Contact:
Victor Rogers
Victor_Rogers@bus.emory.edu
404-606-1831

General Inquiries:
Emory Center for Alternative Investments
cai@emory.edu
404-727-9317

Emory Center for Alternative Investments Announces Name Change & Appoints Co-Chairman

Goizueta Business School announced today that The Emory Center for Private Equity and Hedge Funds has been renamed The Emory Center for Alternative Investments, effective immediately. The new name recognizes the evolving nature of this large sector of the financial services industry. The Center focuses on providing education, research and analysis for key areas of alternative investments, including private equity, hedge funds, venture capital and real estate.

In a separate development, the Center also announced that Lado Gurgenidze will serve as Co-Chairman of the Center Board together with Larry Benveniste, Dean of Goizueta Business School of Emory University, providing guidance and leadership in tandem with Professor Klaas Baks, the Center's Director.

Gurgenidze, 38, is a native of Tbilisi Georgia. He received his MBA degree from Emory University's Goizueta Business School in 1993. As a career banker he spent nearly a decade at various investment banks in Europe, serving at various times as Head of M&A, Emerging Europe and Head of Technology Corporate Finance at ABN Amro, as well as Head of Europe at Putnam Lovell.

In 2004 Gurgenidze returned to his native Georgia and served for three years as CEO and Executive Chairman of Bank of Georgia, leading the bank's transformation into the leading universal bank in Georgia and the Caucasus.

In 2007, he agreed to serve, for a one-year term, as Prime Minister of Georgia, helping put the finishing touches on Georgia's free-market reforms, including a new round of tax cuts and a 25% limit on state budget expenditures.

"I am honored to have this opportunity to contribute, in partnership with Dean Larry Benveniste and Professor Klaas Baks, to the development of the Emory Center for Alternative Investments," said Gurgenidze. "Following the dislocation of 2008, the institutional investment industry will be evolving, and many of the key tenets held as axiom for years, if not decades, such as the asset allocation principles and nature of the relationship between limited partners and general partners, will be re-examined. I am certain the Center will become, together with its network of partners and supporters, an important thought leader in this process," Gurgenidze said.

Dean Larry Benveniste said, "Lado brings a wealth of international experience to the Center at the formative stage of its development, and I am delighted to welcome him aboard."

Background on the Emory Center for Alternative Investments (cai.emory.edu):
The Center's mission is to be a leading international source of research, education and thought leadership on alternative investments that aims to be at the forefront of this evolving industry. As an organization staffed by scholars and experts, the Center will develop the data and set a research agenda comprised of topical issues relevant to the institutional investment community. A parallel objective of the Center is to teach and disseminate this knowledge.

Located in Atlanta, Georgia, Emory University's Goizueta Business School is one of the world's premier business schools, offering top-ranked degree programs, including an Undergraduate BBA, Executive MBA, Evening MBA and Full-Time MBA, as well as a doctoral program. Additionally, the School offers a portfolio of non-degree courses through Emory Executive Education. Our faculty is equally renowned, having been recently ranked in the top 10 most influential in Marketing, Finance and Accounting by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

About Emory University’s Goizueta Business School

Emory University’s Goizueta Business School is home to an Undergraduate degree program, a Two-Year Full-Time MBA, a One-Year MBA, an Evening MBA, the W. Cliff Oxford Executive MBA (Weekend and Modular formats), a Doctoral degree and a portfolio of non-degree Emory Executive Education courses.