HBS Alumni Association Board of Directors: President's Report

The start of a new century is certainly a momentous time. When I think about the last century and what it has meant to HBS, I am struck by how much the School has grown in stature and scale. Our alumni play a pivotal role in reinforcing the School's position around the world and for that we are very grateful.

As you know, the Alumni Board of Directors works hard to ensure that the quality of your experience as an HBS graduate doesn't stop when you leave Soldiers Field. The Board meets on campus three times a year, as a group and in committees, to discuss new and important ways in which the School can serve you. Here is a brief summary of our work thus far this year.

Online Services for Alumni

This committee has identified the following specific goals to accomplish by its spring meeting: increase the number of e-mail addresses the School has on file for its entire alumni body (currently at 40 percent), proactively publicize the School's Web site and add new features that will attract more alumni to the site, and develop push technology allowing alumni to subscribe to specific online offerings. Last year, the committee served as a sounding board for Baker Library as it designed the HBS Working Knowledge Web site (www.hbsworking knowledge.hbs.edu). In particular, it recommended adopting an aggressive strategy for promoting the site. Ideally, the committee would like to see more hands-on computer training for alumni, perhaps at the club level or at reunions.

Continuing Education

Alumni have long been asking for an opportunity to extend their educational experience. In response, the School has developed two programs to meet the needs of alumni at specific times in their career cycle: the Entrepreneur's Tool Kit (for alumni who are starting new ventures) and Odyssey (for alumni and their spouses who are moving into a new career phase). This committee is looking at possible additions to these programs and how best to manage them given existing faculty and space resources. It is particularly interested in developing programs that coincide with reunions, thus taking advantage of time alumni have already scheduled to be on campus. The committee is not limiting its sights to campus-based programs; it will be researching distance learning opportunities and how to augment current club events, as well as how the new Working Knowledge portal might be harnessed for continuing education.

Clubs Committee

Membership in HBS clubs remains static at 25 percent. The committee recognizes that given the demands on people's time, clubs will have to work especially hard to both retain current members and entice new ones to join. The group has identified the following projects for the coming year: encourage clubs to designate an information technology officer to run Internet sessions and develop Web resources; create a system for connecting current students to clubs and communicating more efficiently when alumni move to a new club area; encourage clubs to identify a "welcome officer"; generate a list of alumni working at top search firms and distribute the list to clubs to enhance their career resources; and include all club officers in e-mails that are sent to club presidents.

Global Alumni Conferences and Nominations

Thanks to the organizational wizardry of Heiner Thorborg (12th ISMP) and Christoph-Matthias Brand (MBA '94), plans for the 2000 HBS Global Alumni Conference in Berlin are proceeding very well. The conference, scheduled for June 13-16, boasts a full agenda of challenging sessions featuring prominent businesspeople from around the world. Its theme, "Knowledge, Risk & Change: Business Without Walls," will attract record crowds, so be sure to register early! And it's not too soon to block out time for the 2001 conference in Cleveland. Scheduled for May 15-18, the conference theme will be "Leading in a Changing World: Innovation, Growth, and Transformation." Nearly 25 faculty members have already committed to participate in Cleveland - not a bad statistic for this early in the game!

In addition to shepherding along the conference organizers, the Global Alumni Conference Committee is charged with reevaluating the process for carrying out the conferences themselves. Over the next few months, the group will look carefully at the best-practices guide and think about ways in which the mechanics of hosting a conference can be streamlined rather than reinvented with each new host.

Finally, the Nominations Committee for the HBSAA Board of Directors is working tirelessly to sift through the nearly two hundred applications currently on file. Since there are only twelve slots available each year, this process is challenging. The new slate of Board members whose term commences next fall will be announced at the Board's spring meeting.

I hope you find this information useful. I am honored to serve as president of the Board and am continually amazed and impressed by the level of commitment shown by each Board member. Many thanks for your support, and we look forward to seeing you in Berlin in June!

Edmund A. Hajim (MBA '64)
January 2000

Youth Movement: HBS Clubs Make Students a Top Priority

On opposite coasts of the United States, two HBS clubs have developed innovative programs to help MBA students broaden their career options.

"I am confident that I will get a job in Seattle when I graduate," says Martin DeBono (HBS '00), who participated in last year's Seattle Trek, an initiative sponsored by the HBS Club of Puget Sound (HBSPS) to link students with job contacts and to foster student-alumni interactions. "It's like having a career counselor located in the city where you want to work," DeBono continues. "The club screens companies and job opportunities for HBS students and grads." In light of his positive experience, DeBono has spread the word on campus about the 2000 Trek, which will take place early this year.

HBSPS Club president Tracy E. Kwiker (MBA '95) has been a driving force in developing programs to attract younger members. Kwiker joined the club shortly after settling in the area two and a half years ago. She conceived of and hosted the club's first Decade Party for alumni who had graduated within the past ten years, welcoming sixty young alumni and signing up many new members. The Decade Party is now a quarterly event.

Other efforts aimed at young alumni include the program committee's decision to invite younger, more high-tech-oriented speakers to the club's luncheons, which has resulted in much larger turnouts. "Our goal last year was to increase membership and attendance at club events," Kwiker says. "This year, we also want to enhance leadership to stimulate more activity within the club." The expanded leadership includes vice presidents for women's programs, young alumni, and student affairs.

Kwiker credits the club's corporate sponsors - Deloitte & Touche, Drugstore.com, Polaris Venture Partners, Madrona Venture Group, and Voyager Capital - with mak-ing programs such as the Seattle Trek and Decade Party possible.

On the East Coast, the HBS Club of Southeastern New England (HBSA-SNE) assists HBS students in making career contacts in Rhode Island, southeastern Massachusetts, and portions of Connecticut near the Rhode Island border. Headed by newly elected president Maryann Pernorio (MBA '90), HBSA-SNE invites student clubs - such as the Manufacturing & Technology Management Club (MTM) - to attend dinner programs that have included speakers such as John Welch, president of Electric Boat Corporation; Bill Nordstrom, copresident and general manager of the East Coast Division of Nordstrom, Inc.; and Ralph C. Thomas III, associate administrator of NASA.

"We negotiate with the companies to sponsor the cost of the dinner meeting for the MBA students, and then we have private briefings with the students and the speakers," says Pernorio. Bobby Bose (HBS '00), an officer of the MTM Club who attended the NASA event, gives the program high marks. "It's great," he says. "You get the opportunity to meet some amazing people and see business leadership from the perspective of those on the front lines."

Pernorio hopes the club will continue the well-received program. "It's a unique opportunity for alumni and MBA students to network and to continue their learning experience and for us to attract future business leaders to our local community."

For more information about HBSPS, visit www.hbsps.com or contact tkwiker@mba1995.hbs.edu. For more information about HBSA-SNE, visit www.reade.com/_HBS/hbsgate.html or contact mpernorio@mba1990.hbs.edu. For information on clubs in general, visit the HBS Alumni Clubs Web site at www.alumni.hbs.edu/clubs or call 617-495-6315.

by Amy E. Dean