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Continued from previous page
O'Murchu, who lives in Wayne with his wife, Connie
Hofmann, and two-year-old son, Liam, continues to be an active
member of the Philadelphia Wharton Club and attends events hosted
by the Wharton Healthcare Alumni and Wharton Private Equity
Alumni associations. "If anybody ever calls me from WEMBA or
Wharton I always try and help them out because I know I have
been helped out by others in the past," he says. "I also understand
the challenge of trying to take your career in a new direction in a
tough market."
While he is back on campus at least once a month, O'Murchu
enjoyed seeing so many familiar faces at the reunion. "I've found
that the WEMBA network, within the Wharton network, is extremely tight.
There's just a small number of us and because so
many of us stay in the area, we have more opportunities to stay in
touch," says O'Murchu. Bodine, O'Murchu, Chandler and Olivia
were all in attendance at the WEMBA reception, demonstrating
that the network is still going strong
The Home Team
Sharon Ryan, WG'99, Sean Jiam, WG'99, and Juan Carlos
Garcia Sanchez, WG'99
When they were first starting to work together as a learning
team, Sharon Ryan, Sean Jiam and Juan Carlos Garcia Sanchez
didn't have much in common. "We had very different backgrounds,
personalities and career goals," says Ryan. Five years later, the classmates caught up at the reunion and realized they in fact had a lot
more in common now: they had shared the Wharton experience.
Both Jiam, who works at San Sierra Homes, in San Marino, CA,
and Sanchez, who works for Banca Privada in Monterrey, Mexico,
came a long way to be at the reunion. Ryan, who lives in Princeton,
had a shorter distance to travel, but was no less enthusiastic about
the event. Two members of the team, Orin Herskowitz and Robin
Pollack, were not in attendance.
As most Wharton grads would attest, the learning team can be
a powerful bonding force for first-year students, and for many, it is
the first real opportunity to work closely with people from different
backgrounds. "I think we were a typical learning team, in that we
were five people who probably would not have come together on
our own. There was some tension at times, but there was a lot of
fun, too. Over the course of the year we
learned each other's strengths and how
to be productive by leveraging our differences. Carlos is from Mexico and we
used to joke that our team name should
be 'mole,' like the Mexican sauce made
with chile peppers and chocolate—it's
something that doesn't sound like a good
combination, but it really is."
These days, the "mole" team continues
to stay in touch through occasional e-mail and phone
contact. Before she moved to Princeton to become a brand manager
at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Ryan worked for General Mills in
Minneapolis, MN. On one occasion, Carlos and his wife flew in
from Mexico for a Vikings game. (He's a huge fan.) "I've heard
from Orin Herskowitz since graduation, too. He and his wife had a
baby recently," says Ryan.
While reunion was the first time Sanchez and Jiam were back
on campus since graduating, Ryan has visited Wharton a few times
over the past five years, mostly as a recruiter. "But that wasn't
nearly as much fun, because everyone I knew had left by then. The
reunion was wonderful! There was a great turnout from our class,
and it was fantastic to be able to catch up with so many classmates.
It was fun to see Sean and Carlos again, and it would have been nice
to see Orin and Robin, too."
For Sanchez, reunion reinforced the understanding that even
when he's been out of the communication loop, he has a lasting
bond with his learning team. "I'm never afraid to get in touch.
We've been through a lot together and I don't feel shy emailing out
of the blue," says Sanchez, "Once you go through the learning team
experience, you're never strangers."
Elisa Ludwig is a Philadelphia-based freelance writer.
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