Columbia Business School announced today the establishment of its Private Equity Program (PEP). Under the direction of Professor Laura Resnikoff, the PEP will strengthen the Schools ties to the private equity industry by linking students, alumni and the business community.

Over the past several years, Prof. Resnikoff has developed a number of initiatives geared toward the private equity industry, including an alumni advisory board, a series of alumni mentoring breakfasts, a mentoring program between Executive MBA and full-time MBA students who share private equity interests, and an annual joint event with the London Business School.

In her new role as Director of the PEP, Prof. Resnikoff will serve as the Schools primary point of contact with the private equity industry. The PEP will also include course offerings, including Prof. Resnikoffs new private equity course and her existing Turnaround Management class.

More : earthtimes.org

Many executives figure that if you spend enough money to promote a product, customers will come. But running a business in this way leads to failure, one expert says.

One of the central facts of business life today is that customers dont have to do business with you, said Noel Capon, a professor of international marketing at Columbia Business School and author of The Marketing Mavens.

He says firms that thrive in the long run are focused at every level of the organization on anticipating and meeting customer needs.

More : money.cnn.com

The Turnaround Management Association (TMA) announced last Tuesday the winners of the 2007 Carl Marks Student Paper Competition. Teams made up of Columbia MBA students won the first- and second-place awards in the case study category. The students were advised by Laura B. Resnikoff, associate professor of management and advisor to the student-run Private Equity and Venture Capital Club.

Submitted in general and case study categories, the winning papers were selected for their relevance to corporate distress, financial restructuring and reorganization along with the quality of the writing and analysis. The first-place team - Hamid Benbrahim 07, Rich Bozutto 07 (EMBA), Laurent Grossi 08, Geoffrey P. Teillon 07 and John Ure 07 - adopted the perspective of an adviser to the board of directors of Pier 1 Imports and suggested plans for increasing shareholders equity and returning the company to profitability. The second-place team - Christian Blinkenberg 07, Sachin Kadakia 07, Michael Yao 07 and Paul Zangrilli 07 - analyzed Trump Entertainment Resorts assets and operations and proposed a successful turnaround based on refinancing, selling two properties and improving existing operations.

The judging panel was most impressed by the high quality of the submissions from prestigious schools with excellent MBA programs, said Lisa Poulin, vice president of university relations at the TMA. The winning case studies were of a caliber that can be utilized for teaching turnaround issues facing companies today.

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Columbia Business School announced the appointment of Francine Lynch as Director of the Institute for Not-for-Profit Management (INM), an arm of the Schools Executive Education division. Ms. Lynchs responsibilities include audience development, funder relationships, and setting the strategic direction for current and future INM programs. She will report to Barbara Gyde, Executive Director, Marketing and Business Development at Columbia Business School Executive Education.

Francine possesses a deep understanding of the management needs of the not-for-profit sector, said Troy Eggers, Associate Dean for Executive Education at Columbia Business School. She has demonstrated strong leadership abilities in her management of philanthropy and fundraising programs in both corporate and not-for-profit settings, and she will certainly bring these skills to bear on her work here at INM.

Ms. Lynch has been involved in corporate and private philanthropy for over 20 years. She has extensive experience in program development, marketing and project management for major corporations and nonprofit organizations. Most recently, Ms. Lynch was Director of the Lincoln Center Corporate Fund, raising $5 million annually in corporate contributions.

More : prnewswire.com

Glenn Hubbard, Dean and Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics at Columbia Business School, announced today the promotion of Lisa Yeh to the position of Associate Dean for External Relations and Development, effective immediately. Ms. Yeh will also continue to serve as Secretary of the Schools Board of Overseers.

Lisas knowledge of the School, her work with the Board of Overseers, and the leadership she has provided to the external relations team, as well as her significant successes in developing and expanding the Schools donor network, make her the ideal person to fill this role, remarked Dean Hubbard. In her five years at Columbia Business School, Lisa has worked closely with the The Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing, The Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate, and the W. Edwards Deming Center for Quality, Productivity and Competitiveness, in addition to spearheading the Schools Asia-related funding initiatives.

Ms. Yeh came to the School with over seven years of experience in event planning and fundraising and with six years of experience as a financial analyst in the investment management and insurance industries. She currently serves as a member of the board of trustees at All Souls School and at the Annie Eaton Society and is a member of the Horace Mann School Values and Ethics committee and Annual Fund committee. Lisa received a BS in Business Administration-Finance from San Diego State University, where she graduated cum laude with distinction in finance, and an MBA from St. Marys University, where she graduated summa cum laude. She is married with two children.

More : newswire.ascribe.org

Blackstone Group LP plans to raise as much as $7.75 billion selling stock to the public and the Chinese government, becoming the biggest-ever private equity firm to go public.

Blackstone is selling as many as 153.3 million shares for $29 to $31 each to raise $4.75 billion, the New York-based firm said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Monday. The firm boosted the offering by almost 20% after it agreed to sell a $3 billion stake to the Chinese government on.

Sunday. The sale may value Stephen Schwarzman and Peter G Petersons firm at as much as $33.6 billion, about a third of Goldman Sachs Group Incs market value. The two are taking Blackstone public after 22 years of private ownership to expand into new businesses and buy out partners as they leave. They follow rival Fortress Investment Group LLC, which had an initial public offering in February.

More : financialexpress.com