June News and Upcoming Events

Later that week, on June 11^th, we have our second walking tour. The afternoon will be spent exploring the historic district of Wapping in East London. It's fun, and it's free!

Lastly, be sure to register for our new Disruptive Technologies series taking place on June 20^th. Our first topic: Are Platform Business Models Eating the World? with a stellar panel moderated by Benoit Reiller (BUS '04), co-author of "Platform Strategy".

Don't forget to save the date to celebrate America's Independence from Britain (luckily they’re now besties) on the 4^th of July.  Details to follow.

We've had a busy few months and we're not slowing down. We look forward to seeing you at our next event.

The CUCL Board

Meet the Board

This month, we are proud to feature two of our official alumni representatives of individual Columbia schools:

Leila Bassi | Barnard College

Leila Bassi holds a BA with a major in Political Science from Barnard College (1994) as well as an MBA from Columbia Business School (2000). She started her career in the music industry, working for a major record company and an online music startup. After business school, she held various positions within the financial services both in equity research and asset management. She currently lives in London with her husband and two children. Leila is an Alumnae Trustee at Barnard College and has served as the President of the Barnard Club of London for over five years.

Jessica Baldwin | School of Journalism

Jessica Baldwin graduated from the Columbia University School of Journalism in 1988. Since then she has worked in print journalism at the Associated Press, and then in television journalism at APTN (the AP’s broadcast division) and ABC News. She joined Al-Jazeera English in 2007 and has worked there since, based in London covering mainly arts and culture. Jessica’s work in the field has included Iran, conflict in the Balkans, Crimea, Northern Ireland and the Middle East. Jessica is on the Alumni Board of the Columbia School of Journalism and Chair of its International Committee.

Events Roundup

Fintech II: Institutional Re-invention: Can old dogs learn new tricks?

"Can Old Dogs Learn New Tricks?" The second event in the Fintech Series reversed the focus of the March launch event, which explored how plucky upstarts were disrupting existing packages of banking services and inventing new ones ("Smart Banks for the Smartphone Era").

Mark Gray from the British Business Bank highlighted the role of the state in fostering innovation by funding intermediaries who then back winners. Elly Hardwick, who runs Innovation Labs within Deutsche Bank, laid out what was a ‘two-way street’ of communication and forward planning for effective collaborations between giants and start-ups. Ella Rabener of Scalable Capital clarified misunderstandings about ‘robo-trading’ and its benefits for small investors. Finally, Tim Hanford, Managing Director for Europe at JC Flowers & Co, emphasised how much proprietary research and risk management information is still offline or time-intensive to get, in order to do the best for clients.

The moderator for the event, Hayley Ard (Oxford University) is finalising the steering group for intellectual ownership of the joint Fintech Series going forward, so get in touch to get involved.

June Events

Columbia Experience Overseas | All Summer

Columbia Experience Overseas (CEO) is an internship program organized by Columbia University to give Columbia undergrads an overseas experience. London has ten interns coming over in June. We wish them well and hope to see them at many of our events.

June Happy Hour | Wednesday June 7^th

Join us for happy hour at the The Blue Lion. Open to everyone in the Columbia community so please join us for a pint. 

• Date: Wednesday June 7^th, 2017
• Time: 7:00 pm
• Where: The Blue Lion, 133 Gray's Inn Road London WC1X 8TU

CUCL Walking Tour – Wapping | Sunday June 11^th

A change of plan for this interesting event! Still in the East of London but now we are going to explore Wapping. Wapping is famous for its riverside pubs, in the heart of the old London docks. The docks were the hub of the nineteenth century British Colony trade in commodities.

• Date: Sunday June 11^th, 2017
• Time: 3:00 pm
• Where: Wapping Overground Station
• RSVP: HERE

Disruptive Technologies: Are Platform Business Models Eating the World? | Tuesday June 20^th

Join a stellar panel featuring Jan Valentin, Head of Europe for Kayak/Priceline, Rune Sovndal, CEO of Fantastic Services and Laurence Bret-Stern, Senior Marketing Director from LinkedIn, with moderator Benoit Reiller (BUS '05), author of Platform Strategy:  How to unlock the power of communities and networks to grow your business

• Date: Tuesday June 20^th, 2017
• Time: 6:00 pm
• Where: WeWork Waterhouse Square, Atrium 138 Holborn, London EC1N 2SW
• Cover: £15 
• RSVP: HERE

Save the Date | Upcoming Events

Independence Day Happy Hour | Tuesday July 4th

Stay tuned for details regarding our July 4^th happy hour.

Community Outreach @ Holland Park | Saturday September 16th

Our (delayed) Columbia Community Outreach will be in September, at Holland Park Conservation Centre 

Columbia Connects (TBD, late September)

Join CUCL with support of the Columbia Alumni Association (CAA) for this year's Columbia Connects—bringing alumni together to share our shared Columbia experience, welcome new graduates to our Columbia communities, and build a stronger network of Columbians across the globe. It will be scheduled in the last week of September so please look for more details.

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