Creating a Worldwide Community
McCombs launches new digital platform for cultivating international connections
By Molly Dannenmaier
Linda Gerber’s energy is infectious. And her networking skill is legendary. These attributes have powered her through nearly three decades of groundbreaking international business education development at the McCombs School of Business, during which time she has created a multitude of courses, programs, and events that promote global learning.
Now, Gerber has a new project, and like so many of the other initiatives she has spear- headed in her role as director of the McCombs Center for Global Business, this one is set to open new international doors.
This fall, Gerber and her team launched a new digital initiative, the Longhorn Global BizNetwork. It’s designed to bring together Longhorns working overseas — and anyone with an interest in international business — into a community that is full of expertise about what it’s like to live and work in today’s global economy. Within just the few weeks since it was launched, hundreds of Longhorns around the world have joined the network and begun sharing their international business experiences, global policy insights, and cultural lessons learned.
The goal is to create a space with unlimited capacity for sharing information and building interaction. “We know that we’re all part of a great big Planet Longhorn,” says Gerber. “We’re a community with a wealth of international business insight, and we need a space where members can connect with each other and share what we know.”
The network’s website includes profiles of international alumni, media posts on international business and policy, articles highlighting UT faculty and alumni who offer global expertise, and blog posts by members of the McCombs community. The Facebook group serves as a place to post upcoming alumni and faculty events around the world, amplify web content, and broadcast Facebook Live sessions with some of McCombs’ most popular professors discussing international business topics. It also serves as a platform for original posts, and members of the Longhorn BizNetwork Facebook community have already started sharing their own international business stories and questions. A robust dialogue around issues of mutual interest has begun.
Gerber says she’s especially excited about the opportunity the network affords members moving around the world to meet up with Longhorns abroad — or at least get their advice about where to go, what to do, and maybe what not to do.
Major supporters of the Longhorn Global BizNetwork include Ray Brimble, chairman of the McCombs Center for Global Business advisory board and CEO of Lynx Group; Bob Pearson, advisory board member and CIO of the digital marketing group W²0; and Blake Chandlee, advisory board member and former global vice president for Facebook. They have provided strategic guidance, in-kind services, and funding for the project, says Gerber.
The McCombs Center for Global Business, formerly known as CIBER, was established with an award from the U.S. Department of Education in 1990 to help internationalize business education.
Gerber says the network offers a new opportunity to move McCombs’ international acumen beyond the doors of the university.
“If you’re a Longhorn somewhere out there and you’re interested in global business, please join us. Help us build this network,” she says.
Those interested in becoming a part of the group can look up “Longhorn Global BizNetwork” on Facebook and send a request to join.
From the Fall 2017 issue of McCombs, the magazine for alumni and friends of the McCombs School of Business.
