CEO of Communispace, Diane Hessan (A77), took time out of her demanding schedule to visit Tufts and discuss her life as an entrepreneur and leader. Diane began her exciting career after earning a degree in economics from Tufts, summa cum laude, followed by an MBA from Harvard Business School. After speaking with Diane, it is evident that she was destined to be a leader long before she started working in the business world. The life lessons she shared and the principles in which she believes reflect her confidence and ability to run a successful company.

What was your experience like at Tufts? What organizations did you participate in and how did you think about your future back then?
I came from a high school with 800 kids, where only 80 went to college. Before coming to Tufts, I had never even taken a final or midterm. But when I arrived, it was magical. The amount of resources here opened my eyes to another level of learning and gave me a better understanding of what was happening in the world. I got involved in many organizations, played instruments, joined athletic teams, was class president, and helped run a lecture series. However, back then there was nothing like the entrepreneurial leadership program, community health, or communications. If you were interested in business, you had to major in economics. The only way to learn about non-academics was through the Experimental College, which was a popular program at the time.

So what field of study grabbed your interest?
Well, I liked to run things. This is why I knew I was a leader. I actually went to a panel one night, toward the end of my sophomore year. This is the first time I ever heard anything about an MBA. I was immediately intrigued by what was said there, and I wanted to find out more. However, by senior year, I was torn between law school and business school. I asked for help from my advisor. That's one thing about Tufts - professors always have their doors open and are willing to help. He advised me by simply telling me to flip a coin and choose. Once I did and was disappointed at the idea of going to law school, he told me to choose what I truly wanted—business school.

What happened once you left Tufts?
I went to Harvard Business School. While there, I made many strong connections and surrounded myself with a great group of friends - which is actually something I learned at Tufts. I have made close friends over the years. I still visit many of them and try to attend their special events. As an entrepreneur, I definitely believe that having a strong group of close friends is important. Once I made it through business school, I had gathered a great deal of experience. I went on to executive positions at The Forum Corporation and then became CEO of RealWorld Consulting. In 1999, I was one of the founding members of Communispace.

Tell me more about Communispace. Were there any times when the company dealt with serious issues that may have threatened its existence?
Yes, definitely. We raised $10 million in venture capital in 2000 and decided to spend it, like any company would in that time and mindset. However, right after raising the cash, the internet bubble burst. We were facing severe financial struggles, so I took the leadership role and made a decision to share all information with everybody. I figured that stress would be lowered if employees had as much information as possible. It was an effective thing to do. When I opened things up to people, they felt like owners and came up with incredible ideas to lift the company. If you treat people like adults and give them what they need to know, they rise to the occasion. Something else I learned is that when you are an entrepreneur, you do not get penalized by taking risks. Think about it, the worst case scenario is to get another job. This minimizes the idea of risk, so you can move forward. Be open and clear about problems in business, but do not get paralyzed by it. A third lesson is to focus really hard on customers in order to pull yourself out of problems. When your company has problems, try to engage customers. As a leader and a CEO, you do not have to solve your own problems. Gather the most information from your customers and you will succeed. A fourth lesson is that you should have fun at your job. Communispace is an exciting internet company—it's not world hunger. People need to liven up and have fun at their job. I think this mentality increases the productivity of the work environment.

What are the stresses involved with being a CEO?
You carry a lot of weight on shoulders. But like I said, the other side is to have fun while controlling and building the company. Everybody is on the team, but I am the leader. People do not want to me to be a coworker. They want somebody to be decisive and confident, and confidence comes with experience. It's great when young people create businesses, but a lot of their strategy is based on guesswork rather than experience. You have to know what kind of leader you want to be which you can determine by looking at leaders that you have worked for. I have worked for leaders who have been great at running a company, but I have also had bad ones. Leadership is something I felt comfortable with, and after gaining experience from my previous jobs, I knew I could handle the stresses of being a CEO and carry the weight of a company. I knew I could be confident, decisive, and smart while maintaining a great working environment.

Being a CEO is the best job. It is dramatically less stressful than others jobs that are not at the very top. As a CEO, you have control over changes. The biggest thing I am in charge of is the culture. I encourage people to select the ground rules and work hours. It's cool to create a company and then work on it. Start learning what kind of leader you want to be.

Do you have any advice you'd like to give to students at Tufts?
There are some people in the world who know what they want to be when they are born. In those cases, life is pretty easy when it comes to choosing a career. My advice is not to worry about a career. Your future job will probably be one that does not even exist right now. The major jobs do not exist now because technology and the workforce are constantly changing. I tell my daughter all the time: do not worry! Major in what you love and stay close to friends. Work hard and be nice to people. Opportunities will come serendipitously. Job offers will come through networking. And keep in mind - opportunities cannot be planned.

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ELS Students Complete Summer Internships

While many Tufts Jumbos relaxed or went out with friends this summer, Arun Yang (L10), Greg Hering (E10), and Danielle Damm (L09) were completing internships through funding provided by the Tufts Entrepreneurial Leadership Program (ELP) and Career Services. "Internships give students real-world experience in the entrepreneurial world and also help them to develop the technical, financial, marketing and leadership skills required to become successful entrepreneurs," said Pamela Goldberg, director of ELP. "We were pleased to be able to provide the opportunity of paid internships to students this summer."

Arun Yang interned with NYANA (New York Association of New Americans), a company that helps new immigrants in New York with education, healthcare, legal advice and job placement. As a technical and marketing consultant in the association's micro-enterprise department, Arun helped four immigrant business owners with website development, search engine optimization and other marketing tasks. He also planned open house events as a way to efficiently and effectively advertise the companies' missions. "I really enjoyed helping people who are underrepresented as entrepreneurs. I found the work to be both exciting and rewarding," said Arun.

Greg Hering worked as the outreach coordinator for Action for Clean Energy, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the development of renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure. With the goal of improving their financial and technical engineering strategies, Greg performed feasibility studies and built financial models for communities and organizations interested in renewable energy. "The most difficult part of my job was learning about wind energy and then marketing that information to prospective buyers," said Greg. "This experience expanded my entrepreneurial skills and helped me to develop a sense of what is required to grow a non-profit." Greg plans to leverage the skills he learned in starting his own business, Emergent Energy LLC.

Danielle Damm's internship took her to New York, where she was an integral part of the public relations firm Rogers & Cowan. Her diverse responsibilities included conducting research, wring press releases, working with editors and public relations executives, and analyzing focus groups. "I gained a great deal of experience at Rogers & Cowan, and the skills I learned closely relate to what I'm learning in my entrepreneurship classes," said Danielle. Although this is her first year in the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program, she's certain that her summer experience will be of great value as she moves through the program.

The funding provided by the Entrepreneurship Leadership Program was made possible through the generosity of the Lunder Family Foundation.

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Tufts School of Engineering and Boston Tufts Alliance Co-host Technology Business Panel

On September 27, 2007, more than 60 Tufts alumni filled the offices of Burlington-based Cook Associates to listen to the advice of five entrepreneurs who shared stories of successes and failures they've experienced in their careers. The event, co-hosted by Tufts School of Engineering and the Boston Tufts Alliance, brought together engineers and venture capitalists. The panelists—including Steve Ricci, Kevin Oye, Carl Rausch, John Barrett, and Robert Hannemann director of Tufts Gordon Institute—exemplified how technological innovation can strengthen the connection between engineers interested in technology and venture capitalists interested in funding projects. The panelists also gave examples of how to overcome challenges and to enhance one's success in a leadership role within an organization.

Steve Ricci, a senior partner at Flagship Ventures, kicked off the panel discussions after introductory remarks from Dean of Engineering, Linda Abriola. At Flagship, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on creating, financing, and building innovative companies in the Life Science and Technology sectors, Ricci serves as vice chairman and as a managing partner within the company's information technology sector. Ricci has more than 30 years of experience in the venture capital industry and has been directly involved in the financing of more than 125 companies.

Kevin Oye is vice president for the Systems & Technology Division of Sycamore Networks, Inc., a company that develops and markets broadband networking products. Before joining Sycamore, Oye was vice president of strategy and business development at Lucent Technologies. There he was involved in fourteen acquisitions and strategic partnerships to expand the company's market leadership position in data networking. Oye orchestrated the $24-billion acquisition of Ascend Communications, Inc., and the $246-million acquisition of Xedia, both of which required entrepreneurial skills and a great deal of determination.

Carl Rausch is co-founder, vice chairman, and chief technical officer of Biopure Corporation, a pharmaceutical company that develops therapeutic drugs for delivering oxygen to the body. During the course of his career, Rausch has managed the successful completion of more than 170 preclinical and clinical trials and has negotiated several, global industry partnerships. His determination has led to many accomplishments within Biopure, as well as in other organizations in which he has had a leadership role.

John Barrett, vice president and managing director at Cook Associates, Inc.—an executive search and mergers and acquisitions advisory services firm—spoke about his experiences in the business and technology world. Before entering the retained executive search industry, Barrett was vice president of marketing for Citi F/I (financial interactive), an Internet start-up for the Global Consumer Bank at Citigroup. Barrett developed customer acquisition campaigns and numerous cross-marketing alliances with retail and consumer companies. He also was instrumental in working across Citigroup's consumer product lines to design innovative approaches to customer acquisition, cross-selling, and retention loyalty programs.

Robert Hannemann concluded the evening's presentations. This September, Hannemann joined Tufts Gordon Institute as its new director. He also currently serves as director and senior advisor of Thermal Form & Function, Inc., a startup company focused on advanced, energy-efficient cooling of electronic products, and as founder and principal of Atlantic Technologies, which provides business planning and development, product strategy and financing to fledgling enterprises. Rob talked about a success he had while he was president of a start-up company, Lasertron, Inc., a fiber laser technology company targeting the optical communication industry. He helped lead the company to the next level by optimizing the company's offerings, one of which was its successful transfer of technology. Once Lasertron made a $1.8 billion deal with Corning, Inc. , the company soared from a small start-up to a major player in the communication industry.

After each speaker talked about the challenges through the years within the technology sector, the discussion was opened to the audience for questions and answers. A lively discussion ensued with regard to the current challenges and future prospects for the technology industry sector.

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Chuck Auster (A '72) Endows ELS Auster Family Lectureship

Since its inception seven years ago, the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program at Tufts has been a success, providing courses and bringing events to campus that showcase the impact of entrepreneurship on society. More and more students partake in this program each year, and an increasing number of alumni are becoming involved. With only a few years in existence, the program has grown exponentially, but credit needs to be given to those who ensure this success. I sat down with Entrepreneurial Leadership advisory board member Chuck Auster (A72), whose insight into the program has helped it grow and reach outstanding heights. This advisory board member has worked diligently and shares his values to improve what is an already successful program.

Mr. Auster graduated from Tufts in 1972. As a student, he took on leadership roles in various organizations and strived to connect with professors to make his time at the school more fulfilling. He always valued his ability to work and soon began to earn a salary working while still at school. He carried this mentality with his first job out of law school as part of a law firm. He then realized that law was not what he wanted to do with the rest of his life, so he moved to the corporate world when he began working at First Corp Quicksilver, a company that handled investment for venture capital funding. As an entrepreneur, however, he was not comfortable in a large corporate setting and through various career moves eventually became executive vice president and part of the Board of Directors for AmeriTrade, Inc., an international trade and investment banking firm. Also as a founding partner in Andes Equity Partners, Ltd., he helped start the South American Private Equity Growth Fund, LP, a $150 million overseas private investment corporation that guaranteed direct investment funds for Latin America. He is now a partner at One Equity Partners, the private equity arm of JP Morgan Chase, and continues his career as a seasoned deal maker who always strives for success.

His entrepreneurial skills make him an ideal person to be one of the leaders in the development of the entrepreneurship program at Tufts. With his experience, it is no surprise that he has become an integral part of the Entrepreneurship advisory board. He values the lessons that the program offers students interested in entrepreneurship, stating that "It helps [students] develop a sense of independence and leadership so that when they are thrown into difficult situations in the business world, they can figure out solutions and adequately handle their challenges." These are values that he carried when leaving Tufts as a young adult stepping into the corporate world, and are now lessons that he wants to incorporate into the program.

The program curriculum is also being expanded with Mr. Auster heading the curriculum subcommittee of the advisory board. More events are being organized, such as the Lyon & Bendheim Lecture Series, the business plan competitions, as well as lectures, internships and mentorships from prominent alumni. One hope of Mr. Auster's is that in the near future, the program will develop into a structured department. It already shows some signs of that kind of growth. However, Mr. Auster does not forget to give credit to Pamela Goldberg, director of the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program. He calls her "An outstanding leader who has brought activities together to push the program forward and strengthen it." As a member of the advisory board, he acknowledges the work of the team and understands that there is still a lot to be done. In response, he has extended his leadership to endow the Auster Family Lectureship in the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program. With the range of leadership and entrepreneurial work he has done throughout his career, Mr. Auster is a perfect fit for the entrepreneurial leadership program and a valuable voice on the advisory board.

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Socially Responsible Business Conference 2007

Moving into the 21st century, the number of businesses around the world has greatly increased. With this fact arise two questions: what makes a successful business and how do their profits interact with their social and environmental impacts? Companies such as Adidas and Starbucks net millions of dollars in profit annually. They have ensured profits, so should they care about the environment and about places in the world that do not use their products? These and other challenges for companies were addressed in this year's Socially Responsible Business Conference where numerous companies, students from colleges and universities from around Boston, and members of the Tufts community were present. Sponsored by the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, Massachusetts Campus Compact (MACC), the Tufts University Alumni Association, and the Tufts University Entrepreneurial Leadership Studies Program, the conference was able to bring representatives to campus that showcased what active citizenship is all about. Taryn Miller-Stevens, conference chair and senior at Tufts, helped put together an event that shed light on what it means for a company to have complete success and have a global positive impact.

The keynote speaker was Jonathan Greenblatt, co-founder of Ethos Water and Tufts alumnus from the class of 92. In creating Ethos Water, Mr. Greenblatt blended the quality of consumer experience and an ethical message. He listed what he considered to be five key dimensions essential to ethical products: mission, authenticity, commitment, information, and engagement. Together, these keys help make a product that conveys a message to consumers, engages them in their message, and maintains the highest possible quality in order to satisfy consumer demand. Because of his hard work and determination to build a company and still create social change, Ethos Water is projected to invest more than $10 million through 2010 to bring clean water to needy communities throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America. After selling the company to Starbuck in 2005 its message reaches nearly 40 million consumers visiting Starbucks stores weekly and educates them about the world water crisis. Through creative marketing and clear display of the ethical message on each of the water bottles, the company encourages consumers to spread the word on the crisis. The purpose of the company was not only to make a profit, but more importantly create awareness of a global crisis and compel its consumers to react. As a keynote for this conference, he truly exemplified the ideal socially responsible entrepreneur who has made an impact on underprivileged people's lives around the world.

Another part of this conference was a panel that included Mr. Greenblatt, as well as Professor Ann Rappaport (urban and environmental policy and planning program at Tufts University), Marianne Voss (head of program operations, social & environmental affairs at the Adidas Group), and Moneer Azzam (President & CEO of SolarOne). All of these speakers focused on the importance of companies' ethical integrity, which they defined as how they can make a profit and at the same time positively impact social and environmental issues around the world. As Mr. Greenblatt had previously mentioned, consumer satisfaction is a priority, but not at the sake of social responsibility. For large companies such as Adidas, this becomes a tougher issue to reconcile, but one of the ways they handle it is through codes of conduct that prevent labor abuse in their factories. These rules must be followed in order for continued production, which helps ensure that the company follows ethical guidelines. On a similar level of importance is environmental responsibility, which Professor Rappaport and Mr. Azzam mentioned can be achieved through more efficient energy strategies that keep our air clean and our planet healthy. This is essential to our society, so it is something that companies must understand as they expand. Social and environmental responsibility must be priorities for companies in order to maintain their success and show consumers that they care about the world and the underrepresented communities in developing countries.

Another important aspect of the conference was the idea of non-profit companies. James Weinberg, CEO and Founder of Commongood Careers talked about how companies that do not make a profit must be socially responsible. His company helps people find non-profit companies for which to work, which means that he has extensive knowledge on how these companies function. He mentioned that these companies must, "Do well by doing good as opposed to doing well and in the process doing good." He gave people tips on how to apply for these companies and how to find one that deals with an issue of interest to an applicant. Social responsibility has become a hot trend with GAP's RED campaign to help fight AIDS in Africa, Bill Gates donation to help needy people in developing countries, and most recently Ethos Water with its aid in the water crisis in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. More people are becoming involved in non-profits and want to help on social issues. This trend makes it easier for companies to be socially responsible since they can rely on their consumers being interested in their ethical messages while they can simultaneously make a profit.

This conference was a great resource for undergraduates and anybody else interested in how companies interact with social dilemmas. Each speaker was knowledgeable in their field and the panels allowed the audience to ask questions and learn more about what companies do to be socially responsible. While maintaining product quality and consumer satisfaction, businesses are increasingly able to uphold their responsibility to global problems and showcase that with the power they have, they can make changes in places where change is desperately needed. They can also inspire their consumers to make a change and become actively involved.

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Laura Lang (A77), CEO of Digitas, Delivers Fall 2007 Lyon & Bendheim Alumni Lecture

"Take risks and be intellectually curious." This was the clear message delivered by Laura Lang (A77), CEO of Digitas, as she spoke to the Tufts Community as part of the Lyon & Bendheim Alumni Lecture Series. Her message aimed to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs to take charge and seek new opportunities in a world that is constantly looking for smart, new leaders. As an advisory board member of the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program, Lang strives to relate her expertise to the curriculum of the program. This lecture gave her the opportunity to talk about those experiences and give the audience a glimpse into what transformed her from a Tufts undergraduate student trying to figure out life, into a successful entrepreneur.

Lang, a summa cum laude graduate, was involved with many organizations and pursued different fields while a student at Tufts. Even though the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program did not exist at the time, she strived to find her nich