Women MBA students host NYC Johnson tech conference

Melissa Carr Adenyanju
Provided
Melissa Carr Adeyanju, MBA ’14, speaks at the Johnson Women in Technology conference March 4. Adenyanju is one of the founding organizers of the event and is currently communications manager for Microsoft's global sales team.

Cornell and other top business college students got a chance to showcase their business ideas and pitching skills on March 4 during the third annual Johnson Women in Technology conference in Manhattan.

Titled “Dare to Tech,” this year’s conference – led by students from Cornell’s Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management – included an inaugural “idea pitch competition.” The presentations gave MBA candidates a chance to get feedback from an expert panel of judges from private equity and venture capital firms on their startup business ventures.

More than 200 students attended the conference at the offices of Microsoft near Times Square.

For the pitch competition, there were more than 30 entries narrowed down to five finalists. A team from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business won the competition. The Wharton students invented a product called Fermento. The patented idea allows brewers to produce beer in about one-third the time it currently takes. The Wharton students said they are negotiating with six companies interested in using their concept. Their idea is expected to generate $600 million in annual revenues after five years and add $12 billion in sales to the U.S. beer industry.

A team from Cornell’s Johnson MBA program came up with a way to identify and produce high-quality neurobodies that can reduce sepsis, a complication from infection that is the 10th leading cause of death in hospitals.

Giving a joint address before various breakout sessions was Vishal Gaur, associate dean of MBA programs and professor of operations, technology and information management at Johnson, and Douglas Stayman, associate dean at Cornell Tech.

Over the past decade, Gaur said, the number of women leaders in the technology industry has remained below 15 percent. “This is a tremendously missed opportunity,” he said.

Stayman noted that Cornell Tech has been able to attract an increasing number of female students and faculty members. Women comprise about one-fourth of its faculty, Stayman said, and about 35 percent of this year’s student enrollment. “We’re very proud of that,” Stayman said.

Gaur pointed out that the idea for Johnson Women in Technology conferences came from students, and that the conferences continue to be organized and led by MBA candidates.

“The leaders are our students,” Gaur said. The conference was billed as the only student-run MBA conference dedicated to creating a community of women MBAs, advocates and tech leaders that provides mentorship and knowledge-sharing about strategies for success.

Jon Craig ’80 is a journalist based in Westchester County, New York.

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