In the 1990s, Darren established iComputerServices, LLC (iCS) in order to start designing and developing websites and applications for small to medium sized companies. After the launch of iCS, having designed over a dozen websites including the American Ideal Diamond Exchange and the SAS Group, Herman established GlobalWebSpace to host the websites. GlobalWebSpace quickly grew to over 250 clients within a 3 month time frame which led the launch of an automated game serving company, TerminalX. After two years of running GlobalWebSpace and TerminalX and managing a team of a half dozen server administrators located around the world, Herman sold the companies to a public company in the bandwidth business.

Herman then went to work for i33 Communications, one of the premier interactive agencies. Darren worked with the new business teams for Sprint, Ralston Purina, Multex, and American Eagle Outfitters. Leaving i33, Herman went to Student.com taking on the responsibilities for the entire website. Herman worked directly with the development and management team to oversee all website design and overall marketing initiatives. Student.com quickly grew to be one of Nielsen Netratings top sites for college and high school students.

After two years with Student.com, Herman went to become an in-house entrepreneur and product manager at Conducive Corporation and led the roll-out of the contextual bid-for-placement ad-network, adMarketplace. After launching adMarketplace for eBay and various other major websites and communities successfully, Herman incubated Dynamify Productions, a full-service independent booking agency focused on mid-market bands. While with Dynamify Productions Herman booked acts such as former New Kids on the Block, Columbia Records recording artist Ari Hest, Sire Records recording artist John Lardieri/Twin-A, and dozens of others through its numerous music booking agents. Herman acquired Fanlist.com, a premier email marketing company for the music space. After three years of running Dynamify Productions and speaking at every major music tradeshow and conference across the USA including CMJ and SXSW on music marketing, digital distribution, and tour booking, Herman sold the business to a New York based record label.

Darren Herman is currently working at IGA Worldwide Inc., as a co-founder of the company. IGA is a venture backed in-game advertising company with over $12 million in oversubscribed funding. Herman leads the business development group across advertising, publishing and technology. He graduated from Skidmore with a Bachelor of Sciences degree in business.

April 2006 - Bernard Kastory, Harder Professor of Management and Business, Skidmore College on "The Lessons of Enron"

Bernie Kastory joined the Skidmore faculty in the fall of 2001 as the F. William Harder Professor of Business Administration. He has a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois and a M.B.A. from Northwestern. Prior to coming to Skidmore, Bernie worked for 33 years at Bestfoods, a global food company whose leading brands include Knorr, Hellmans, Skippy, Entenmanns and S B Thomas.

During his career at Bestfoods, Bernie progressed through a series of increasingly significant assignments in manufacturing, finance and general management. Significant general management assignments included President of the $l.5 BIO worldwide corn refining division, President of the $2 BIO baking division, and Chief Financial Officer for the corporation. His most recent assignment, before Skidmore, entailed executive responsibility for all Bestfoods' operations in Asia and Latin America and the North American Baking business. The scope of these responsibilities encompassed leadership of 20,000 employees and operations in 30 countries with total revenues approaching $4 BIO.

During his time at Skidmore, Professor Kastory has taught Business Strategy and International Business. He is also the coordinator of the Management & Business Department's mentoring program, which links business majors with local business executives and provides the students additional opportunities to learn about business concepts in action.

March 2006 - Hillary Schupf '93, Senior Director Public Relations, Sirius Radio, on Switching to Sirius: How I Landed My Dream Job

After working as a publicist in the book publishing industry for 13 years, Hillary just landed her dream job as Senior Director, Public Relations at Sirius Satellite Radio where she handles the publicity for Howard Stern, Martha Stewart and all of the other talk and entertainment channels. During her publishing days, she spent seven years at Penguin Putnam where she held various publicity positions including Publicity Director for the Berkeley and New American Library divisions. After Penquin she moved to Simon & Schuster, where she was Director of Publicity for the Pocket Books division. Hillary has served as the president for the alumni class of 1993 since graduation.

February 2006 - Jim Iseman '78, Vice President, Wealth Management and Portfolio Manager at Citigroup-Smith Barney, on "Portfolio Management: Investing in 'Leading Brand' vs. Traditional Investing Methods"

Jim Iseman, a Portfolio Manager at Smith Barney, has over 28 years professional experience across a broad range of clients specializing in portfolio management and brand management. For the past eight years, Jim has focused on portfolio management at Smith Barney for high net worth clients and institutions. Previously, Jim specialized in brand management working with companies such as Procter & Gamble, Pfizer and Allergan. Jim holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters of Business Administration from New York University . Headlining the February 8th Skidmore Business Network breakfast, Jim will explore the topic of investing in “Leading Brands” versus more traditional methods such as “Style Boxing.” He will discuss leading brands that are currently gaining market share as well as their historical stock performances. Jim will focus on the leading brands that dominate new niche categories, including branded Internet search, branded organic foods, branded MP3 players and branded package goods.

January 2006 - Thomas A. Renyi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Bank of New York Company, Inc. on "Global Securities"

Mr. Renyi's career at The Bank of New York has spanned three decades and has included key leadership roles in securities servicing, credit policy, capital markets, and domestic and international banking. In 1989, Mr. Renyi headed the transition team responsible for integrating the Irving Trust Company into The Bank of New York. It was the largest merger in the U.S. banking industry at the time and gave the Bank an expanded presence in international markets and critical scale in its securities management businesses.

In 1992, Mr. Renyi was named President of the Company and elected to its Board of Directors. In 1997, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Company and was elected Chairman of the Board the following year.

Mr. Renyi graduated from Rutgers University with a BA in Business Administration in 1967 and an MBA in 1968. He served as a First Lieutenant in Military Intelligence with the U.S. Army in Vietnam.

Interested in becoming a SBN speaker? Do you have experience, insight, and information that would be valuable to alumni in the fields of finance, marketing, and related fields? Simply consult the following Speakers Bureau presention and contact Gregg Nicoll at 212-820-7452 (w) or 516-884-2551 (c).
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