Citi Signs on as Inaugural Founding Partner for Johnson's Emerging Markets Institute

Partnership will enable Citi to shape strategic course and focus of the institute

ITHACA, N.Y., June 9, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- One of Johnson at Cornell University's newest institutes of excellence, its Emerging Markets Institute (EMI), founded in the fall of 2010, has proudly taken on its first founding corporate  partner in Citi.  The partnership will enable Citi to help shape the strategic course of EMI to ensure its ongoing viability and relevance as a research and knowledge hub in the growing emerging markets space.  Citi will also be granted select access to the institute's projects and research through its support as a founding partner.

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"Citi is honored to be EMI's first founding partner," said Paul Galant, BS '90, CEO, Citi Global Enterprise Payments. "Our organization is a significant and growing player in emerging markets and the opportunity to support and guide this institute, which will certainly help further our goals in these countries, is one we are excited to advance. Citi's partnership with Cornell builds upon our efforts to engage the world's leading universities on issues affecting the financial services landscape."

EMI was founded in response to the growing need to both expand Johnson's MBA reach globally, educate students to operate effectively in those markets, as well as to allow the school to have an impact on the growing economic challenges of the world's emerging markets.  The institute will be a leading international program in emerging markets research and education by bringing together preeminent practitioners and academics through three core drivers: research, teaching, and outreach.  

"We are thrilled Citi has agreed to partner with us," said Joe Thomas, dean of Johnson at Cornell. "The backing from such a well-respected organization speaks to the depth and breadth that we expect EMI to have on all its stakeholders, both academic and in the business world."

Founding partners such as Citi will support and guide the institute and have access to its knowledge and research base.  EMI is presently accepting inquiries from and reviewing the goals of additional corporate partners that reflect the global goals and collaborative, knowledge-driven mission of the institute.

About Johnson at Cornell University

Founded in 1946, the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management is consistently ranked as one of the top graduate schools of business.  Johnson builds upon Cornell's depth and breadth of distinguished research and teaching, and its vast, worldwide network of alumni, faculty, and colleagues. The school's "performance learning" approach offers students defined frameworks and analytical tools, combined with expert feedback to solve real problems in real organizations. Deliberately small and extremely selective,  Johnson maintains an intense, collaborative community, where students develop teamwork and networking skills that foster innovation and deliver results. Programs include one- and two-year MBA degrees, an Executive MBA and the Cornell-Queen's Executive MBA, which offers interactive videoconferencing sessions across the U.S. and Canada. For more about the Johnson at Cornell University please visit: www.johnson.cornell.edu.

About Citi

Citi, the leading global financial services company, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com.  

SOURCE The Johnson School at Cornell University