Connecting with Clubs
Alumni Board aims to strengthen clubs and associations
Cooper
Photo by Neal Hamberg
Until joining the Alumni Board three years ago, clubs were my only connection to HBS and the HBS network. After graduation, I had returned to South Africa and joined the vibrant club in Johannesburg, which opened doors for me to many new relationships — business and social. Several years later, preparing to move to Toronto, there had been no question in my mind that my first point of contact should be with the president of the HBS club there. The truly valuable connections developed through the Toronto club eased my transition and led to enduring relationships. The HBS alumni network had worked well for me!
To return some of the value I’d received from the club network, I chose to get actively involved, serving two terms as president and many years on the board of the Toronto club. This experience provided a window into developments at HBS — through contact with visiting faculty, by interacting with Alumni Relations, and by attending the annual club Officers’ Roundtable meeting at HBS.
As an Alumni Board member, and now as board president, I know my experience with the clubs in Johannesburg and Toronto gave me a greater appreciation of the role the global network of 109 clubs and associations plays in extending the HBS community far beyond the confines of Soldiers Field.
In recent years the Alumni Board has stepped up its efforts to help clubs develop and grow. A succession of committees has offered recommendations on club-related initiatives, including the need to provide IT and Web site support. This year, for the first time, we have created a standing committee that will spend the next several months developing recommendations to make clubs stronger, enhance the links with HBS, and make the club experience even more rewarding for alumni.
The new Alumni Clubs and Associations Committee will build on survey work the Alumni Board has conducted over the past couple of years with the help of club and association presidents. Those findings have guided committee chair George Novak (AMP 153, 1997) in setting up subcommittees tasked to contribute actionable ideas in three areas:
Club Membership Benefits Marketing. This sub-committee, chaired by Jack Nordeman (MBA ’64), will review and recommend strategies to promote, maintain, and grow club membership.
Club Resources Web Site Review. Chaired by Jean-Pierre Felenbok (MBA ’81), this subcommittee will review and update all club and association information on the HBS Alumni Web site: www.alumni.hbs.edu.
Roundtable Agenda and Marketing. This subcommittee, chaired by Paul Hayre (MBA ’99), will develop recommendations to enhance the annual club and association Officers’ Roundtable meeting on campus.
I look forward to the recommendations that will emerge next spring from the committees’ work. While we recognize that clubs today face many challenges in attracting and maintaining members, the board has an opportunity to make one of the best networks of clubs and associations even better.
This is a good time for alumni to come forward with ideas to achieve that goal. If you have suggestions or observations you want to share with the committee, George Novak would like to hear from you. Contact him at gnovak@amp153.hbs.edu.
