On February 27th, the MBA MEC took place on the Columbia University campus. The 2009 MEC's goal was to bring together the nation's top MBA students and media, entertainment and related companies, and foster an informative dialogue about, and enhance networking within, the film, music, broadcast and cable television, sports, video game and publishing industries.

MEC has been held for the past seven years, and alternates between Stern and Columbia's facilities annually. By all accounts, the 2009 MEC was a rousing success. Last Friday, a sold out group of MBA students experienced excellent presentations from keynote speakers Jeff Zucker, President and Chief Executive, NBC Universal and Joe Uva, Chief Executive Officer, Univision Communications Inc. The attendees also participated in panel discussions with executives from over 50 companies. The panels ranged from town hall style discussions to panels which were more formally moderated. All of the panels were moderated by consultants from MEC's Knowledge Partner McKinsey & Company.

The conference was kick started by an incredibly candid Fireside Opening Keynote presentation from Jeff Zucker. Jeff Zucker's presentation set the tone for the conference. He spoke in front of the in front hundreds of MBA students and offered an inspiring perspective of the future of the industry.

After Jeff Zucker's speech, there was an opportunity to network with other MBA students. The panels began shortly thereafter, and attendees had the option to attend the Video Game, Entrepreneurship, Banking, and Scripted Television panels.

Once the panels ended, the crowd reconvened in Columbia's Low Library to hear a second keynote presentation, a luncheon address from Joe Uva. Joe Uva provided a strong perspective on Univision's unique and surprisingly dominating position in the broadcast industry, which was followed by an in-depth question and answer segment.

After Joe Uva's presentation attendees went to the remaining panels and the conference concluded with a networking session where the winners of the New York Times Media Group Case Competition were announced. Nearly 50 teams consisting of almost 200 students entered the competition, and judges selected six team finalists from the Johnson School at Cornell University, Harvard Business School, the Kellogg School of Management, the NYU Stern School of Business, the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University and the University of Connecticut School of Business. The competition was won by the team from NYU Stern which included Anastasia Dedyukhina, Kevin Drost, Isabella Joffe, Davide Tararbra.

In keeping with this tradition of excellence, the organizers of the 2010 MEC are identifying the companies and individual leaders that are driving change in the industry to serve as speakers and sponsors for next year's conference.