Harvard Business School hosted its annual fall Alumni Board Meeting in late September, bringing together its members for a three-day event that included interactive sessions with faculty and HBS leadership on the School and its programs, a dinner and reception with MBA students, and time to engage with each other.

The HBS Alumni Board, whose members are selected from a pool of active and committed volunteer leaders, represents the global HBS alumni community. Members serve as resources for the Dean, faculty, staff, and students by providing input, expertise, and feedback on key initiatives, opportunities and challenges and serve as ambassadors to the alumni community.

After an executive committee session and welcome reception on September 24, Jana Pompadur Kierstead, Executive Director, MBA and Doctoral Programs and External Relations, provided an update on the new structure and vision of her group and offered an overview of the strategic priorities for External Relations. Susan Gold, Senior Director of Special Projects in Alumni Relations, and Alumni Board President Paula Madoff (MBA 1994) followed by detailing a new model for the Board presidency and new efforts designed to strengthen the role of the Board’s Executive Committee.

Matthew Weinzierl, MBA Program Senior Associate Dean and Chair, and Rupal Gadhia (MBA 2004), Managing Director, MBA Admissions and Marketing and Communications, offered a “Back to School” session, offering updates and highlights from the MBA program. Included in the presentation were progress updates on the MBA program’s three strategic priorities—invigorate our sense of purpose; center the education; and attract the most promising—and discussion of a market research project designed to determine long-term opportunities for the School to lead in the field.

V.G. Narayanan, Senior Associate Dean of Executive Education and Senior Associate Dean of HBS Online, then presented the group with an overview of Executive Education’s growth and opportunities.

After a working lunch with Kristen Fitzpatrick (MBA 2003), Senior Managing Director, MBA and Doctoral Programs and External Relations, to discuss the current MBA student recruiting landscape, the Board was joined by Senior Associate Dean for External Relations C. Fritz Foley (PHDBE 2002). Foley discussed the current economic context for the School and its financial model. The day wrapped with the introduction of new Board Members and a reception and dinner program with MBA students in the Williams Room.

Sessions on Thursday, September 26, began with a fireside chat with Dean Srikant Datar on the current priorities and initiatives at HBS, which was followed by an overview of the mission and work of the Institute for Business in Global Society (BiGS) from Debora Spar (PMD 62, 1991), Senior Associate Dean of BiGS and Unit Head of General Management, and Drew Keller (MBA 2022), Director of BiGS. Spar highlighted Purpose of the Firm, a new RC course which investigates the changing purpose of the firm in society and how this can generate new models of capitalism.

The day’s programming closed with a series of updates on entrepreneurship at HBS, with presentations from Thomas Eisenmann (MBA 1983), Peter O. Crisp Faculty Chair, Harvard Innovation Labs, and Unit Head, Entrepreneurial Management; Shikhar Ghosh (MBA 1980), MBA Class of 1961 Professor of Management Practice of Business Administration; and Julia Austin, Senior Lecturer of Business Administration.

If you would like to learn more about Alumni Board and its work, please visit the Alumni Board website.

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