Alumni News (NOvember 2011)

Team “CEB Alungni” Takes Big Strides

Team “CEB Alungni” helped make the 2011 Breathe Deep DC 5K Walk on 6 November 2011 the largest event in LUNGevity history. Captained by CEB Alum Casey Jones,
more than 60 alumni registered to participate in the lung cancer charity walk and helped raise more than $14,000,
making it the third highest fundraising
team of all 2011 participants.

"It was great to see the spirit of generosity on display among the alumni community at Breathe Deep DC,” said Jones.“From the record breaking $14,000 the team raised to help fight lung cancer,
to those of you who laced up shoes to walk, I was humbled. Beyond the numbers,
I enjoyed reconnecting with so many amazing people. I look forward to seeing folks at future CEB Alumni events!"

CEB Alums joined more than 650 current staff, family, and friends at the event. Interested to learn more? Read about one of CEB in the Community’s largest events.

CEB Alum Makes Data Worth Fighting For

When Rami Genauer left CEB to launch a new startup company, he had no idea how much of an impact his company would make with customers. He certainly did not expect to end up in a recent article in
The Washington Post.   Just days after the article was published, Genauer talked about his success and life after CEB.

Full Name: Rami Genauer
Current Position: Director, FightMetric LLC
Last Position at CEB: Consultant, TECH Practice
Time at CEB: 2007-2009

What is FightMetric?
FightMetric is the first company to bring advanced statistics to the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA). The sport, under the dominant brand of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), is among the fastest-growing sports properties, but it had lacked any sort of data component. FightMetric collects massive amounts of data on MMA matches, provides data feeds, performs analysis, and creates unique data-driven products.

How did you come up with the idea?
The idea came from the lack of anything else available on the market. This was an idea whose time had come, but no one was stepping in to fill the niche. FightMetric started small, but client and consumer demand necessitated rapid expansion.

What has been the key to your success?
Unique content, an uncompromising approach to data integrity, a deep understanding of the needs of clients, and the willingness to work long hours for little to no pay.

How has CEB Influenced you as a professional?
I had a couple of different roles at CEB and each of them influenced me and the way that FightMetric operates. I still use some of the techniques used in CEB research for things like hypothesis generation, root cause analysis, etc. I got experience with a certain logical framework doing CEB research that comes back to me again and again. The other role was in product development, taking the research or benchmarking data and turning it into products or services that would appeal to members. This cuts to the core of FightMetric. We have an unparalleled set of data, but the numbers alone are not compelling. There's another necessary step in translating those numbers into intelligence or products that people will demand to consume.

What was your favorite experience at CEB?
Some of the great tangential conversations with really fun and intelligent coworkers. For example, settling the debate one afternoon with coworkers over the great question, "Is the Swedish Chef from The Muppets more popular than any actual Swede, alive or dead?" (Ingmar Bergman beats him by several million Google results)

In addition to joining the CEB Alumni Network, Genauer still has strong ties to CEB. His wife, Rebecca currently works in the Meetings Department. They didn’t meet at CEB, but he did get a referral bonus when she joined the company!

Do you have an interesting story to share with fellow alumni?  E-mail stories and ideas to cebalumni@executiveboard.com so we can feature them
in future newsletters.