The IIT Bombay Alumni Association (IITBAA), Greater New York chapter hosted its 7^th Reunion at the Indian Consulate in New York on Sunday, September 10, 2006. Over 100 IIT alumni and their spouses attended this annual signature event of the association. Honorable Consul General Neelam Deo, Larry Babbio, Jr. (Vice Chairman & President, Verizon Communications), Victor Menezes (Retired Senior Vice Chairman, Citigroup), Professor Ashok Misra (Director, IIT Bombay) and Professor Amarnath (IIT Bombay) were among those present.

Larry Babbio was one of the key decision-makers in Verizon's multi-billion dollar initiative to bring fiber-optic cable right into the homes of consumers and thus make it possible to deliver high-speed data, voice, video and other services directly to consumers over a single wire. In his keynote speech on Leadership, Mr. Babbio described the tenets of leadership that he has distilled from his own experiences over a distinguished career - disciplined creativity, repeatable success, rigorous analysis, excellence in execution and a carefully thought out strategy. He described how Verizon arrived at the critical decision to risk billions of dollars in laying fiber all across the country to try and wrest competitive advantage over cable companies, and how their gamble is now getting ready to pay off.

One of the highlights of the event was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Victor Menezes and IIT Bombay for a $3 million donation for the construction of a new Convention Center on the IIT Bombay campus. The convention center will have a "conference facility" and multiple lecture theaters. Architectural plans for the center are ready and it is expected to be ready by March 2008.

The Director of IIT Bombay, Professor Misra, described more new initiatives that IIT Bombay has recently launched. Work is already underway on a new IIT Bombay Gandhinagar campus, a Nanotechnology center, a new athletic center and on expansion of student and staff facilities on campus. IIT's Society for InnovatioN and Entrepreneurship (SINE) has become wildly successful - with its business incubator more than doubling in size and several nascent companies started under its wing now taking flight on their own! IIT Bombay will be celebrating its 50th anniversary next year and Golden Jubilee celebrations begin in June 2007.