Shanghai Event: MBA connect event at Costes Pavillon Mon 12/7

Cocktail Party:  “Putting Passion into your Career” – conversations with VentureSprout, Walmart Global Procurement, JUCCCE, and MBAs from up to 9 international programs

photo: courtesy Sina

Confession:  I have an MBA, not always something to brag about having with Silicon Valley geeks.  But MBAs are still respectable in Shanghai, right?

This coming Monday night 12/7, Christine Lu (Cilantro Media, Affinity Ventures China) and I are pulling together a cocktail party for friends and the overall MBA community (no MBA needed to come, of course.  Can be aspiring MBA, current MBA or MBA dropout!).  The conversation I’d love to stir up is “putting passion into your career” because I’ve observed that the most successful people in their field have consistently cultivated and sustained a level of passion for what they are doing.

So I invited two friends to speak briefly about this topic to stir some conversation.

Click Here To Register!

1.  Why attend this event?

I asked two good friends to share their own experiences.  Both are great bridge-builders between the West and China, both have a strong sense of social responsibility.

Edwin Keh
SVP/COO of Walmart Global Procurement

Edwin’s bio:

Edwin joined Wal-Mart Global Procurement (GP) in March 2008 as Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer.  He is responsible for the operations of all GP regions/offices throughout the world.  Edwin has over 25 years of international experience in sourcing, retail and wholesale operations, and has been based in Taiwan, Hong Kong and the United States.

Edwin has been a long-term mentor to me, ever since we attended the same church when I was in high school in the L.A. area.  He often speaks about Walmart’s sustainability initiatives and he is speaking to Richard Brubaker’s CEIBS class the following day.

Peggy Liu
Chairperson of Joint US China Collaboration for Clean Energy (JUCCCE)

Peggy’s bio:

Peggy Liu is Chairperson of JUCCCE, a non-profit accelerating the greening of China through international collaboration on impactful programs (www.juccce.com). She was a Time Magazine Hero of the Environment in 2008, an adviser to the Clinton Global Initiative in energy and climate change in 2008, and named a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader in 2009. Prior to JUCCCE she has been a venture capitalist, an Internet entrepreneur, a management consultant, and organic gardener. She is a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

I’ve known Peggy for a long time too, and have just been amazed by the traction that JUCCCE has gained in bringing together the clean energy and clean tech players in both China and the US.  She shared with me that the support she has gotten from executives, corporations, government officials, and NGOs has really been overwhelming and “magical.”  I feel a lot of that is because Peggy’s passion for bringing China and the US together on the issue of Clean Energy is so evident every single time I meet with her!

My goals for people who attend the conference:

• Get inspired by hearing about how other people leveraged their passion into great success
• Connect with a potential future business partner who shares your same interests and passions
• Expand your  network.
• Drink the free flowing wine and canapes provided at this glam location!

2.  When and Where is it?

Date: Monday 7 December 2009

Time: 6:30 to 8:30 pm.  The conversation with Edwin and Peggy will start at 7:00 pm

Location: Costes Pavillon (see SmartShanghai for map and information).  Costes Pavillon an opulent, exclusive restaurant and lounge located in the heart of Xintiandi, Shanghai, and the first expansion of the Costes brand outside of France.

Xintiandi North Block,
Lane 181 Taicang Lu,
near Madang Lu

太仓路181号，新天地北里,
近马当路

photo: courtesy Xintiandi.com

More on Costes:

• video of opening night at Costes with the glam beautiful set: http://costeschina.com/opening_party.html
• pictures: http://www.xintiandi.com/english/shop_detail.asp?sid=166
• map: http://www.smartshanghai.com/venue/4248/Hotel_Costes_shanghai

RSVP here: http://mbaconnect1209.eventbrite.com/