Stanford Business School to conduct it's first Finance Programme in the Middle East

Professor George G.C. Parker, the Dean Witter Professor of Finance and Management at the Stanford Business School, is to conduct a three-day executive education programme in Dubai from March 25-27, 2002.

"This innovative financial management programme for general management executives will emphasise the specific role of financial decisions in improving the value of the organisation," said Aman Merchant, Chief Executive Officer, Leading Concepts, which organises Stanford Business School executive programmes in the Middle East under an exclusive partnership with the Business School.

"Valuation, investment decisions, capital structure, financial instruments and innovation, initial public offerings (IPO's), strategic and financial considerations in mergers are some of the areas that this programme will cover. This unique programme meets the complex world of finance head-on, providing important frameworks that participants can apply immediately to the situations they face in their professional lives. "

"Professor Parker is one of the most senior Stanford faculty teaching today, and we are proud to bring him to this region to provide a first-class learning experience to the executives based in the Middle East," added Merchant.

"We realise that executives today would like to hear from experts who have both an academic as well as a corporate perspective. Prof. Parker is a member of the American Finance Association as well as the Financial Management Association, and also serves on the board of directors of various organisations including California Casualty Insurance Group, Dresdner/RCM Mutual Funds, Continental Airlines, H. Warshow & Sons, Inc., Bailard, Biehl & Kaiser, Inc. and Zurich Reinsurance Centre, Inc. As such, he shall be able to bring his practical, hands-on knowledge to the learning experience," said Merchant.

At the Business School since 1973, Professor Parker's research interests center around financial services and he has written for several publications including the Harvard Business Review, the Journal of Finance, and the Journal of Finance and Quantitative Analysis. He has great international exposure, having taught all over Europe, Latin America and Asia for the past 25 years in over 35 executive programmes. He was also involved in a general management programme that ran for three years at the National Bank of Kuwait in the 1990s.

"Financial Leadership in the New Economy is an intensive three-day seminar designed for senior financial and non-financial executives who want to augment and expand their knowledge of corporate finance", said Professor Parker.

"By the end of the programme, you will have explored the topics of critical importance to senior managers in charge of corporate financial policy, familiarised yourself with the latest tools needed to adapt to the rapidly changing financial environment and gained a broad overview of today's hottest financial issues and trends in corporate finance that will be as useful to managers of organisations 10 years from now as they are today. With the announcement of the Dubai International Finance Center by the Dubai Government, it is essential that senior executives in this region are fully familiar with best practices from around the world, and we hope to address several relevant issues during these three days," commented Parker.

Financial Leadership in the New Economy will be held at the Fairmont Dubai, Dubai, UAE and is the first ever finance programme from the Stanford Business School to be held in the Middle East.