The Consulate General of Mexico has joined Atlanta companies participating in this year’s International Business Alliance (IBA) mentor program. The Mexican consulate is the first participant in the program from Atlanta’s consular community.
The IBA is operated by Georgia State University but also includes graduate students from a number of other metro schools including Emory University, Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State University, who are interested in international business careers.
This year, executives from 12 Atlanta companies and the consulate have volunteered to accept students from the program. Mentors are requested tomeet with their protÈgÈ at least once a month from August through May to discuss international business practices and provide career counseling.
Bernardo Mendez, the consulate’s academic and press attachÈ, is the consulate’s mentor. He and Maylin J. Valencia, a student at Kennesaw’s Michael J. Coles School of Business, both learned of the six-year-old program through GlobalFax.
Mr. Mendez was interested in participating as a mentor because he has researched school-to-work programs for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Ms. Valencia became a protÈgÈ so she would be more knowledgeable about the local international business community as she pursues an MBA in finance at Kennesaw.
During the past six years, more than 75 mentors have volunteered to support the program representing firms including Turner Broadcasting and BellSouth International
To receive a mentor information packet about the program, call (404) 651-0988.
Thomas Schmelzer has opened a German tax desk in Atlanta for Arthur Andersen LLP, the international accounting and consulting firm. The tax desk is part of Arthur Andersen’s German International Network (GIN), which has a presence in more than 20 cities worldwide.
The desk here is only the second to be established by the firm in the U.S. The first was opened in New York in the mid-1990s.
Mr. Schmelzer told GlobalFax that the desk was opened because of the large number of German companies in the Southeast and because of the U.S. multinationals here interested in Germany and elsewhere.
Mr. Schmelzer worked for Arthur Andersen in Frankfurt for eight years before moving to Atlanta recently. He may be reached by calling (404) 215-7658; fax, (404) 954-7959 or send an E-mail to thomas.schmelzer@us.arthurandersen.com