NEWS
Bentley Eco-Fi Students Attend Global Business Summit at NYU
Above (l. to r.): Dario Vilchez, Michael Quinn and Serena Shrivastava.
On October 12 to 14, Bentley was one of 21 universities invited to participate in the 4th annual Summit on Global Business at New York University’s Stern School of Business. The theme of this year’s summit was “The Disappearing Third World: A Paradox of Growth”. On Thursday October 12th, Bentley students Serena Shrivastava and Dario Vilchez arrived in Manhattan along with Assistant Professor of Economics Michael Quinn. These students were selected to attend through a competitive application process. Serena and Dario are both seniors majoring in Economics-Finance.
The keynote speaker at Thursday night’s dinner was William Easterly, a well-known development economist and author of The Elusive Quest for Growth. One of the many issues which Easterly discussed was the failures of current foreign aid policies and the future of the IMF and World Bank. Other Summit speakers included well-known figures as Paul Solman, the business and economics correspondent for The News Hour with Jim Lehrer. Mr. Solman discussed the pros and cons of globalization by switching chairs to argue each opposing viewpoint. The ethical quandary of how to deal with corrupt officials in developing countries was discussed by Thomas Griffy of Ernst and Young.
E&Y was also the corporate sponsor for the summit). Other topics covered included entrepreneurship and finance in developing countries. Some of the other notable speakers included Ambassador Ahmad Kamal of Pakistan, Princeton Lyman (formerly the U.S. ambassador to South Africa and Nigeria) and Melissa Powell of the United Nations Global Compact.
Above: Dario Vilchez (r.) and Serena Shrivastava at a street market in
The Summit included site visits to businesses and organizations in New York City. Serena Shrivastava had the opportunity to visit the headquarters of Ernst & Young, located on Times Square in Manhattan, and to speak with executives at the firm. Dario Vilchez chose to visit the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The New York Federal Reserve Bank holds national significance as it contains the Federal Reserve’s gold holdings and controls the money supply through open market operations. After Easterly’s talk over dinner on Thursday night, summit participants saw the Tony-award winning Broadway show "Jersey Boys." During breaks and at night, participants were also free to enjoy the vibrant culture and activities of New York City.
Both Dario and Serena feel that the Summit had a lasting impact on them. After the conference, Dario said that “Bentley has always enforced a strict sense of ethics. The ethical situations we will encounter in international business may be similar to those faced by the executive from Ernst & Young (when he refused to bribe a government official) and we should have the same response he did.” Serena noted that “the conference helped me to understand how severe the problems are facing developing countries today and how Economics is relevant in a global perspective.”
