HSA 65th Anniversary Book

fy
99
FEBRUARY 1, 1998 –
JANUARY 31, 1999
The Center for Enterprise brings
business school to undergrads
fy
00
FEBRUARY 1, 1999 –
JANUARY 31, 2000
Two longtime agencies exit stage left
PRESIDENT
Catherine
Turco
OFFICES
67 Mt. Auburn St.
17 Holyoke St.
LET’S GO TITLES
• Europe
• Britain & Ireland
• France
• Italy
• USA
• Greece
AGENCIES
• Linen
• Let’s Go Publications
• Catering
HARVARD
STUDENT
AGENCIES
• Turkey
• Israel & Egypt
• California
• Alaska & the
Pacific Northwest
• Spain & Portugal
Changes were afoot at HSA! Richard Olken left
after six years of service, and longtime Board
member Blair Brown ’62, MArch ’67, who since
the early ’90s had hosted a summer retreat for
managers at his seaside home, graciously stepped
in as interim General Manager. Student and
professional Board members worked together
to alter the corporate governing structure of the
Board and senior executive levels. Their reforms
added the position of Chairman of the Board,
formal reporting structures, and annual reviews
for the professional staff. The Center for Enterprise
emerged as its own agency and began the Business
Leadership Program, a one-week training program
taught by Harvard Business School professors and
sponsored by Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, Trilogy,
and Fidelity. Over 100 eager students were accepted
into the program and were provided with a threering
binder full of case studies, Harvard Business
Review articles, study questions, company literature,
and letter-size nametags designed to facilitate the
dreaded cold-calling practices of Harvard Business
School professors.
After a seven-year marriage, Let’s Go: Greece & Turkey divorced
into two separate guides. Let’s Go continued its continent-hopping
with the addition of Let’s Go: South Africa to the ranks, which now
numbered 28. Closer to home, Map Guides to Seattle and Prague
became available. For the first time, RWs lugged around laptops to log
their discoveries.
On March 20, 1998, Let’s Go was also absolved from a libel suit filed in
1990 by Itzik Shaari, the owner of an Israeli hostel. That year, Let’s Go:
Israel & Egypt had warned readers away from his hostel because Shaari
had been charged with sexual harassment. Upon dismissing the litigation, the Massachusetts Supreme
Judicial Court called the Let’s Go team “the modern equivalents of Thomas Paine or John Peter Zenger.”
It was a victory for Let’s Go’s core tenet of honesty.
• Mexico
• New York City
• London
• Washington, D.C.
• Germany
• Austria
& Switzerland
• Travel
• The Campus Store
• Harvard Student Resources
• Paris
• Rome
• Ireland
• Southeast Asia
• Eastern Europe
• Central America
• India & Nepal
• Harvard Distribution
Services
• Let’s Go Ad Sales
• Harvard Graphic Design
President Catherine Turco ’99, MBA ’03, AM ’09,
PhD ’11, Harvard President Neil Rudenstine, PhD
’64, and Vice President Jon Sakoda ’99.
The 1999 Let’s Go Managing Editor team.
• Ecuador & the
Galapagos Islands
• Australia
• New Zealand
• South Africa
OTHER TITLES
• The Unofficial
Guide to Life
at Harvard
• The Unofficial
Guide to Life
After Harvard
• Computer Services
• Unofficial Publications
• Center for Enterprise
PRESIDENT
Noble
Hansen
OFFICES
67 Mt. Auburn St.
17 Holyoke St.
LET’S GO TITLES
• Europe
• Britain & Ireland
• France
• Italy
• USA
• Greece
• Turkey
AGENCIES
• HSA Cleaners
• Let’s Go Publications
• Catering
• Travel
HARVARD
STUDENT
AGENCIES
• Israel
• Middle East
• California
• Alaska & the
Pacific Northwest
• Spain & Portugal
• Mexico
HSA closed out the millennium in style. Summer rentals
of microfridges, TVs, and fans were strong enough to merit
the status of an independent agency as HSA Rentals spun
off from The Campus Store. The jobs of the age-old Catering
agency, supplying barbecues and wedding receptions since
FY62, were subsumed into HSR, where Manager of the Year
Brian Joseph ’01 effectively managed a burgeoning bartending
business while blocking and tackling the less exciting basics
The FY00 management team.
like collecting receivables (finally taking credit-card numbers
from customers!). HSA also bid bon voyage to Travel, 40 years after it first took flight as Europe by Air. On
the bright side, Distribution was restored to its status as a cash cow after several subpar years.
In March, HSA welcomed Bob Rombauer as its new General Manager. Rombauer came to HSA with 25
years of professional experience in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and investment industries.
Let’s Go celebrated its 40th anniversary with classic new covers,
and the thumbpick was finally reawarded a place of prominence.
Let’s Go: Israel & Egypt was partitioned into Let’s Go: Israel and
Let’s Go: Middle East. The company’s sole South American guide
hiked the Andes to become Let’s Go: Peru & Ecuador, and Let’s
Go’s first venture into China guided travelers on a journey from
the Forbidden City to the Tibetan frontier. Hong Kong and
Sydney became the latest cities to fall to Map Guide domination.
Back home in the cozy comfort of Burke-McCoy Hall, the first
Editor-in-Chief, Ben Harder ’99, managed affairs inside the books
and inside the office, while Publishing Director Ben Wilkinson
’98 continued to work with
• New York City
• London
• Washington, D.C.
• Germany
• Austria
& Switzerland
• Paris
• Rome
• The Campus Store
• Harvard Student Resources
• Harvard Distribution
Services
the outside world, including contract-renewal negotiations with St.
Martin’s. Ad sales were strong, thanks to a great team and a bubbly
economy (yes, Let’s Go had dot-com advertisers!). And the company
saw an unprecedented spike in the number of Editor applicants — 102,
up from 45 the previous year.
• Ireland
• Southeast Asia
• Eastern Europe
• Central America
• India & Nepal
• Peru & Ecuador
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Let’s Go Ad Sales
• Harvard Graphic Design
• Computer Services
• Unofficial Publications
President Noble Hansen ’00 and Vice
President Tricia Wencelblat ’00.
• South Africa
• China
OTHER TITLES
• The Unofficial
Guide to Life
at Harvard
• The Official
Harvard Student
Agencies
Bartending Course
• The Unofficial
Guide to Life
After Harvard
• Center for Enterprise
• HSA Rentals
72 HSA 65th Anniversary History Book 73