Ben Fishman

Student Leadership Profile: MBAA President Ben Fishman, MBA Candidate 2007
by Susannah Campbell, MBA Candidate 2007, Smith Media Group

The sun is so bright in Plato’s Diner Monday morning that we have to lower the blinds. Smith MBA Association President Ben Fishman shifts in his seat and directs me to my left, thoughtfully helping me to avoid the glare. “Is that better?” he asks.

Making things better, pushing for the bold and daring is what Ben likes to do best. He ran for president of the MBA student body because he’s interested in longevity at Smith.
So far, Ben has led a group of student leaders through an equitable and transparent budget process. He used a different method from years past in order to allow more people to have a say in who gets what of the full-time MBA Association’s (MBAA) limited resources.

“Are there too many clubs?” he asks. “Or too many people grabbing at the same resources and not working together? This year, we created joint ventures to maximize the dollars invested.”
By working together, clubs encourage higher attendance and produce better events. For instance, Net Impact and the Smith MBA Finance Association will pair up this fall on Beer and a Case Analysis.

Ben worked for 10 years as a theater director, producer or stage manager before returning to school. He confesses to being a “big picture guy” who hasn’t acted since college because he was so preoccupied with how the entire production should come together he couldn’t enjoy his role. His best production was The Adding Machine, a play from 1923 about how technology is destroying humanity and people are becoming automatons.

“The play wasn’t about being leaders of the digital economy, but being slaves to it,” Ben states tongue-in-cheek. “My favorite was a senior matinee. The average age was 81. Total tonnage of walkers? One. The audience felt out-of-sync with the modern world. The main character felt isolated from it. It resonated with the audience.”

Understanding his audience is important to Ben. Right now he says the some members of the MBA student body have expressed concern with the calendaring and scheduling process. “There are a lot of competing priorities and a need to maximize events – attendance, planning time, monies invested, you name it. And there are numerous calendars and scheduling devices for the Smith School, the university, the building …” said Ben. “We’re working together with the administration to improve the scheduling process so that our events don’t unnecessarily conflict with each other or with other events at the Smith School or on campus.”

Resolving this issue is a high priority for Ben. His goal for his administration is to complete “calendaring three months earlier than it was completed last year. The budget should be completed three months earlier than it was last year, too. This way, the class of 2009 is able to plan events for their second year while in their first.”

Ben’s short-stack of pancakes and side of bacon arrives, and he pauses in our conversation to slather them with maple syrup. “I like to load liquid sugar on my carbs,” he laughs. This summer while working for the Office of Management and Budget, and in years past working in New York City, Ben “was a scrambled eggs guy,” but this year he changed. Perhaps he needs the energy for his new job?

He might also need extra energy for his other pursuits. An avid poker player, Ben gets together with several other second years on a regular basis to play. Talk inevitably turns to student initiatives, but he doesn’t mind too much. As well, while not a dancer, Ben does confess to “tap dancing in the halls. It helps me to think.” A gym devotee, Ben also goes to the Campus Recreation Center several times each week before hitting Plato’s for breakfast.

As we close, I have to ask him if he could stage one production at the Business School, which would it be? He ponders this tough question for a few minutes before chuckling and answering, “Grease.”

“But who would play Vince Fontaine? Maybe Joe Bailey. And Zuko? Danny’s a tough one. Maybe Chirag [Metre]. He’s very cool. Sandy would be Lauren Holmes. And Rizzo? Rizzo is the mouthy one. We all know who that would be,” he says looking at me meaningfully. Lovely. I’ve always fancied Stockard Channing.

▓ Susannah Campbell, MBA Candidate 2007, Smith Media Group