ESADE's American alumni meet in New York

ESADE Business and Law School and ESADE Alumni held a gathering in New York this weekend. Almost 200 alumni of the various international programmes who live in The New World attended the event. It is the first time that ESADE has held such an event spanning two continents. The managers attending were drawn from fifteen countries in North America and South America, with many from the USA, Canada, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Chile and Argentina.

During the US ESADE Alumni Meeting, ESADE revealed that The United States is the country that sends most international students to ESADE, outstripping France, Germany, Italy, China, and India.

The main guest at the event was Professor Vegara, Spain’s former Secretary of State for the Economy who has recently joined ESADE’s faculty. His talk focused on the different approaches taken by The United States and by Europe in tackling the economic crisis. He noted that “different solutions were chosen because their problems also differed”.

Vegara: “Bank regulation in Europe has reached limits that were unthinkable before the crisis”

Vegara noted the speed with which The United States moved and compared this with the more sedate pace followed by Europe. However, he lauded the bank regulation and financial control imposed in Europe and said that these had reached limits that were unthinkable before the crisis and that the process was unstoppable. ESADE’s new faculty member also stated that “in Europe, 70% of the economic problems stem from the banking industry, whereas in The United States, the figure is just 30%”.

Those taking part in the event also included: the CEO of Olympus in North America, Nacho Abia, and the CEO and founder of the start-up Bulldog, Anshuman Vohra. Olympus’ CEO considered that a company has to make big changes during a recession: “A firm’s strategy cannot be based on hope.”

Vohra, who gave up his banking career to become an entrepreneur, said that business was never easy: “I have no idea what tomorrow holds in store — you can never make plans.” He also noted that: “A staff member’s personal problems can all too easily end up as mine.”