Farewell Dinner with US MBA students

We bade US students farewell yesterday for their last day of China/Hong Kong study program, and joined dinner with them at Watermark which is a harbour-front restaurant at Central Pier no. 7 with a stunning view of Victoria Harbour. We took a coach together at L'Hotel CWB Harbourview Hotel at 7:00pm and then transferred to Pier no. 7. There were 3 long tables for 38-40 persons. We had great conversation about the Iowa campus, career prospects, experience sharing and networking. We were also happy to learn that, despite the recent weak economy in US, the majority of our Iowa full-time MBA students would graduate in May this year but already got job offers from the big firms, such as AEGON, United Airlines, Johnson and Johnson and many more. Everyone enjoyed the dinner. Yeah! The foods were great, especially the steak was so declicious but the portion was small. After dinner, we went to Stormies Bar at LKF for drinks and spent an enjoyable evening till mid-night.


Here are the pictures:-




















And, Mr Michael Tomasik, Restaurant Manager of Watermark (picture below) mentioned the restaurant will provide a special offer for all Iowa alumus to have dining at Watermark. If you would like to make a table reservation with this fining dining restaurant, please contact Michael Tomasik (T: 21677251, email: michaelt@igors.com) and remember to quote "The University of Iowa, MBA Alumnus"!


For the activity pictures, please go to the following link:-

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Guest Speaker's Seminar to Iowa US Students at HKGCC

I attended one of the seminar sessions with Iowa US students at Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce on Saturday, 10 January 2009. This seminar was presented by guest speaker, Mr James E. THOMPSON, GBS, the Founder and Chairman of the Crown Worldwide Group and former Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong for 2002 and 2003.

In his presentation, Mr Thompson introduced a bit about his background, education, career history and achievement. Mr. Thompson is an American native who has lived in Hong Kong for 25 years. He received his education in the US and graduated from San Jose State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering. He came to Asia shortly after completion of his university studies and has lived in Japan and Hong Kong ever since. In 1965, he founded the Crown Worldwide Group in Japan. He moved the worldwide headquarters to Hong Kong in 1975.

Crown Worldwide is a leader in mobility management, relocations, records management and logistics services throughout the world. A privately-held company established in 1965, with global headquarters in Hong Kong, the company operates over 200 locations in 50 countries, serving governments, corporations, diplomats and private customers. Today the company is a leader in international relocations, records management and logistics servicing over 7,000 multinational companies around the world. The Crown Worldwide Group employs over 4,000 full time staff around the world as well as a large number of contracted personnel.

Mr. Thompson is the only American in the GBS awards history to be recognized with the Gold Bauhinia Star. He was chosen for his distinguished contributions in fostering close economic and business ties between the United States and Hong Kong and for his continued efforts in promoting investment in Hong Kong.

Report on Networking Dinner with Iowa US Students

The networking dinner with Iowa US MBA students was held on an enjoyable evening on 9th January 2009. The dinner at Lei Yue Mun was a big success. There were 3 tables of MBA students from US & HK and alumnus, including 2 Iowa faculty staff, Professor Frank C. Rydzewski, Faculty Lecturer of International Management program and Ms Colleen M Downie, Assistant Dean of Full Time MBA program.





We also met a nice folk from Iowa alumnus, Mr Timothy Curl, who was just relocated to Hong Kong five months ago and now working for Morgan Stanley. Tim was invited by his US MBA friend who also joined the HK/China study program.

Professor Rydzewski made a toss to everyone to kick off the dinner. As this was the first day of their busy China/HK program, they were all excited about Hong Kong and Chinese foods, culture and peoples. There was some great conversation about seafood, Tippie Hong Kong MBA program, topics about US, blogging and networking.

The first dish was poached live sea shrimps. Some of the US students were unsure if they could use their bare hands to eat the shrimps. I told them to use their bare hands to have the shrimps as it was just a casual seafood dinner. Amazingly, most of the US students could use chopsticks skillfully and I was told that they practiced it for several times before coming to Hong Kong! It was a delicious dinner as the seafood was so fresh. The dishes included shrimps, garoupa, streamed scallops, lobster, streamed abalone, Crab and vegetables, and many more. For those who was unable to join us, we really wish you were there!

I tried to pick up some good pictures during the dinner, and you can see some pictures in this report.

We took a group picture at the entrance to Lei Yue Mun seafood village after dinner.

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