Metro International's Conversations with World Leaders program is a series of face-to-face meetings with CEOs, philanthropists, civic leaders and other important New Yorkers who wish to engage Fulbright students in an exchange of ideas and life stories.

If you are a Fulbright student interested in participating in one of these unique dialogues contact Jessica Coffey, Metro International's Coordinator of Enrichment Programs, at jcoffey@metrointl.org or (212) 431-1195 x24.

Spring 2008 Calendar

Thursday, February 28, 2007
12pm
Henry Buhl
Founder, Association of Community Employment Programs for the Homeless

Enjoy lunch with Henry Buhl, Founder of the Association of Community Employment Programs for the Homeless, and open your American experience up to the realities of living in a country with one of the biggest income gaps in the world. Mr. Buhl’s understanding of homelessness will help us explore a whole new side of the American experience. Don’t miss this opportunity to have a conversation with a civic leader whose passion and drive have made a real difference to thousands of New Yorkers!

Wednesday, March 5, 2008
3pm - 5pm
Alberto Vitale
Former Chairman and CEO, Random House, Inc.

Alberto Vitale is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Random House, Inc., having served in that position from 1989 to 1998. Random House, a division of Bertelsmann AG, is the world's largest English-language general trade book publisher. Get a taste of where your Fulbright experience can take you from a discussion with Mr. Vitale, a very accomplished former Fulbrighter.

Friday, April 17, 2008
12pm
Vikram Gandhi
Managing Director , Credit Suisse First Boston

Vikram Gandhi is a Managing Director of Credit Suisse and Global Head of the Financial Institutions Group. He has responsibility for the integration of the Bank's financial institutions' capabilities into the Global Financial Institutions Group. Mr. Gandhi joined Credit Suisse First Boston in April 2005 from Morgan Stanley, where he served as Co-Head of FIG since 2003, managing many of that firm's top client relationships in the U.S. and Europe. Heserved as President of Morgan Stanley - India from 1997 until 1999, Chief Operating Officer of Morgan Stanley's e-commerce initiatives from 1999 through 2001 and head of strategy for the institutional securities business from 2001 until 2003. Mr. Gandhi has a B.Com from the University of Bombay and an MBA from the Harvard Business School where he was designated a Baker Scholar.

Friday, April 18, 2008
12pm
Paul Roth
Founding Partner, Schulte Roth & Zable LLP

Paul N. Roth is a founding partner of Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP. He heads the firm's private investment funds' practice, an area in which he has 40 years of experience and which involves over 90 attorneys and approximately 1500 hedge funds, private equity funds and offshore funds. His practice focuses primarily on investment advisers and broker/dealers, cross-border acquisitions to the United States, securities regulation, mergers and acquisitions and financial transactions. Mr. Roth chairs the Subcommittee on Private Investment Entities of the American Bar Association's Committee on Federal Securities Regulation. He is also the past President and member of the Board of the Harvard Law School Alumni Association of New York City. A magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard College, Mr. Roth graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School and received a Fulbright Fellowship for Study of Law in The Netherlands during 1964-65. He is listed in the International WhoWho'sLegal, Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers.

Thursday, April 24, 2008
10am - 12pm
Christopher Burnham
Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Deutsche Asset Management

Join an intimate group of only 12 fellow Fulbrighters to meet Christopher Burnham, the current Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Deutsche Asset Management.  Mr. Burnham left his post at the United Nations in November where he was the UN’s Under-Secretary-General of Management. Come and hear what it’s like to report directly to Kofi Annan, about his work as the highest-ranking American in the UN Secretariat, about his former career in business, about his service as Treasurer of the State of Connecticut, and about his three terms as a Connecticut State Representative. Mr. Burnham has been lauded as a “beacon of hope for international cooperation which Senator Fulbright championed in his lifetime.” As a veteran of the United States Marine Corps Reserve who served as a platoon commander in the Gulf War, Mr. Burnham understands the importance of cultivating peace through international cooperation. Don’t miss this great opportunity to discuss his past, his present, and your future with Mr. Burnham. This is a not-to-be-missed program and a chance to learn about a very distinguished individual in world affairs!

Saturday, May 3, 2008
6:30pm
Washington SyCip
Founder and Former CEO, SyCip, Gores, Velayo & Co. (SGV & Co.)

Meet distinguished international businessman, CEO, and philanthropist, Mr. Washington SyCip from Manila, Philippines!  Enjoy dinner with the founder and former CEO of SyCip, Gores, Velayo & Co. (SGV & Co.), Mr. SyCip transformed what was a one-man office in 1946 into the first successful company of its kind in the Philippines and Asia's largest accounting and consulting firm with partnerships throughout Asia, the United States, and the world.  Mr. SyCip will engage with a group of students to talk about his global perspectives and experience over a delicious Chinese feast in midtown Manhattan.  This is an invaluable opportunity to gain insights into your own career prospects and to learn from one of the world's most talented and internationally minded businessmen.  Although currently retired, Mr. SyCip is still the “man to see” regarding financial markets and sure-fire paths to success.  Don’t miss this opportunity to be inspired and get on track.

Tuesday, May 6 , 2008
10:00- 12:00pm
Barbara Crossette
Former Chief Correspondent for The New York Times in Southeast Asia and South Asia and United Nations Bureau Chief

Barbara Crossette has fostered an informed global citizenry for nearly four decades through cutting edge reporting on policies, leaders, conflicts, and peoples around the world. She was a Fulbright teaching fellow in journalism at Punjab University in Chandigarh, India in 1980-81. In her books on Asia and in writing on international affairs for a variety of publications, she brings firsthand insight to the page, increasing the exchange of knowledge and understanding across borders. For a more detailed biography of Ms. Crossette, please go to: http://members.authorsguild.net/bcrossette.

Wednesday, May 19, 2008
2:00-4:00pm
Jean Karoubi President and Co-Chief Investment Officer of the LongChamp Group

Jean Karoubi, President and Co-Chief Investment Officer of the LongChamp Group founded the company in 1981.  The firm provides managerial and financial advisory services to families, international banks, corporations, and foundations.  He also serves on the board of PlaNet Finance USA, an international non-profit organization that aims to alleviate poverty by contributing to the development of the microfinance sector.  Born in Algeria and raised in France, he received graduate degrees from the University of Paris in Law and in Economics, as well as the diploma at Institute d’Etudes Politiques.  He also received his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania while on a Fulbright in 1973. 

Wednesday, May 28, 2008
12:00-2:00pm
Kevin Parker
Global Head of Deutsche Asset Management, Deutche Bank

Kevin E. Parker is Global Head of Deutsche Asset Management and a member of Deutsche Bank’s Group Executive Committee, reporting to Dr. Josef Ackermann, Chairman of the GEC and Spokesman of the Managing Board. Prior to his current role, Kevin served as the Global Head of Equities and the Global Head of Equity Derivatives.  He joined Deutsche Bank in 1997 from Morgan Stanley & Co. where he had been named in 1991 the youngest Managing Director in the bank’s history.  He held a variety of positions at Morgan Stanley including Global Head of Equity Derivatives Trading and Chief Information Officer.  He is a leading voice in the asset management industry advocating investment in market-based solutions for global climate change.

Past Conversations with World Leaders Hosts

Christopher Stamos, Sterling Stamos Capital Management, L.P.

Mr. Stamos is a partner at Sterling Stamos Capital Management, L.P., an investment firm that operates multiple hedge funds that offers investors the opportunity to invest in a wide variety of return strategies. The firm has approximately $2 billion in assets under management and represents more than 150 different investors. Mr. Stamos has created an independent foundation for charitable giving and expects to contribute 10% of all company profits to the foundation. The entire focus of the foundation is on global health issues and, in particular, eradicating infectious diseases in the developing world. Mr. Stamos is himself a true internationalist, having lived abroad in China, Japan, and Taiwan, among other countries.

William Sterling, Chief Investment Officer, Trilogy Global Advisors, LLC

Dr. William Sterling, an entrepreneurial Wall Streeter with over 20 years experience discussed current business and investment trends. After earning his BA in economics from Carleton College, Dr. Sterling went on to receive his MA and PhD in economics from Harvard University. Dr. Sterling was a First Vice President at Merrill Lynch first as Head of Economic Research in Tokyo and later as Head of International Economic Research. He became Managing Director and Head of International Equities at BEA Associates prior to the firm being acquired by CSAM. Dr. Sterling was an Executive Director of Credit Suisse Asset Management and served on the firm's operating committee as Global Head of Equities. He is also co-author of Boomernomics: The Future of Your Money in the Upcoming Generational Warfare, a book advising how to integrate demographics and investing. As a former Fulbright scholar to the University of Tokyo, he is the perfect person for any Fulbrighter to talk about both life after a Fulbright experience and mastering the world of investment.

Alexandre de Lesseps, Co-Founder of Myanmar Children’s Association and Founder of BlueOrchard Finance

Born in Paris, and raised there and in Khartoum, Sudan, de Lesseps' father was the French ambassador to Sudan, and his great-great-grandfather was the French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps, who supervised construction of the Suez Canal in 1879, began construction on the Panama Canal and presented the Statue of Liberty to the United States in 1886.

His own history includes involvement with the anti-Vietnam War movement (as a student at Northwestern University he was arrested, and then cleared, for involvement in a Students for a Democratic Society action), a career as a Hollywood film producer, and a subsequent career as a fund manager specializing in Asian stocks.  In the 1990s Mr. de Lesseps co-founded the Myanmar Children's Association, a not-for-profit organization which has built two orphanages, a day care center, a maternity clinic, and a primary school for a Myanmar community. In 2001, Mr. de Lesseps founded BlueOrchard Finance.  BlueOrchard is the first private, worldwide, fully commercial microfinance investment fund. The company invests in well-run financial institutions who lend money to the poorest class of local business owners in developing countries.  Currently, Mr. de Lesseps is the Chairman of Pandaw Investment Holdings in Hong Kong, Yangon and of Coral Capital based in London and Havana.