Haha.  That headline’s a play on words.  See, “TiE” is the illustrious former Indian CIO Council, for those of you who go way, way back to the late 90’s of the last century.  It rebranded and (this could be our imagination) seems to come up at different times with different words that TiE stands for, the most recent being “The Innovative Ecosystem.”  Anyway, we don’t care to overanalyze, we just want to party.  So we went Monday night to the Swiss Embassy “Black-TiE” holiday bash where they not only graduated their TiE-Smith Fellows but also announced their 2008 Board of Directors.  After quadrupling their membership in the past two years, it wasn’t surprising the 150 guest were over capacity for the room.

What’s this?  “FI Investment Group” as the stated affiliation now for our old friend Frank Islam, left?  That’s what happens when you get rich—his cards used to say, “CEO, QSS": until he sold QSS to Perot Systems for $250M earlier this year.  With him, wife Debbie, ubiquitous IMC CEO Sudhakar Shenoy, and Urban Line’s Girish Jindia.  Frank and Debbie are building their dream home -- a little 32k SF cottage in Potomac.  Sudhakar just got back from India where he traveled in style on the Palace on Wheels or what he likened to a land version of a luxury cruise.  Girish just bought a house in South Beach and tells us his oldest daughter is planning a wedding reception at the Omni Shoreham. Sudhakar:  Are you bringing back the Nehru Jacket?

FedResults’s Bob Dinkel and CEO Jim Beaupre with Cvent CEO Reggie Aggarwal.  Bob and Jim said they’re in hiring mode now that they’ve scored three big new clients to-be-announced.  Jim’s Corvette club just taught a safety course for teen drivers and Bob’s braving Buffalo for what will undoubtedly be a white Christmas.

SeeClearly Vision’s Rajesh Rajpal, Zolon Tech CEO Ram Mattapalli, new TiE board member and Success in the City CEO Cynthia de Lorenzi, and TiE executive director Steve Thomas.  Steve told us TiE has 36 events in the works for 2008 – including a seminar on "Doing Business with Microsoft" in mid-January.  Cynthia’s spending Christmas on the Naval Base in Norfolk with her family since her brother-in-law’s a 3-star general in the Air Force.

Deloitte’s Christine Vermillion is channeling Sex in the City’s Sarah Jessica Parker in her Carrie-esque white dress with Astrox Corporation CEO Ajay Kothari, left, and mPortal CEO DP Venkatesh.  Ajay just won the Pride of India award from the NRI Institute and tells us he’s busy designing the next generation of air travel: liquid hydrogen-powered space planes that can actually go into orbit.  Now, that’s our kind of tech!

Irena Stage and husband Michael Stage of HealthEngage (we had to be sure that wasn’t an “Arena Stage” typo), Prochain’s Andreas Scherer and Sherer Homes’ Maike Scherer.  Not only was Andreas wearing a black tie, but he’s also a black belt in Tai Kwon Do; his favorite sparring partner is his 5-year-old son who’s already a green belt and usually wins.  

Cardea Commerical Real Estate Advisors owner Daniel Odio and Kimberly Messersmith join Development Executive Group prez Raj Kumar.  Daniel just got back from a trip to Peru (he even showed us footage from the trip on his iPhone) and Raj said they just opened a Barcelona office to add to their Tokyo and Manila branches.  Hmm, must have been a rare night that all these people were in town!