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Another Year!
DEAR FELLOW ALUMNI:
Time certainly zooms by.
Your Alumni Association
Board of Directors has had
a busy year, and I would
like to take a moment to
briefly outline a few of our
key achievements. There is
still much to be done, but
we have made much progress
in our mission—on
behalf of Wharton's 77,000
alumni, to build and grow
simply the greatest business
school alumni network.
U.S. Alumni Conference.
We have made significant
progress in planning a major
Global Alumni Forum in the
United States, to complement
the extremely successful international
forums.
New Clubs. This year
we have added the Wharton
Club of Quebec, Wharton
Out For Business, and now
boast a club network of dedicated
Wharton alums. In
addition to the traditional
geographically based Clubs,
we also are establishing new
ways for alumni to connect
through "affinity"-based
clubs such as the Wharton
Private Equity Network
and Wharton Health Care
Network. See below for
more information on the
Private Equity Network,
known as "WPEN."
Alumni Leadership
Conference. In May, we
held a tremendously successful
Alumni Leadership
Conference on campus
during reunion weekend.
At this meeting, a group of
Club Presidents and alumni
leaders from around the
world participated in workshops
and brainstorming
sessions and heard from key
administration figures. All
went away with a renewed
sense of purpose and new
ideas about how to build
our Wharton alumni network at the Club level.
Stronger Connections
with Students. More than
ever before, alumni are
coming back to campus
through various programs
which encourage them to
attend conferences and
give talks. Our Wharton
Colloquia, each a one-hour session with new
Wharton undergrads during
orientation on topics such
as "Stock Market 101,"
"Dressing for Success,"
"What is Leadership,"
"How to be a CEO by age
40 " and "Effective Business
Networking," will be expanded
greatly this year. We
have also made great progress
in assisting MBA student
clubs' efforts to organize
alumni advisory boards.
Annual Fund
Participation. Continued
growth of the Wharton
Annual Fund is tremendously
important to maintaining
the School's world-class
reputation for business education.
Building the Fund is
therefore an important part
of the work of the Alumni
Association Board. During
the past year, we continued to
work closely with the School
to focus on ways to increase
our participation rate. We
will soon be delivering a series
of recommendations designed
to foster a greater sense of
connection among those who
have not previously donated
to the School.
Alumni Stakeholder
Survey. We have been working
closely with the Dean's
Office to develop a comprehensive
survey of our alumni. We believe the results
of this survey will be very
helpful in improving our
responsiveness to the needs
and interests of our alums.
My thanks go out to
our dedicated Alumni
Association Board members,
and especially our President,
Vige Barrie, CW'74, WG'76, for all their hard
work this past year. I also
offer special thanks to
Associate Dean for External
Affairs Steve Oliveira,
Director of Alumni
Relations and Annual
Giving Leslie Arbuthnot,
and their fantastic staff (especially Dawn Downing!)
for providing us with a truly
unprecedented level of support and commitment.
As always, if you are currently an active member of
Wharton's alumni network,
thank you for your dedication. If you are interested in
getting involved and would
like to find out more information about volunteer opportunities, please contact
the Alumni Affairs office at alumni.affairs@wharton.upenn.edu. There are many
ways in which you can make
a difference. Start by going
to wave.wharton.upenn.edu to find a Wharton
alumni club in your region or
your area of interest.
I look forward to continuing our dialogue with
you in this column during
the next year. Please feel
free to call or e-mail me
directly with any questions.
Thank you for your support
of the Wharton Alumni
Association.
Sincerely,
David N. Feldman, Esq.,
W'82, L'85
Chairman, Wharton
Alumni Association
dfeldman@feldmanweinstein.com
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