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Article: Gay MBA Conference Draws Record Attendance

Article Group List / Diversity / Gay MBA Conference Draws Record Attendance

Gay MBA Conference Draws Record Attendance

By IMTIYAZ HUSSEIN

What do the US Ambassador to Luxembourg, the Vice Dean of the Columbia Business School, the CEO of Booz-Allen & Hamilton and more than a dozen HBS students have in common? They were all at Working Out, the Lesbian & Gay MBA Conference, held at the Park Hyatt hotel in Philadelphia the weekend of March 24 - 25, 2000. This was the second annual lesbian and gay MBA conference and what a difference a year makes!  Last year's conference, the first of its kind ever, was held at HBS and jointly organized with Yale's School of Management. Thirteen business schools participated in the first conference and the registration cap of 150 people was reached several days before the conference. This year's conference, jointly organized by The Wharton School and Columbia Business School (five other schools, including HBS, organized various panels and workshops), attracted more than 400 students and professionals and included participation from more than 40 business schools, including four Canadian schools. There was also notable participation from religiously-affiliated schools like Notre Dame and Southern Methodist University, and from several Southern schools (not a single Southern school participated in last year's conference).

Even popular magazine covers seemed to reflect the change over the past year. The cover story of New York magazine, at the time of last year's conference, was entitled, "Gay Wall Street," and presented a bleak picture of closeted (and tortured) gay life at some of the Street's most pre-eminent firms. This year, newsstands had something more hopeful to offer. The March 20th edition of Newsweek sported a cover story entitled, "Gay Today: How the battle for acceptance has moved to schools, churches, marriage & the workplace." The special report detailed how the American public's attitude toward gay and lesbian equality in all spheres of life was changing dramatically, fueled in large measure by unprecedented levels of interaction between openly gay and straight Americans. ~

And other differences also marked the rapid growth of this conference. Last year, investment banks were singled out as hotbeds of homophobic hostility. This year, several bulge-bracket firms not only sent representatives to participate on panels and workshops, but even competed with one another on the level of financial sponsorship they provided to the conference. Last year, there were a total of three panels and workshops and even then some panelists had to be cajoled into participating. This year, the conference agenda listed nine panels and workshops and the conference and panel organizers received far more requests to participate than could be accommodated even after expanding the size of some of the panels. Last year, the conference took place in the hallowed halls of Aldrich. This year, the setting for the conference was the elegant Park Hyatt hotel (we'll ignore, for the moment, that this was the same hotel-previously known as the Bellevue - where Legionnaire's Disease made its infamous debut). And, finally, at last year's conference, there was nary a peep from Dean Clark. This year, Patrick Harker, the Dean of The Wharton School - the host school for the conference - included the following message in a welcoming letter to conference delegates: "Workplace diversity has been the topic of much discussion in business and academic circles for the last several years. While we can all be encouraged by the changes that have occurred, we suite or on the factory floor, we must promote and insist upon greater sensitivity and awareness, and be more inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered individuals. It just makes good business sense, as evidenced by the exceptional talent of the students gathering for this conference. More importantly, it is, quite simply, the right thing to do."

While there were clearly some differences between the first and second conferences, there were also some similarities. The feeling of camaraderie among gay and lesbian students was as palpable this year as last. One kept hearing the refrain that had become standard issue last year - "This is incredible - we've got to have more events like this one." And the quality of the keynote speeches remained very high. This year's keynote addresses included remarks from David Steward, the former CEO of TV Guide (and current CEO of Earthnoise.com), Suzanne LeVan, Vice President, Premium Brands of Philip Morris USA, and James Hormel, US Ambassador to Luxembourg. In addition to panels on being gay in various industries - high tech, venture capital, investment banking, consulting, and media and entertainment - this year's participants were also able to attend workshops on professional recruiting, legal issues in the workplace, and organizing gay and lesbian groups at business school and in the workplace. ~

This year's conference also provided ample opportunity for networking, the hallmark of any event targeting MBA students, and one of the primary purposes of the conference. "The collective support and involvement from such high-caliber business schools will allow professional gays and lesbians to build and develop networks, and bring an end to the unofficial 'don't ask, don't tell' policy that has prevailed in the business world for decades," noted Liz Zale, a Columbia Business School student and one of the core organizers of the event. The conference also provides a wonderful opportunity for gay and lesbian students, who often constitute a very small percentage of the student body at any one school, to derive strength and support from their colleagues at other schools who are going through a similar experience. This is particularly helpful for those students coming from schools where they are the only openly gay person at their business school (this was true for several of the conference attendees), and for openly lesbian and bisexual women, who appear to be even more underrepresented in MBA student populations than their gay male counterparts. Recognizing this reality, the conference organizers arranged a dinner event specifically for women students and panelists to promote increased networking among this group.

This year, the closing reception was again sponsored by Booz-Allen & Hamilton and held at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. The consulting firm's Chairman/CEO attended the conference to deliver his remarks in person. According to Peter Allen, a Wharton student and one of the Co-Chairs of this year's conference, "Ralph Shrader (Booz's CEO) - married, sixtyish, a Ph.D. in engineering and the head of a very large professional services firm - is not necessarily the type of person you'd expect to be at the forefront on lesbian and gay rights. For this reason, we were all the more overwhelmed by the sincerity with which he acknowledged the difficulties we face and the wonderful progress we have-with the help of friends and allies - been able to make." ~

In his remarks, Dr. Shrader directly refuted the notion that Corporate America was making overtures to gays and lesbians because of a labor shortage. He stated, "I want to assure you that respect is not a fad of a tight employment market. Respect is an enduring value. I know there are still many places and situations in which you're not accorded the respect and acceptance you deserve, but I believe those places and those situations will diminish. The strides you've made in gaining respect and acceptance are here to stay. They're here to stay in Philadelphia...at Booz-Allen & Hamilton...and in society at large." Dr. Shrader went on to quote Martin Luther King, Jr. who once said, "The ultimate measure of a person is not where one stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where one stands in times of challenge and controversy." Further pressing his belief that gay and lesbian equality was not a transient state, Dr. Shrader ended his remarks with, "I admire your courage, optimism, and perseverance in times of challenge. You've earned respect-from more people than you can imagine. And, I know that it will endure."

>From the first moment when the Lesbian & Gay MBA conference was conceived by Jason Stone (HBS '99) and James Robertson (Yale SOM '99), the vision was to create a truly national event. From its birth in Boston to its first birthday in Philadelphia, the conference is now ready to take flight and cross over to the other coast. Next year's conference will be held in San Francisco and will be jointly organized by a trio of business schools - Stanford, UCLA and Thunderbird. I can't wait!