More than 50 teams representing their respective business schools had two gorgeous days of racing. The Open J/24 Class had 14 teams complete two windward-leeward races daily on board International J/24 one-design class sailboats. Those teams were competing for the MBA's Cup Challenge Trophy.
The business schools taking part in the event were: Cambridge Judge Business School, Chicago Booth School of Business, Columbia Business School, ESADE Business School, GOETHE Business School, Harvard Business School, HEC, IE, IESE Business School, IMD, INSEAD, London Business School Simon Male, Manchester Business School, MIP School of Management, MIT’s Sloan School of Management, Sauder School of Business, Skolkovo Moscow School of Management, Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, Northwestern’s Kellogg Business School, Univ. of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, Yale’s School of Management and SDA BOCCONI School of Management.
The Open J/24 Class was won by the MIP School of Management, winning two of the races. They were followed by the teams from the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Skolkovo Moscow School of Management, in second and third places respectively.
Why Future Leaders Need to Face Sustainability Challenges
On Sunday, the event's final day, the Conference “Why Future Leaders Need to Face Sustainability Challenges” was held at the Colonna Resort. Speakers were Andrea Illy, President of illycaffè, and the One Ocean Ambassadors Paul Rose, the explorer, and Maria Cristina Finucci, the artist who founded the Garbage Patch State in 2013.
Giuseppe Soda, Dean of SDA Bocconi, had these words: "I think that this event offers an excellent opportunity for learning because it gives students from the world’s top business schools an occasion for networking. Many of the participants will probably be in top positions in the future and they will have to make decisions that will have to do with environmental sustainability. We have to remember that 'There is no Planet B' and I really believe that events like the One Ocean MBA's Conference and Regatta can offer a framework for making responsible and informed decisions in the participants' private and professional lives."
Riccardo Bonadeo, Commodore of the YCCS and Executive Vice President of the One Ocean Foundation said: "My congratulations go to the winners of this event and to everyone who participated. I hope that you enjoyed the YCCS hospitality. I think that the location for this event, held for the first time in Costa Smeralda, shows just how important this mission is for us and proves that it's fundamental to promote a culture of environmental sustainability. There is no better audience than the world’s top MBA’s who were here for this event, the potential leaders of tomorrow. I want to thank the SDA Bocconi Business School for supporting the One Ocean Foundation right from the start, ever since the Forum organized in 2017. We are now working together to make a new generation aware of the urgency of protecting our planet."
At the Conference from the left: Maria Cristina Finucci, Paul Rose, Andrea Illy and the moderator Prof. Maurizio Dallocchio, One Ocean MBA's Conference & Regatta 2019.
After the opening greetings, Maria Cristina Finucci spoke at the Conference about her personal professional experience and about her most recent work including her initiative titled “HELP”. She underlined how communicating through emotions is key to sensitizing people regarding pollution and environmental themes.
Paul Rose, the explorer famous for his work with National Geographic, spoke about his passion for nature and for science. "When I was young I thought that the ocean's water could wash away anything as if by magic," he said referring to a time when pollution in the oceans had a different awareness. "But, today we are all more or less aware of pollution and its consequences, we hear talk every day about environmental and ecological disasters and we all are more attuned to the problem. Change is happening. For example, fighting illegal fishing or the establishment of protected marine areas. Personally, I'm an optimist and I think that the changes that are being implemented to preserve nature will help future generations to form an innovative and not old-fashioned outlook towards nature and that outlook will help them make strategic decisions in the years to come."
Andrea Illy, President of illycaffè, presented his company's "Virtuosagricoltura" project that aims at reducing its CO2 emissions. "This project's goal is to make our company completely carbon-free. Step-by-step, within the year 2020 we will develop this research project that we will implement in 2021. We are fooling around with the resources that the planet has given us and it's now time to look for avant-garde solutions that will allow us to make healthy products that are good both for the planet and for the end consumer."
"Knowledge generates change" were the words that the Conference's moderator, the Professor Maurizio Dallocchio, used to close the talks as he underlined the fundamental role that information plays in decision making. In this case, in decision making that has an impact on environmental sustainability.
The MBA's Conference & Regatta is an international sailing event created 16 years ago by the Sailing Club of the SDA Bocconi School of Management. More than 4,000 students and alumni of the Masters in Business Administration have participated in the event to date. For more MBA Conference & Regatta sailing information
