Wednesday, March 14, 2001

Swanky place, swish speakers, sumptuous snacks

Set in the trendy Hudson Hotel, the Columbia Business School Alumni in Media and Entertainment hosted a panel discussion featuring MTVi's Nicholas Butterworth, Juno.com's Charles Ardai, North Haven Partners' Adele Morrissette, Bolt.com's Dan Pelson and iVillage's Doug McCormick were the illustrious speakers. Their animated and engaging conversation drew in the audience and kept the evening rolling as they discussed the evolution of digital TV, cable, Tivo, advertising on the net and Napster. Afterwards I chatted with Zomba's Seth Schachner and Hartnick Consultant President Kate Hartnick. Charles Ardai and I caught up as he introduced me to one of his investors, News Digital Ventures Director Daniel Goldman. Lazard Freres Ilya Gertsberg landed safely (there) after his previous dotcom, RedFilter, went the way of many others. Jason Ojalvo came over to say "Hello," and I chatted for a bit with Mofo.com's John Delaney and Shirin Malkeni. As I snacked on some rich pasta dishes, compliments of sponsor Arthur Anderson, I chatted with VC Peter Boyd, Columbia MBA Kathleen Walsh and her friend Annie Kozuch, who will be co-hosting a Metro Channels TV show soon. Columbia Business School Alumni Club of NY Co-President Peter Greenough spoke with me a bit about the club's history and mission - to support the school's alumni. He also founded the Entrepreneurial and Internet Ventures Committee six years ago. He introduced me to Co-President Dean Gamanos, Ideas Trust Partners CEO Steven Feldman and Palmer Hill President Darryl Rouse. As I gathered my notes to leave, I chatted briefly with Bank of NY VP, media & Telecommunications division, Gerry Granovsky, Structured Content's Sanford Streim and Luminant's Stu Seltzer.