Today saw the first ever Berkeley Latin American Business Conference. The first ever annual conference, as the Dean described it. It was entirely student led, with our friend Pete doing a lot of the organising. And behind every great man...Fini was on hand to host the evening's wine tasting event.
They pulled in some big names. The first speaker was Martin Lousteau, who at 38 has already been CEO of one of Buenos Aires's largest banks, served as Argentinean Minister of Economy, and resigned! He spoke about the macroeconomic situation in Latin America, and while I only understood a tiny fraction of the theory of counter-cyclical monetary policy (hey - I've sent Hannah on an MBA to deal with that stuff) he was a incredible speaker.
The day was filled with panels about entrepreneurship and capturing the Latin and Hispanic markets in the US, and finished with another great speaker in Fernando Malenchini. Amongst his many achievements is upstaging Fini (no small task) when they performed together in The Phantom of the Opera but he was here to speak about his ultra-luxury hotel - the Cavas Wine Lodge - in Mendoza.
This is the real thing: in the middle of a vineyard, only 14 rooms so the manager can remember the names of every guest, their own spa with their own brand of toiletries (they couldn't find any good enough). We're booking in for Christmas.
After that it was the wine tasting where a cheeky little 2007 Malbec was poured aplenty. We even managed to grab some of the aforementioned toiletries, but although Fini took to the stage to talk us through the wine she could not be cajoled into singing...
Finally sorting out that little misunderstanding over the Falkland Islands.
Ready to go.
Looking extremely at home. Haas will be led by Dean Pedro Kudrnac in a few short years, I have no doubt.
The current Dean does his thing.
Wine, waiting.
"And now I'd like to perform a little song for you..." Maybe next year.
