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New Leadership
DEAR FELLOW ALUMNI:
I feel very honored to step into the position of chair
of your Alumni Association Board of Directors.
My predecessor, David Feldman,W'82, L'85, created
an impressive legacy, establishing bonds between
students and alumni as well as between geographic
and affinity clubs and the school through dynamic programming.
In the next two years
I hope to build upon his
achievements by continuing
to strengthen the Wharton
brand worldwide. In that
process I welcome your
input, suggestions and engagement.
It is only through
alumni commitment and
support that the Wharton
network will grow.
Occasionally I am asked
how I became involved in
this board. My path has
been a typical one. As a
graduate of Penn's College
for Women (CW'74) as
well as Wharton (WG'76),
I served on both the Penn
and Wharton club steering
committees in Dallas over a
20-year period. Ultimately
I assumed the presidency
of the Dallas/Ft. Worth
Wharton Club in the mid-1990s. Shortly thereafter I
was elected to the alumni
association board, on which
I have chaired committees
responsible for communications,
marketing and
career management issues.
Two years ago I became the
board president.
My professional background
is not that of a
typical Wharton graduate.
Most of my career has been
focused on marketing and
media relations primarily in
the nonprofit sector. I am
also a practicing artist and
illustrator. Despite my nontraditional
career path, the
Wharton brand has always
provided me with an added
level of credibility and professional
stature. For this I
will always be grateful and
committed to maintaining
and extending that brand.
Over the last two years
our board has paid special
attention to creating systems
and templates that can be
duplicated throughout the
Wharton network. Tama
Smith, WG'90, our board's
incoming president, has
reinvigorated the Alumni
Leadership Conference
(ALC), an annual forum
for club presidents during
which best practices
from around the globe are
shared. Other members
have researched the elements
essential to establishing
the strongest alumni
ties. Having identified
reunions as key to building
these ties, board member
Craig Enenstein, WG'95,
took on his own 10-year
reunion and recruited 10
times the average number
of classmates to participate
in an outstanding weekend-long celebration. His planning
process will serve as a
guide to all future reunions. Other members have forged
new bonds between alumni
and students via alumni
advisory club boards, led
student/alumni colloquia
and created an editorial calendar
for the alumni pages
in this magazine.
In the next two years we
will be building on these
and other initiatives with
a commitment to identifying
and employing the best
practices possible to expand
our reach. We also plan to
add an additional committee
dedicated to examining
and researching technology
issues and opportunities.
Ultimately, however, our efforts are only successful
with your involvement. If you are interested in getting involved and would
like to find out more about volunteer opportunities, please contact
the alumni office at alumni.affairs@wharton.upenn.edu
or go to www.wharton.upenn. edu/alumni where you
can sign into the alumni community, access career
services or look up contacts
for the Wharton club nearest you, among many other
things. And please feel free to e-mail me directly
with questions, concerns
or suggestions.
Sincerely,
Vige Barrie,
CW'74, WG'76
Chairman, Wharton
Alumni Association
315.859.4623 office
315.725.7597 cell
vbarrie@hamilton.edu
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