everyone engrossed and entertained. Rules were flexible,

participants were supposed to be the vigilantes of fairness themselves. Everything culminated to result into a great fun filled

event helping the alumni and students to unwind and bond.

The Un-conferencing session followed after Lunch. This was

another master event; the session was designed very care-

fully by our professor to strengthen the alumni network by

trying to get every alumnus involved and accountable. The

other very important part of the event was to get the valua-

ble feedback from the alumni, and everything was done in

typical Prof Kiruba Shankar style, that means it was high on

energy, novel in execution and with loads and loads of fun

and laughter. It was a huge success as it lead to many long

and fruitful discussions, the salient points of which were

bulleted down and the participants were rewarded! It was

one of the most important event and easily the centerpiece

of the Mega alumni meet.

After the fun events senior Glakers had candid open session

with Uncle Bala & Prof Sriram. The core topics of discussion re-

volved around “How the institute can engage its Alumni net-

work?” few of the suggestions made by the alumni included

business conferences, alumni directory, online chat/ idea ex-

change forums, social media platform to connect & communi-

cate, alumni portal, platform to engage with current batch, rele-

vant certification programs for alumni, access to resource cen-

ter, GL couch, video lectures, special interest groups and many

other thought provoking ideas. The other topic that was being

discussed was “How can the Alumni contribute to the institute?”

where suggestions like mentor-mentee program, industry partic-

ipation, information awareness, field awareness and knowledge dissipation programs were being discussed.

March |Page 1

The open session was followed by a cultural event with the mamallas performing for their seniors. It was all dance, song, band

performance, mimicry, shayari, poems and fun till everyone were ready for a grand cocktail dinner. The dinner was like a cherry

on the cake and perhaps the most appreciated event. The venue was just next to the beach with a candle light setting and live

country music in background. It wasn’t long till our in-house musicians took control of the mike. It was a beautiful evening and

just a perfect setting to rejuvenate, rejoice and relive with friends after long time. The nostalgia, liquid syrups and the light music

playing in backdrop of reverberating sound of waves evoked the affective state of the consciousness.

Back in campus the music had to continue, while few

chose to party in MSH few alums were found bond-

ing over music, singing in chorus and enjoying in Jam

sessions. Others were interacting with the current

batch students and fraternizing in general. The

whole campus had gone alive, full of energy and en-

thusiasm the entire day. The apparent excitement

and energy levels were uncondensed and imperfo-

rate till late night.

Overall a successful fun filled event with enthusiastic

participation by alumni which will be remembered

by many for many days to come.

Chaitanya, Vinay Tiwary

March |Page 2

L’Attitude 13° 05' – A 6th serving of Great Lakes’ annual inter B-school fest

29th January 2013 marked the beginning of the 6th edition of L’Attitude 13° 05' - Great Lakes’ annual inter B-School festival. The

festival features a potpourri of events and competitions that encompasses various spheres of management education in the field

of marketing, finance, operations, strategy and Human Resources and provides an amazing platform for the brightest of the minds

across the world’s best Business schools to showcase their unique talents and compete against each other in various events

spread across different functions.

Spread over a period of two days, the festival comprised of 15 events which was thrown open to all the B-schools across the

country coupled with a Rock Show by Parikrama on the 1st day and a Cultural Extravaganza by the students and staff followed by

DJ night on the 2nd day. The fest saw an overwhelming participation from all over the country which proved that L’Attitude 13°

05' has made its mark in the annual B-School festival arena and that it is getting bigger and better with each passing year!

The festival centers on a different theme every year on which distinguished guests from

various walks of life are invited to share their experiences and insights with the students.

The theme for this year was ‘Business Darwinism: Be Distinct or Be Extinct’. The event

was inaugurated by Industry stalwarts like Mr. Nitin Paranjpe – CEO and MD, Hindustan

Unilever Ltd. and Mr. Lakshmi Narayanan – Vice Chairman, Cognizant Technology Solu-

tions Ltd. on 29th January and was closed with the valedictory address by Mr. Shanker

Annaswamy, Senior Advisor - India Enterprise, IBM India/ South Asia on 30th January.

Day 1 (29th January 2013)

During the inauguration, Dr. Bala V Balachandran, founder and dean of Great Lakes,

spoke about the importance of developing a good attitude for B-school graduates in his

enthralling welcome speech. He emphasized on nurturing and practicing the core values

like ability with humility, passion with compassion and mobility with nobility. He also spoke about the relevance of the theme in

today’s rat race when the businesses have no option but to be distinct and different from the rest in order to succeed.

March |Page 3

The inaugural address by Mr. Nitin Paranjpe was spell bounding to say the least. The charismatic Mr. Paranjpe spoke about the

importance of ‘focusing on change’ in order to stand out in this competitive age by citing the example of internet and how it

empowered people and transformed the society by democratacizing information and expression. He also cited Peter Drucker’s

definition of profit to remind the audience that the purpose of business isn’t making profit but serving the society. Further, he

said, that the businesses will cease to exist in the future unless they reinvent capitalism by going back to their roots and start

focusing on creating shared value for the society.

In his key note address, Mr. Lakshmi Narayanan spoke about the three qualities a great leader must possess in order to success-

fully lead an organization viz. determination, humility and innovation and then spoke about the future possibilities of focusing

on innovation to stay ahead of the competition. He then spoke about the need of the hour being the creation of a new model

of innovation to bring about convergence by citing the example of information technology and how it brought about a conver-

gence in the telecom, media and entertainment sectors. Mr. Narayanan also emphasized on the importance of developing a

Social Quotient for the future leaders in order to be able to interact with people and to co-exist in the society.

Post the inaugural ceremony, Spandan, Zoopraxis, iHuman, Nirnay, Glickr and Inquizito were condusted on the first day before

closing with a spell-bounding 2.5 hours of performance by Parikrama.

Day 2 (30th January 2013)

Uncle Bala inaugurated the Closing ceremony where he talked about the im-

portance of being Glocal in today’s world and coined a new phrase “Global issues,

local tissues” in his trademark style before welcoming and inviting the Chief Guest,

Mr. Shanker Annaswamy, to give the valedictory address to the students and

guests.

Mr. Annaswamy, a pioneer of transformational leadership, spoke about his vision

of transforming India into a leadership position in the world economy and shared

insights as to what India can differently to reach there in the not so distant future.

He also talked about the “Globally Integrated Enterprise” and how the world is

becoming a seamless business playing field.

March |Page 4

Mr. Shanker identified urbanization, Energy, Water, Transport, Education and Financial Inclusion as the key challenges in the

way of transforming India into leadership roles and went on to speak about the emergence of an instrumented, interconnected

and intelligent world which provides us with amazing opportunities to ‘think and act in new ways’ and to make India a ‘smarter

nation’. He emphasized the importance and emergence of Big Data by saying that “Data is like Oil, fuelling economic growth”.

He also talked about intelligent electricity grids, intelligent transportation systems and other areas of opportunity that can help

the country in emerging as a global thought leader and finished his presentation by sharing the totem for transforming the

country and hence the world: Innovative Vision, Collaborative Partnerships and Forward Thinking Leadership.

The valedictory address was followed by the prize distribution and felicitation ceremony for the events that were conducted

during the fest which was a grand success. This was followed by a Cultural extravaganza by the PGPM and PGDM students and

a DJ night to celebrate and mark the end of months of planning, team-work, efforts and sweat put in by the students in order

to make this fest a grand success.

March |Page 5

Karma-Yoga Convention On Saturday, 9th February 2013, Great Lakes Institute of Management witnessed the first ever Karma-Yoga Convention – an annual all-inclusive platform that aimed to bring together farmers, businessmen, self-help groups, non-governmental organi-zations, students, local Panchayat leaders and every other stake-holder relevant in the rural development schema together under one roof.

Interlaced with motivating speeches, cultural celebrations and discussions on raging socio-economic issues, this event enabled the institute to take the relationship and trust it established with the villagers through the Karma-Yoga project to a whole new level.

The Convention was divided into four segments: first was the inauguration session, which included motivating addresses by the chief guests, next was a panel discussion on the topic “Changing trends in Rural Communities: A look at livelihoods, educa-tion and social interface of communities”, which was followed by the cultural program by children from all 20 villages and the valediction ceremony.

Dr. Swarnamalaya Ganesh - a professional Bharatnatyam dancer and Director of Ranga Mandira Trust and School of perform-ing arts and Dr. S. Natarajan – Opthalmologist, Aditya Jyot Eye Hospital Pvt. Ltd were the chief guests for the day. The confer-ence also saw the participation of members from NGOs and non-profit organizations, who participated in the discussion as panelists. Some of the NGOs and non-profits organizations that were represented are: Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Vaanagam, Cen-tre for Culture and Development, Tamil Nadu Science Forum, RUWSEC, Reward Trust, Rotary Club of Madras West, Childline,

Centre for Social Initiative & Management, Hope Foundation Elementary & Primary School & Nalamdana Trust.

After the invocation song and lighting of the lamp of knowledge by the dignitaries, Prof. Venkat R. Krishnan – Director, Yale-Great Lakes Center for Management Research wel-comed the dignitaries, members from NGOs and non-profit organizations and the people from the villages and set the context for the convention. The objective of Karma-Yoga, the village empowerment project undertaken by the institute with the help of its students, he said, was to help the people lift themselves into their better selves and to enable them to achieve growth and development without any dependence.

Addressing the gathering Dr. Bala V Balachandran, said that it was heartening to see the involvement of more than 2/3rd of the students who weren’t from south, in this Leadership Experiential Project called Karma-Yoga which necessitates them to visit the villages and interact with the village people who speak only Tamil. This, he said, was an example of the inclusive growth that the institute promotes. He also provided some nuggets of wisdom in his mesmerizing manner and asked the stu-dents and villagers to aim high in life so that they got somewhere even when they failed to achieve what they had initially aimed for. Prof Bala ended his address with a quote from Saint Thiruvalluvar in Tamil, which meant, “There is nothing called impossible, everything is possible. Yes we can, and we will!”

March |Page 6

Dr. Swarnamalya Ganesh dwelt on how ‘aesthetic action’ can make the action itself, less burdensome. Dr. Ganesh also spoke about the three levels of problems existing in our country today – that of Governance, Society and Individual morals and said, that “she was delighted that the Karma-Yoga project was aiming at doing exactly that by reaching out and con-necting with the village people and trying to curate their morals through various initiatives.”

Our other Chief Guest Dr. S. Natarajan’s address was disarming in its simplicity and adherence to his to-the-core family-values. He spoke about the origins of Karma-yoga by quoting from the Bhagwad Gita and said the best way to live is by dedicating ones’ life for the service of humanity. He asked the students to have a large heart, as that was what was ex-pected of tomorrow’s nation builders.

Dr. Prabhat Kumar – CMD, BHAVINI, in his keynote address spoke about how time-tested tenets guide one as one strives for excellence. “It’s a terrible thing to see but have no vision”, he quoted before going on to talk about the importance of nurturing dreams and aspirations and how they tend to become important in shaping one’s future by citing examples from life of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. After an enthralling speech, he left the audience with his formula for achieving success, which he called the 3Cs: Clarity of vision, Conviction to succeed and Confidence to be.

Panel discussion post the inauguration session on the topic “Changing trends in Rural Development: An overview of edu-cation, livelihoods and the attitudes of people towards change”. Moderated by Prof. Venkat R. Krishnan, this was an open-ended discussion of burning issues between the panel members from the NGO and non-profit organization and represent-atives of the rural communities which included but wasn’t limited to farmers, labourers, panchayat-presidents, councilors, women-self-help group leaders and young college-goers. One of the participants said, “Karma-Yoga program has helped us look at the leadership qualities within us. Having been brought up in a different set up, opportunities to seek knowledge and learn new things had always been minimal until now. Through this program we aim to manage our village in a more organized way.” Another villager said that, “The knowledge shared by the students made us think like a strategist.”

Next was a cultural extravaganza by 20 teams – one from each of our Karma-Yoga village. The performances made sure the audience were glued to their seats till the very end and clearly reflected the amount of hard work put in by the stu-dents over a period of 3-4 weeks which resulted in extremely inventive and entertaining dance, music, fusion and drama performances by children ranging 5-17 years of age.

The first-of-its-kind convention ended with the valedictory session where the winners of the Cultural extravaganza were announced and certificates were distributed to all the participants whose hard work and dedication resulted in the event’s roaring success. The convention not only played a major role in bringing all the stakeholders together but also provided them with a platform to interact and to witness the development brought in by the Karma-Yoga project. This will definitely result in further community-development and engagement in mutually elevating collaborations for the partners.

Sushree Panda

March |Page 7

5th International Entrepreneurship Conference

On Thursday, 7th February 2013, Great Lakes Institute of management saw a host of entrepreneurs descend on the campus to be a part of the 5th International Entrepreneurship Conference. Organized under the auspices of the Orchid Pharma Center for Ex-cellence in Management of Technology, Innovation and Technopreneurship *OPCET+, the conference had "Entrepreneurs as dis-ruptive innovators" as its theme.

Disruptive Innovation is all about Reimagining Competition and bringing new customers into an existing market or creating con-sumption from a non-consuming segment. And a disruptive innovator is one who is able to provide the reimagined product or service at a low price point profitably by using a business model that is not attractive to the established leader in the market.

Mrs. Padma Chandrasekharan, an angel investor with Chennai Angels and an IIM-A graduate was the chief guest for the day. The conference also featured some high profile speakers, participants and panelists like Dr Ravindran (chairman Aravind Eye care), Mr. C.K Ranganathan (founder CMD Cavinkare), Mr Raghavendra Rao (CMD Orchid pharma), Mr. Devi Shetty (Narayana Hrudalayala) and corporates honchos from Tata motors, Godrej, Hindustan Unilever etc., who shared their thoughts with the students through the inaugural session, the panel discussions and the Valedictory session.

Prof Bala V Balachandran, in his inaugural address, expressed his delight at the increasing number of entrepreneurial ideas and ventures, especially from the 16-23 age-group in the sili-con valley and mentioned that this spirit is somehow lacking in their Indian counterparts. He then welcomed Dr. K.C. John to provide an overview and to set the context for the confer-ence. Dr. John spoke about the whole initiative of seeking out disruptive innovators by Great Lakes and how it came to be launched under the able guidance of Prof. R.S. Veeravalli. He also spoke about why and how Prof. Clayton M. Christensen, coined the word ‘disruptive innovation’. He ended his speech with a video from Prof. Clayton Christensen where he talks about the importance of Disruptive innovation for the society.

Prof. G. Sunderraman led the Panel discussion and set the context before inviting Mr. Alok Goel - Chief Products officer, Redbus, Mr. Rajesh Nahar – CEO and co-founder, Cba-zaar.com and Mr. Manivannan, CEO – Desicrew, a rural BPO. They all noted that innovators and entrepreneurs shared a Common DNA – Courage that gave rise to the desire of doing something new, of venturing into the unknown and concluded by saying that, “Courage is not an attitude, it is a skill. It can be acquired. Getting an idea is simple, getting it through in the market is tough but getting it through a herculean company like Godrej is a herculean task. Chotukool is a result of this courage!”

March |Page 8

Post the panel discussions; it was time for the Unconference session, which was anchored by Serial entrepreneur Mr. Pravin Shekhar, chief creator of KREA. Unconference - a participant driven meeting without the rigidness of a structured, conventional conference and the format was based on the premise that in any gathering the people in the audience - not just those selected to speak on stage - have interesting thoughts, insights and expertise to share. And it proved its point to the students.

The conference ended with the valedictory session where the winners of the Internal Business plan competition ‘Audacia’ were awarded and invited to share their winning plans' overviews with the audience. The winners were awarded the Shri Narasinga Rao Memorial Prizes, totaling INR 2,00,000/- (Two lakhs). This prize was instituted in commemoration of Late Mr. Narasinga Rao (a distinguished alumnus of Great Lakes and the co-founder of the famous SSI Ltd.) by his batch-mates and Dr. Bala V. Bala-chandran, our founder dean, to be given every year in this annual event celebrating entrepreneurship.

The conference enriched the students’ knowledge about the immense opportunities in entrepreneurship and the advantages of being a ‘disruptive innovator’ and hopefully, also motivated some of them to consider Entrepreneurship as a career and contrib-ute back to the society through their future innovative and sustainable business models.

March |Page 9

When Miami meets Chennai “Leadership cannot be learnt in the classroom but only with experience and concern for others” is the motto of Karma Yoga, a leadership experiential program founded by Dr Venkat R. Krishnan. On 4th March, 22 management students of 7 different na-tionalities representing University of Miami, USA along with Dr Vaidy Jayraman came to visit and experience the unique way of learning leadership from 20 students of Great Lakes who have been associated with Karma Yoga for 9 months now.

The day began with Dr. Krishnan delivering a speech on Leadership and Karma Yoga and explaining the visiting students how it is done at Great Lakes. Students from Mi-ami were enthralled to know about it and shared their own experiences of communi-ty work concept in the USA. This was fol-lowed by a case study on social entrepre-neurship initiatives of rural Gujrat where students from both the institutes sat to-gether to exchange ideas and come up with solutions to potential social issues of rural India. The interaction was a platform for all the students to learn from each other’s so-cial and cultural background and turned out to be a very enriching experience for each one of them.

To show how far Great Lakes had reached in achiev-ing its objectives of Karma Yoga in the past few months, a village visit was planned for the Miami stu-dents. They visited the Hope school at Pudupattinam where Great Lakes students had started up a lot of educational activities and later an organic farm at Natham-Kariacheri which again had a lot of initiatives from the Karma yoga students. After the visit most Miami students stated that they had never known this aspect of leadership and relationship building and found it very interesting and helpful.

The day ended with students of both institutes bond-ing with each other and learning some valuable les-sons of leadership- relationship building and concern for others, an important aspect of management edu-cation.

Akshata Pai

March |Page 10

A Great Laker, A Future Ready Business Manager, A ET Young Leader

Great Laker Krishnan C.A. of Crusaders batch won The Economic Times Young Leaders 2012. He is amongst All India Top 28 of the brightest young profes-sionals in the country (0.15% of 17,750 applicants) who have made the cut. It has taken several months, a series of grueling tests (psychometric, quantitative, and reasoning), case studies, role plays, group discussions and interviews with India’s top CEOs to earn a well-deserved place on the list. A gold medalist in both his B.tech and MBA programs from top universities in India, Krishnan is a TAS finalist in 2010 and a consistent top rated performer in TCS playing several cross function-al roles in Strategy, Sales and Delivery. We wish him all the best in his future en-deavors.

The Economic Times Young Leaders is India Inc.’s first ever initiative to recognize and acknowledge the leadership potential among young executives (http://etyoungleaders.com/index.php ). This initiative is meant to encourage, identify and nurture promising future business lead-ers of India Inc. The candidates who applied were put through a four stage evaluation conducted in partnership with SHL, a global leader in talent measurement. Phase 1 consisted of an online personality based evaluation. Phase 2 consisted of detailed quantitative and qualitative online assessments in a controlled environment. Phase 3 comprised of on-ground assessments where SHL assessors met the candidates in groups and tested them on leadership competencies through case studies, group discussions and role plays. Only 78 candidates made it through to the next stage where each was interviewed by one among ET’s panel of nine top CEOs. The final Young Leaders list of 28 was picked by this CEO panel.

Students from Annamalai University take Entrepreneurial lessons from Great Lakes

65 Students and 6 faculty members of the Entrepreneurship club of Annamalai University, the Alma mater of Dr Bala V Bala-chandar, Dean – Great Lakes Institute of Management, visited Great Lakes Manamai campus on 27th Feb. The purpose of this visit was to interact with faculty members and students of Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CIECOM) at Great Lakes Institute of Management and understand the working of a successful entrepreneurship club. Prof Veeravalli gave an inspiring speech that described the year long activities conducted by CIECOM and briefly explained the Internation-al Entrepreneurship conference held in February, 2013. The faculty members of Annamalai institute expressed their willing-ness to take up a few pointers from Prof. Veeravalli and include them as part of the Annamalai Entrepreneurship club. Dr KC John shared his personal entrepreneurship journey and took up questions from the students.

Overall, the students and faculty members improved their understanding of entrepreneurship and felt motivated after vis-iting Great Lakes. Annamalai University students discussed a few business proposals with CIECOM members and the same would be pursued privately by the students concerned. Owing to the excellent interaction the faculty members of Annama-lai University discussed the possibility of signing an MoU for the benefit of the students of both institutes.

Sohel Golwala, Ankur Chaudhary

March |Page 11

The Sojourn that was Nirvana

Tense, with heartbeat racing to 92 per minute; there we were awaiting the results of 2013 Hyundai Youth Marketing Challenge. And when the

results were announced what followed was a journey of a life time. Starting from the IGI Airport New Delhi where we (shouvik & Sankalp) met

some of the most amazing B-School students from across the country (who are now friends for life) to the four day trip to one of the most

beautiful and amazing countries, South Korea, it was an experience of a lifetime.

Be it the new friends from the orient nations, to running across the labyrinths of a seven star hotel playing the treasure hunt, it was a trip

which left an indelible impact in our minds. We met some of the warmest of people, ate one of the most delectable and scrumptious cuisine,

witnesses absolutely different culture and traditions yet the same persistent zeal to make friends and learn about each other. We all were

divided in teams of 9 each; three Indians, Chinese and South Koreans each to ensure bond-

ing and friendship. And did we bond, or did we bond! Some of our Chinese and Korean

counterparts are now our closest of friends.

We cribbed about more time to stay for every passing minute was equivalent to ecstasy.

Our journey which spanned four days was spelt out like this:

Day 1: Introduction, Treasure Hunt, drawing

games, team bonding, amazing dinner, which fol-

lowed our trip to the Gangnam Street.

Day 2: Team games, Lecture on Marketing Strate-

gy in China & India, Some more drawing games,

Midnight treasure-hunt-cum-card game in a hu-

mungous bookstore and finally a dance and music show in the same

bookstore by the popular band Ra-Percussion.

Day 3: Trip to Hyundai Research Centre where we witnessed what goes behind the making of a Hyundai Car. This was followed by group

presentations and an all-night party.

Day 4: Perhaps the lowest of all the days knowing that it was the last in South Korea. Prizes were announced and Shouvik’s team won the Best

BTL Marketing Strategy Award.

The trip was one to cherish for a lifetime. Getting to know more people from across the globe, making some of the best friends, learning about

new cultures and not to mention living and eating like a celebrity was something I’d never forget.

South Koreans won our hearts and the experience was nothing short of nirvana and not to forget: Great Lakes, for sure, made an impact, one

which even South Korea would remember till eternity.

Sankalp Parihar

March |Page 12

Shouvik& Sankalp, 2 Mighty Mamallas presenting at the event

Rendezvous with the Lord of Marketing, Dr. Philip Kotler

What if Michelangelo came to teach painting, Pele giving lessons on football or Michael Jordan coaching for basketball,

Great Lakes cherished this feeling of awesomeness when they came face to face with Dr. Philip Kotler; yes, in person. We as

students had always seen and read those marketing management books, but it was this delightful day that brought in the

real meaning of being a marketing student or even an MBA student while listening to Dr. Kotler. Apparently the guest lec-

ture hall was swarming with students, alumni for the glimpse of Dr. Philip Kotler.

Being the Master of Ceremony for this prestigious event, it was indeed my pleasure to introduce the man himself and spend

those invaluable moments with him face to face. The event went on with the traditional lamp lighting and Punnadai fol-

lowed with a welcome address from Prof. Sriram. Marketing version 3.0, CEO types, emerging role of marketing as employ-

ment generation and higher purpose of

enhancing profitability were the key

takeaways from the talk.

Great Lakers were overwhelmed with

the guest lecture and he spent around 3

hours in college addressing students and

their queries. His day followed with

lunch and local sightseeing with Prof. TN

Swaminathan. This day will always be

treasured in the history of Great Lakes

and the grand experience encountered

by the Mighty Mamallas.

Kriti Sharma

March |Page 13

March |Page 14

Auf Weider sehen Alcom 2013

March 20, 2013

Dear Alcomers :

I believe the B school days are the most wonderful ones when you walk down the memory lane several years later or may even be decades as we guys from our batch of IIMC do even now !! It is almost the last of the academic phase with lots of learning and loads of fun of a campus life.

On April 28, 2013 You have dual Graduation from Great lakes – As PGPM and as an Alumnus / Alumna

Alumni are the pillars of any Institution and you as Great Lakers are no exception! If Great Lakes has made rapid strides as a B School of repute in a short span of time, contribution of Alumni has been a significant factor. You should be proud of the fact that as Team Alcom you have contributed to this activity in bonding as reflected in the various Regional Meets Culminating in the Mega Meet on January 5, 2013. Each one of the ten of you - from Aggarwals to Reddys; Katyaynis to Sunnys … have had a role.

I appreciate your contribution both as Individuals and as a team and I am sure you will carry this forward in regular batch reunions, wherever you are!

Continue to be in touch with your Alma Mater and us and explore what you can give back to your Alma Mater through your journey of life and career!

It will be our pleasure to welcome you and meet you as an Alumnus in the campus as often as we can!!

So long & Best wishes!

Sincerely,

Swaminathan.

Team Alcom Sign Off Note With this last edition of Great Connect, Alcom 2013 steps down from being the flag bearers of the illustrious alums of Great

lakes. Though out the year, we came up with many events to fabricate the alumni bonding with the institute and also facilitate

meaningful alumni interaction with Mighty Mamallas and the Mamallas to help them in all future endeavours. The main pro-

grams conducted by Alcom during the year were:

Meet your Alumni – Interactive sessions with Alumni in the Manamai Campus

Bangalore Alumni Meet (July 14th, 2012)

Delhi Alumni Meet (August 11th, 2012)

Hyderabad Alumni Meet (September 1st, 2012)

Chennai Alumni Meet (September 8th, 2012)

Mega Alumni Meet (January 5th, 2013)

Mumbai Alumni Meet (February 10th, 2013)

5 issues of Alumni Magazine – Great Connect

What is in store for future? We have been working tirelessly on a new online platform to bring the Great Lakes Alumni commu-

nity much closer to each other. Also, activities are on for consolidating the Alumni directory which will be made available online

to registered members. Along with this, we hope to include more alumni in interactive activities within the campus and in differ-

ent regions.

We sincerely hope that we have been able to live up to the huge responsibility of building the emotional connect in the Great

Lakes family through our various initiatives and are leaving behind a rich legacy for the next batches to follow.

Thank you very much for your love, support and encouragement during this wonderful journey.

Signing off,

Great Lakes Alumni Committee 2013

Team Alcom From Left to right

Shantanu Mishra, Sandeep Kumar, Chaitanya Tapaswi,

Jahnavi Reddy, Vinay Ti-wary, Katyayni Kumar,

Lokesh Aggarwal Kriti Sharma

March |Page 15