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Wharton Women's Task Force
The Wharton Women's
Task Force was initially
formed in 2001 by two
students, Kiara Berglund,
WG'02, and Andrea
Remyn, WG'03, who were
reviving the Wharton
Women in Business
Conference. As their work
continued, they met with
Wharton alumnae, student
women's groups, faculty and
administrators, all of whom
felt the need to come together
to respond to the
needs of all Wharton
women. Although a very diverse
group, they quickly
discovered many common
aspirations, interests and
challenges in their careers
and lives. As Wharton
women, they are promoting
and encouraging the leadership
and success of each
other and of a broader community
of Wharton constituents.
Members of the Task
Force came together on
campus in November 2002
to meet one another, engage
in goal setting, and discuss
ways to communicate better
with one another and with
their fellow alumnae. Task
Force members have participated
in two management
conferences sponsored by
the Wharton Alumni
Association to meet with
other volunteer leaders and
learn best-practices. The
Task Force continues its
close relationship with the
student Wharton Women
in Business Conference to
leverage the participation of
future alumnae in the network
(the 2003 conference
will be held on October 31 –
see www.whartonwomen.org for details).
At a grassroots level, the
Task Force did a survey
which addressed the issues
faced by alumnae; this effort
received extremely positive
and overwhelming response
from 10% of the overall
alumnae population. The
Task Force is also actively
engaged with the geographically-based alumni clubs
around the world to leverage
the strengths of these
existing organizations and
bring women together on
the local level. For the last
year, the Philadelphia alumni
club has modeled such a
partnership through their
"Wharton Women's
Network." The Philadelphia
Network addresses the special
interests of working
women and promotes networking
in a more intimate
setting. Programs have included
a work-life balance
discussion, leadership skills
development, and informal
"coffeehouses" for alumnae.
Wharton is continuing
to build affinity groups to
help strengthen the relevancy
of the School in the lives
of its alumni. Leslie
Arbuthnot, director of
alumni affairs and annual
giving, notes that the growing
trend in these kinds of
clubs is evidence of an increasing
trend in alumni
affinity to the School as a
whole: "As we continue to
develop the means by which
alumni better connect to
one another and the School,
more and more graduates
will want to come together
based on how they see
themselves and their relationship
to Wharton. We
welcome alumni ideas and
energy in developing these
programs."
The following is a list of
existing affinity groups and
their contact information:
Evening School
Gary Lindauer, W'92
wesas@juno.com
Health Care
Gretchen Mills WG'86
gretchen.mills@kmhp.com
www.whartonhealthcare.org
Private Equity Network
Dean E. Miller, WG'99
dmiller@paearlystage.com
www.wpen.org
Women's Task Force
Roz Courtney, WG'76
gretchen.mills@kmhp.com
www.whartonwomen.org/taskforce.asp
If you are interested in the
possibility of starting an
alumni affinity group, contact
the Office of Alumni Affairs
and Annual Giving at
alumni.affairs@wharton.upenn.edu.
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