Wharton School

Wharton School Executive MBA Students to Meet Key Indian Leaders
Students from San Francisco Campus Will Travel to Delhi and Mumbai

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 25, 2004 — More than 80 second-year Wharton School Executive MBA students from Wharton West, the School’s California campus, will travel to India Sept. 6-10 to meet with key government and business leaders as part of an ongoing effort to learn more about the country’s growing influence in the international marketplace.

These executive MBA students represent both the Wharton School and the various companies for which they work. The international trip, part of the Wharton curriculum, provides an opportunity for both students and international industry and government leaders to learn from each other about forward-looking business trends in the region. It is also an excellent opportunity for relationship-building between the regions.

“For years, the Wharton MBA for Executives Program has made international trips a tradition,” says Anjani Jain, vice dean and director of the Wharton School Graduate Division. “India’s rapid ascent in the global economy and its established market and regulatory institutions make it a logical and important choice for increased exposure to future business leaders.”

The visit kicks off in Delhi, where Wharton’s executive MBA students will meet with industry and government leaders, including: Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, president of India; Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman, Planning Commission; Dayanidhi Maran, cabinet minister, Information Technology; as well as top management from IBM Daksh, India’s fastest-growing Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services provider, which was recently acquired by IBM.

The executive MBA group will also visit Mumbai to conduct meetings with leading regional businesses, including: McKinsey India, Reliance Infocomm, Hindustan Lever Limited, Aditya Birla Group, Tata Group, Syntel Inc, Sony Entertainment Television, DSP Merrill Lynch, Pfizer India, and Microsoft. In addition, executive MBA students will meet and network with Wharton alumni in the region.

About Wharton West and The Wharton School
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is recognized around the world for its academic strengths across every major discipline and at every level of business education. Founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school in the United States, Wharton has approximately 4,600 undergraduate, MBA, and doctoral students, more than 8,000 participants in its executive education programs annually, and an alumni network of more than 80,000 worldwide. The executive MBA program was one of the first programs launched at Wharton West, the School’s campus in San Francisco. A residential program, students attend classes on alternate weekends and during two week-long sessions in the summer. Students based in San Francisco have the option of spending a semester at Wharton’s Philadelphia campus. Likewise, Philadelphia-based students have the opportunity to study at Wharton West. Because Wharton students live and work together during focused on-site sessions, students have an opportunity to forge close connections with classmates as well as to foster teamwork skills. In addition, the integration of work and study provides a living laboratory for applying knowledge.