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Rising Stars

by Amanda Millner-Fairbanks
November/December 2007 , Page 84

Photograph by Walter Smith Shibani Joshi

You just have to be the best in class. Be smarter, jump higher, to get in the game.”

Shibani Joshi

Reporter, Fox Business Network (FBN)

MBA 2004

Thirty-two-year-old Shibani Joshi’s path to the FBN was convoluted, but her hometown newspaper reveals early promise. Back in 1993, the Daily Oklahoman featured Joshi, then 17, as one of eight students selected to represent the state at a prestigious forum. Her plan at the time: “To study biology and business administration.” Growing up in Oklahoma City, the child of Indian immigrants, Joshi thought of television as an outlet to a more diverse world. After Harvard, she worked first at Morgan Stanley and next at CNNfn, where her production assistant responsibilities included teleprompter duty for Lou Dobbs’ Moneyline. Her experiences have helped ready her for her stint as a general assignment reporter for FBN, which aims to topple CNBC from its perch atop television business news. When Fox was hiring for the new network, Shibani showed “an interest in real business news reporting,” while many of her competitors “were simply interested in being on TV,” says Kevin Magee, executive vice president of Fox News. Nor does it hurt that Joshi is easy on the eyes; the Huffington Post recently described FBN’s on-air talent—the female side, anyway—as “a bevy of beauties.”

Rising Stars cont.

Photograph by Walter SmithNicole Parent

Nicole Parent

Research Analyst & Global Sector Head, Credit Suisse

A.B. 1993

Those with a tendency to indolence need not apply:

36-year-old Nicole Parent, who is responsible for equity research coverage of the electrical equipment and industrial conglomerates for Credit Suisse, works approximately 14 hours a day. When Parent travels abroad, which is often, she avoids alcohol, fits in a daily workout, and sleeps five hours a night. “I usually only need four or five,” she says. “When she was a child,” says Stefano Natella, global head of equity research at Credit Suisse, “she would have been one of those children who can’t stop asking questions. And then when you put them to sleep, they fall asleep instantaneously, exhausted.”

Her co-workers generally assume that Parent, who was recently ranked by Forbes first among stock pickers in her sector, attended business school. But she found that her Harvard College degree in economics afforded her plenty of credibility: Her first job out of college was working with the chief economist of the New York Stock Exchange. “A person with an average mind and great work ethic always wins out over someone who is brilliant but lazy,” Parent says.

Rising Stars cont.

Photograph by Walter SmithDaniel Dusek

Daniel Dusek

Associate, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Mergers and Acquisitions

A.B. 1995

Billing 60 to 100 hours per week, 34-year-old Daniel Dusek is struggling to perfect that delicate work and life balance. His advice to the newly married: “Don’t bring your work home.” Easier said than done for Dusek, who admits that his clients’ interests are “paramount to anything else.”

Dusek hails from Prague, where his grandfather co-founded Charter 77, an opposition movement. The communist regime did not look kindly upon his grandfather’s activities and kept close watch on the family; Dusek left in 1991. After graduating from Harvard, he worked for the Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the United Nations before attending NYU Law School, then heading to Skadden, Arps, a firm ranked first in the country for corporate representation in a 2007 National Law Journal survey. In January, the Wall Street Journal ranked Skadden first among law firms; it handled almost $764 billion in transactions last year.

Even in a powerhouse firm of some 2,000 attorneys, Dusek dazzles.

Rising Stars cont.

Photograph by Walter SmithBeverly Anderson

Beverly Anderson

Vice President, American Express, Proprietary Lending

MBA 1997

Beverly Anderson, 43, never forgets where she came from—Paducah, Ky., pop. 26,000, to be exact. “I am a long way from home,” Anderson says. She describes her upbringing as “lower income, but with parents that had huge aspirations for the lives of their children and worked really hard to make it happen.”

After nearly 20 years in the financial services industry, Anderson joined American Express in 2004, where she is now the vice president of proprietary lending. “What’s most impressive about Beverly is her ability to synthesize vast amounts of data into easily understood and articulated plans and strategy,” says Larry Sharnak, senior vice president and general manager of consumer lending at AmEx. “She gets it.”

While Anderson freely admits to being a workaholic, she is active with the Harvard Business School African-American Alumni Association and American Express’ Diversity Council. In terms of career advice to other African-Americans, Anderson doesn’t mince words: “You just have to be the best in class. Be smarter, jump higher, to get in the game.”

Rising Stars cont.

Photograph by Coral von Zumwalt.Ali (left) and Hadi Partovi

Ali & Hadi Partovi

CEO (Ali) & President (Hadi), iLike.com

A.B. 1994

Though twins Ali and Hadi Partovi, 35, live in separate cities—Ali in Piedmont, Calif., and Hadi in Seattle—they are never too far apart. Since college, each has either been employed by or at a start-up acquired by Microsoft. Hadi led the team that developed Internet Explorer; Ali co-founded LinkExchange, bought by Microsoft for $265 million in 1998.

Now they run iLike.com, a website that allows users to share and download music. With 13 million users worldwide, iLike ranks among the top five music websites and is the dominant music platform on Facebook. “They both have tremendous instincts for what works virally, how people like to be social online,” says Marc Bodnick, a managing director at Elevation Partners who is on the board of iLike. The greatest challenge so far? “Putting personal egos behind the company’s ego,” says Hadi.

Their parents brought the twins from Iran to Westchester, N.Y. when the boys were 11, then worked multiple jobs to put them through private school. At Harvard, the twins insisted on being placed in separate houses; both wound up rowing crew and concentrating in computer science. “Our parents infused us with the idea that you can accomplish anything,” says Hadi. A good thing, considering Ali’s aspiration for iLike: “To redefine the music industry.”

Rising Stars, Photo Guide

Shibani Joshi: Dolce & Gabbana suit. Kwiat Star Collection earrings.

Nicole Parent: Elie Tahari white coat. H.Stern earrings, courtesy of London Jewelers.

Daniel Dusek: Calvin Klein gray wool suit and dress shirt.

Ali and Hadi Partovi: Original Penguin fedora, polo tees, and slacks. On Ali: Gucci watch. On Hadi: Diesel watch.

Beverly Anderson: Ralph Lauren silk blouse. Kwiat diamond earrings and necklace.