Dear fellow alumni,
let me take this opportunity to still wish you all the best for 2012, both private and professional! This newsletter –the latest novelty in a series of new initiatives– is meant to keep you informed on everything that is happening around the SIM/MIM Alumni Association on a semi-annual basis. The current edition features a review of past events, an overview of coming activities, the introduction of our new website, a SIM entrepreneur in the spotlight, and many other interesting topics.
I hope you will enjoy this newsletter!
Kind regards, on behalf of the entire board,
Daan Meurders
President of SIM/MIM Alumni Association
president@simalumni.org
Last year has seen a number of successful social events, bringing together alumni from various generations – the alumni were invited to an exclusive whisky tasting in a small “spirits boutique” located in the old town of Zurich. Moreover, several bar nights have been hosted during the course of the year. Meanwhile, many alumni have also attended the bi-monthly series of SIM dinners (organized by Marcus Kuhn, our new VP Events), another initiative that further allows SIM students and alumni to meet and exchange experiences in an informal setting. Finally, we ended the year in style with a traditional Christmas event featuring Glühwein & Fondue dinner.
We are happy to invite you and your partner to the next SIM Dinner on Friday 17 February in Zurich. Venue and time we be announced shortly, so therefore please RSVP on the Facebook event page and we will keep you up-to-date.
On Saturday 10 March, we will host another SIM2SIM Consulting Workshop at the University of St. Gallen. Currently already running in its 6th year, the SIM2SIM Consulting workshop series can be considered as an important element in the alumni-student interaction. Alumni from various consulting firms have volunteered to prepare students for a future career in consulting, whether it is by informing on the diverse opportunities, cracking cases or performing CV checks. If you are working at a consultancy firm and interested in helping current SIM students in their career orientation and preparation process, then please contact Marcel Thom for further information.
After last year’s premiere, this year will see the second edition of the Mentoring Program, an initiative that connects Alumni to current students and offers a platform that facilitates exchange of experiences, feedback and valuable career advice. Many alumni indicated their willingness to act as mentor for current SIMmies. Based on their individual preferences, students were matched to alumni, allowing for an optimal setting to network and provide valuable career advice. Whether you already have been active as mentor or not, we will reach out to you again soon and kindly ask you to engage in this program.
It would be a pity not to take advantage of the amazing snow conditions on the Swiss mountain slopes, and therefore we intend to organize a Skiing day for all alumni and partners. The date is still tbd, so please keep a close look at your emails for the invitation.
As usual in the beginning of the year, the SIM Office will organize the annual SIM Community Event. The date of this event is still unknown as the moment of publication of this newsletter, but we will keep you informed accordingly.
We are happy to inform you that we have launched a new website for the alumni association. Please take the opportunity to visit http://www.simalumni.ch where you can find the latest news on events and activities, more information about the association, relevant contact details and links to the SIM community through LinkedIn, XING and Facebook. Many thanks to our VP of IT, Simon Schmincke, for realizing this project.
… The SIM program has been awarded first place worldwide in the Financial Times Global Masters in Management Ranking in 2011!
… In 2011, the SIM/MIM Alumni Association was delighted to welcome to its community 30 new alumni, who successfully graduated from the SIM Program in the Spring and Fall semesters.
… Currently we are proud to have nearly 300 members, ranging from the early days of the MIM program to the most recent generations from SIM 6 and 7.
… Marcel Thom and Marcus Kuhn were elected to the Association’s Board during last year’s Community Event. They succeeded Jan-Henrik Sieg and Moritz Hofmeister, both of who in turn took up their new positions as Auditors of the Association, replacing Luzia Staehli and Daniel Laeubli.
In recent years, the alumni base has grown significantly, not just in size but also in geographic presence. In trying to keep up with this international expansion we would like to increase our association’s presence beyond Zurich and Switzerland. But for this we need you! As a first step, we are looking for alumni based in Geneva, Basel, Munich and London. Please contact us events@simalumni.org and we can look further into possibilities for organizing events in your cities.
Each newsletter we present a SIMpreneur to the community.
This edition features Philipp Maier, SIM 5 and co-founder of Fine Cotton Company (www.finecotton.ch and www.finecotton.de):
“With Fine Cotton Company we have established a premium brand for tailor-made shirts. On our website customers can design and personalize their shirt which we deliver tailored to individual body measures. We focus on high product quality, manufacturing skills and the needs of a demanding target group: managers, bankers and consultants. We only use fabrics from reputable producers and manufacture in the EU. Our service offering includes on-site measuring days including style advice for companies and institutions. For 2012 we plan to expand advisory services also to the website and expand our product portfolio into blouses.
Currently, we are offering 11% of our company for sale. Private investors can bid on shares, starting at ~1,000€. I would like to welcome you to take a look at our investment profile on http://www.innovestment.de/fine-cotton-company-gmbh
But: Be quick! – Shares in the amount of 65 T€ have already been sold. The auction is closing on 5 February 2012.
I am happy to be in touch with many of the SIM community in Zurich and always welcome feedback, ideas and support. Get in touch with me on +41 79 2685 985 or via philipp.maier@finecottoncompany.com
Regards,
Philipp
P.S. We are part of the HSG Alumni member benefits: With the code “HSGAlumni2012” you receive a 15% discount on our whole product portfolio.”
 Daan MeurdersPresident SIM 4 |
 Richard WaygoodFinance SIM 3 |
 Marcel ThomStudent Relations MIM |
 Dennis Krings-ErnstStudent Relations SIM 2 |
 Simon SchminckeIT SIM 6 |
 Marcus KuhnEvents SIM 5 |
 Ben SchwarzFinance SIM 3 |
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| Newly appointed as Auditors are: | ||||
 Jan-Henrik SiegFormer President SIM 2 |
 Moritz HofmeisterFormer VP Finance SIM 1 |
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Thank you very much for your willingness to commit 50 CHF / year to the SIM/MIM alumni association by becoming a member.
With your contribution you help us improve the experience for the current SIM students as well as organizing a couple of events for alumni. None of this would be possible without the support of our members and we warmly welcome you to this circle and thank you for your support.
The annual fee of CHF 50,- is valid throughout 2012 and should be paid to the bank account below at your earliest convenience:
SIM/MIM Alumni Association
MIGROS Bank St.Gallen
IBAN: CH87 0840 1016 2142 0000 9
CLEARING: 8401
BIC/Swift: MIGRCHZZ80A
Alternatively, you may pay via Paypal, using this link: www.paypal.com and directing your payment to finance@simalumni.org while choosing “Service” as reference.
Thanks again for your support and we hope to see you at one of our future events for which we will keep you up to date!
