The New York City Professional Chapter of SmithSoc held its Summer Reception on the evening of Wednesday July 27 at a Midtown rooftop bar and lounge. The chapter was joined by Leon Cooperman, the founder of Omega Advisors and acknowledged to be one of the most successful hedge fund managers today. Mr. Cooperman was interviewed by Tom Keene of Bloomberg Radio. Their conversation touched on a variety of topics, including Mr. Cooperman's history in the field of finance, his advice for young professionals, and his personal philosophy of philanthropy.
The Smith Soc Chicago Professional Chapter held its Summer Reception on Thursday July 21. The chapter welcomed Samara Klar, PhD, a political science professor from the University of Arizona. Dr. Klar studies independent voters - why they think and vote the way they do. She held an informal conversation about the current election season. Given the historic nature of the 2016 election cycle, independent voters are primed to play a major role in the outcome.
The Boston Professional Chapter Summer Reception was held on Tuesday, July 12. The program featured a panel on Tech and Venture Capital - sectors that are undergoing growth and are also a part of the Boston-area business landscape.
The panelists included both established and rising leaders in both sectors: Robert White of Bain Capital and Harvard Business School; Christina Bechhold of Empire Angels; and John Ho of AnzuPartners. The panel was moderated by Josh Lerner, a Professor at Harvard Business School.
Adam Smith Society members from the Stanford Graduate School of Business had the pleasure of meeting with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Members shared lunch and a wide-ranging, off-the-record conversation with Dr. Rice, who is currently a professor at Stanford and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution.
The Smith Soc Chapter at the UCLA Anderson School of Management hosted Tom Bevan, founder and publisher of RealClearPolitics for a lunch and informal discussion about the 2016 Election on June 1, 2016.
Henry Olsen, co-author of The Four Faces of the Republican Party and the Fight for the 2016 Presidential Nomination, was a guest of our Chicago chapters this week. Speaking with the Chicago Professional Chapter on Monday, April 25, and a joint meeting of our Booth and Kellogg chapters on Tuesday, April 26, Olsen led discussions about the issues of the 2016 election, and put the debates and battles over both parties' nomination in the context of past contests.
On April 18th, Smith Soc's Wake Forest University chapter hosted Scott Winship for a social hour to celebrate the end of the academic year. The Smith Soc members at Wake closed out a year in which their chapter earned "Comeback Chapter of the Year" at the National Meeting.
Scott participated in a Q&A led by chapter executive committee member Abrea Amrstrong. He answered questions about poverty, social & economic mobility, and the policies currently being debated during the US Presidential Election.
On April 1, a group of Olin School MBA students, including the Olin Smith Soc Chapter, helped launch the school's first annual Impact Investing Symposium.
On March 29, the Smith Soc New York City Professional Chapter hosted Ken Mehlman, the Global Head of Public Affairs at KKR.
The Smith Soc chapter at UC-Berkeley's Haas School of Business hosted Paul McCulley on March 28th.
McCulley was a Managing Director and Chief Economist for PIMCO, where he worked under Bill Gross. He retired from PIMCO in 2015, and has been a featured commentator on CNBC.